Last Updated on December 5, 2025
A Triumphant HMS Pinafore Sets Sail at the ENO
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
When I was at prep school in the 1960s, a series of old military buffers came to give a lecture to my motley group of school friends about how we were predestined to run the British Empire; this was always an unlikely prospect since our colonial cousins were jumping ship at an alarming speed. Part of this imperial training process involved putting us young boys in dresses and bonnets and full stage slap to perform Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. It’s no wonder that the Empire’s rump left the building faster than Elvis, faced with the prospect of us unlikely lads running their countries. But I was left with a strong attachment to the comic wordplay and melodic genius of W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan. Those tunes and the satirical humour are etched into both my own and the national psyche, setting a template for the comic patter song that has never been surpassed. So, it was with a spring in my step that I hightailed my way down to the Coliseum yesterday for the opening night of the first revival of comic genius Cal McCrystal’s (Paddington 1 and 2, and theatrical smash hit One Man, Two Guvnors, Iolanthe at the ENO) 2021 production of HMS Pinafore.
HMS Pinafore is a two-act comic opera by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, first produced at the Opera Comique in London in 1878. It was the fourth operatic collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan and became the duo’s first international hit, combining a sharp satire of class and politics with a tightly constructed romantic plot set aboard a Royal Navy warship anchored in Portsmouth harbour. HMS Pinafore has lost none of its satirical edge and still has plenty of contemporary resonance, lampooning the class system and its concomitant promotion of people with few if any skills to elite positions of power. There is also comic mileage to be found in the stupidity of English exceptionalism, which is built into the bones of the story.
At the heart of the narrative is a love story. Josephine is the daughter of the HMS Pinafore’s Captain Corcoran. She has fallen for a lowly able seaman, Ralph Rackstraw. However, Captain Corcoran is determined that Josephine marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and she is torn between following her heart and fulfilling her duty. At the climax, the bumboat woman, Little Buttercup, reveals that she switched the infant Ralph and the infant Corcoran years before, so the “common” sailor is in fact of high birth and the captain of humble origin, neatly resolving the class barrier and allowing the young couple to marry. This characteristically Gilbertian “topsy-turvy” reversal, along with patter songs like “When I was a lad” and the patriotic chorus “He is an Englishman,” helped define the Gilbert and Sullivan style and secured Pinafore’s enduring place in the comic opera pantheon.
British bass baritone Neal Davis, bejewelled and gold-tasselled in satin breeches, has taken over the role of Rt. Hon Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty from comedian Les Dennis who played the part in the previous production. Dennis used his undeniable comic skills to bring a seedy sense of entitlement to the part, but struggled with the velocity of the patter songs. Davis is a fine character singer and has no such problems, and adds a camp neediness to the part, helped by an industrial-sized lisp, which is unfortunate for a character so obsessed with “rank”.
Mel Giedroyc, the former Great British Bake Off host and national treasure, is an addition to the cast, doubling as a “non-speaking” cabin boy and an additional member of Sir Joseph Porter’s sizeable female entourage. Giedroyc brings a high level of anarchic intervention to the stage, constantly breaking the 4th wall as well as being used for a number of hilarious physical gags. Bringing in a disruptor to a well-loved show is a high-risk strategy and can go horribly wrong, as in this summer’s production of Die Fledermaus at The Grange, when a drag performer from the RVT completely unbalanced the flow of the show. But McCrystal is a Swiss watchmaker amongst comedic directors, so the chaos is finely tuned.
ENO favourite and G&S expert bass-baritone John Savournin reprises the role of Captain Corcoran. Savournin has something of John Cleese about him, with his lanky frame perfect for Lizzie Gee’s choreography in which he hilariously combines the Ministry of Silly Walks with a hornpipe. Savournin has a mellifluous vocal tone well-suited to the more sentimental of Sullivan’s melodies as well as the comic chops to withstand Giedroyc’s comedic subversions. Giedroyc and Savournin open the show with a hilarious comic prologue, and I’m sure this comedic relationship will deepen further as the run continues.
