I've always loved Gilbert and Sullivan. The stories of their operettas are on the silly side, but that has always been part of the fun to me. Besides the lyrics and dialogue are delightfully witty and the music itself is just lovely. I have seen better productions of Gilbert and Sullivan before such as the Eric Idle version of The Mikado and as far as this particular series of G&S operettas go this Ruddigore is not as good as Iolanthe, The Sorcerer or Patience but not as dull as (disappointingly as it is my personal favourite operetta of theirs) Pirates of Penzanze. This production of Ruddigore is not perfect by all means. Any fans of the score(not my absolute favourite but as I am with all G&S I am very fond of it) will be disappointed by the abridging of the Overture and numbers such as I Shipped D'Ye See in a Revenue Sloop are omitted. The production leaves something to be desired technically, I liked the Gothic yet charming look of the costumes and sets but thought the picture quality seemed rather grainy(then again my copy, I have the complete series on video, is very old), and the sound could have been clearer. Also, some of the humour does fall flat sadly, due to some badly overdone mugging from the chorus especially. However, it is wonderful musically, with sprightly orchestral playing and a vocally well-balanced chorus. The principals are generally great. Vincent Price's singing is by no means great, in fact it is rather rudimentary(though not as problematic as Peter Allen in Penzanze or Joel Grey in Yeomen), but judging from his acting he looks as though he is having the time of his life. Keith Michell aside from the music was the only outstanding asset about Penzanze, and his entertaining performance as Robin Oakapple is no exception. John Treleaven is suitably oily in his role of Dick Dauntless, Donald Adams really shines in the gloriously creepy When the Night Wind Howls, Sandra Dugdale is lovely as Rose and Ann Howard is delightful as Mad Margaret especially in the patter trio It Really Doesn't Matter. The staging does have its contrived moments like with When Sailing O'er Life's Ocean Wide, but there are several delightful scenes such as the superbly done Ghost Scene and the start of Act 2 between Sir Ruthven and Old Adam. All in all, has a lot of problems but not a bad Ruddigore. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox