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The Gipsy Baron
I HAD half expected The Gipsy Baron to be a toy pop - up version of Il Trovatore - all sordid intrigue around the campfire and cries of He Is Your Brother ! But it turns out that the plot of this Viennese fancy is even more confusing than Verdi's masterpiece so I wont even attempt to explain it .

The whole thing is really only an excuse to tap our feet through Johann Strauss's score anyway, and why not? Ballads, gavottes, marches, the ubiquitous waltz and since this is Hungary, the czardas which was used to such effect in his other great operetta, Die Fledermaus. All are presented with infectious abandon by the Glasgow Light Opera Club.

The vocal demands may at times weigh heavily, but the cast rise to the occasion and there are some notable performances, none more so than Norma Walker's Saffi. Her gipsy princess projects a clear and evenly powered voice with very good diction. Barbara Smith is an imposing gipsy queen, if a bit glamorous to be a grandmother to one of betrothing age, and Moira McCorkindale and Helen Holmes equip themselves well in less exotic roles. Elsewhere, Gordon Crockert's nippy little factotum and James Robertson's rumbustious mayor provide comic relief.

Musically therefore, this production is satisfying enough, but the dialogue is quite another matter: either flat and lifeless or wildly out of control.

C. B.