Josephine is played by ENO Harewood Artist, South Korean soprano Henna Mun, looking like a hyperactive porcelain doll in her crinolines. Her voice sparkles, and with her accurate coloratura, she captures the nuances of a spoiled posh girl trying to navigate Josephine’s class-based dilemma (“When you’re dining at the Savoy, he’ll be tucking into a Big Bender at the Wimpy”). Mun recently impressed as Phyllis, the youngest of the three children in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new family opera The Railway Children at Glyndebourne.
New Zealand tenor Thomas Atkins brings the verve and passion he showed as Syrian captain Narraboth in the Royal Opera House’s Salome to his characterisation of Josephine’s inamorata, able-seaman Ralph Rackstraw. But there is also a pleasingly ridiculous stoic quality to his performance in his suicide song “My Friends, My Leave of Life I’m Taking”. The two young lovers are well-matched and stay on the right side of the comedic plimsoll line when it comes to their romantic moments.
New Zealand contralto Rhonda Browne, reassuringly matriarchal as the family nanny Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin at The Opera, is delightfully imposing as Little Buttercup, a bumboat woman and Captain Corcoran’s love interest. With a thick West Country accent she brings a panto-esque quality to the proceedings as well as full-bodied vocal presence that comes to the fore in her big reveal near the end of the piece.
Canadian bass Trevor Eliot Bowes makes a fine Dick Deadeye, a cartoonish comedy villain with BO who manages to offend by simply telling the truth. Bowes has a powerful resonant tone and is a shoo-in for some of the nastier bass roles in the operatic canon.
Reprising her role as Sir Joseph Porter’s cousin Hebe is mezzo-soprano Bethan Langford. Looking like a cross between Molly Ringwald and Joyce Grenfell, she provides a formidable foil to her entitled cousin.
Cal McCrystal is a gag-a-minute man steeped in British comedy lore, with a penchant for physical comedy and wordplay. Boris makes an entrance on his zipwire, there’s a shout out for Janet Street-Porter, an ongoing gag references the classic Monty Python ‘Albatross’ sketch, there’s a nod to Morecambe and Wise and even an interpolation of the Blankety Blank music. Our press night audience lapped up the slapstick and camp edge that McCrystal brings with this first-class, rollicking production teetering deliciously on the edge of comedic chaos.
The sets and costumes for HMS Pinafore, designed by Greek designer Takis, are simply gorgeous. Sir Joseph Porter’s posse of fawning sisters, cousins and aunts float around in pastel crinolines, bloomers and vertiginously Baroque orange wigs with the sailors stylishly decked out in authentic boaters, scarves and bell bottoms. But the real star is the Pinafore herself, which is represented by a series of cutaway sets with the warship impressively spinning on its axis as part of the choreography.
A special nod must go to dance captain Spencer Darlaston-Jones, who tap dances and tumbles across the stage, adding a kinetic energy to the production with the sterling ENO chorus not only in fine voice but also making a good fist of the choreography. There is a Broadway-worthy opening to HMS Pinafore where they are swabbing the decks before exploding into a hilarious Morris dancing routine.
The ENO band for HMS Pinafore is conducted by Matthew Kofi Waldren, who previously conducted ENO’s Olivier Award-nominated production of Jeanine Tesori’s Blue. He created a precise and dynamic reading of the score, with the musicians responding to his direction impeccably. One caveat: when the lead singers were positioned near the back of the cavernous Coliseum stage, the front-of-stage microphones were unable to pick them up, leading to minor sound imbalances.
Revivals of shows are funny creatures and can sometimes be shadows of their former selves. In this case, McCrystal has taken what was already a hit and tuned up the comedy even further to leave the audience in hysterics. Buy a ticket for HMS Pinafore and go and see it!
English National Opera
London Coliseum,
St Martin’s Lane,
London WC2N 4ES
4 Dec 2025 – 7 Feb 2026
Looking for something different? We recommend Christmas Carol, currently showing at The Old Vic
All pictures by Craig Fuller
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