Perfectly timed to coincide with the election of a new American President, Opera North present a new production of Gershwin's sideswipe at the whole election system in his satirical musical, Of Thee I Sing.
The popularity of Wintergreen is plummeting until his party decide on a "love campaign", with a beauty contest in each State and the winner of the national contest becoming Wintergreen's wife in time to enter the White House.
Things begin to go wr
ong when Wintergreen falls for the attractions of the demure secretary, Mary Turner, but with love sweeping through the nation no one notices the contest winner has been forgotten. She has different ideas. Director Caroline Gawn, uses one adaptable set to suggest many locations, and has opted out of phony American accents for the cast as she extracts every last drop of humour.
Moving from the manipulative candidate to the lovelorn Wintergreen, William Dazeley is vocally ideal, and though Bibi Heal needs to push up her dynamics to go to the back of the auditorium, she perfectly characterises Mary.
As the competition winner, Heather Shipp's Diana Deveraux is a potent adversary, while Steven Beard as Wintergreen's running mate steals most of the laughs.
Vocally and visually the cast from Opera North regulars is well chosen, but to ask the female chorus to double as the beauty contestants was stretching imagination much too far. Mark Dorrell's conducting keeps the music full of vitality, and a reduced Opera North orchestra adds the final icing on the cake.
Opera North, Leeds Grand Theatre
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