Offenbach's comic opera "La Belle Helene" is playing to packed houses this week in the production staged by Walmsley Church AODS.
And its a show which deserves all its success. Offenbach lifts his characters from Greek legend for a show which satirised the aristocrats of Paris in the 1860's.
Producer Audrey Raistrick has put a lot of comic invention into the plot which deals with the theft of Helen of Troy, right from under the nose of her ageing cuckold husband.
Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, wears a Wimpey safety helmet with wings and winged walking boots. News from the Oracle comes by Giro and the last act beach party is served by deck chair attendants employed by the Athens UDC.
One of the biggest comedy successes of the evening was the famous gendarmes song sung by Ajax (Robin Foster) and Achilles (Graham Yardley) costumed in golden frogmen's flippers and snorkel.
My main crib is that this version by Phil Park filches music from the other Offenbach operettas (like the gendarmes song) and slots them in just as he likes.
Having seen the Sadlers Wells touring production in the 1960s I know that the original music is splendid enough without need of revamping.
Musical Director Jessie Whittaker gives us a robust account of the popular tunes and there are good performances from Mina Hall, a spirited Helen, Bill Dixon, a Paris with an Irish lilt in his singing voice, and Ernest Pollitt, a beautifully apoplectic Menelaus, striving to become immortal, even if its only by a mention in "The News of the World".
