If You Go In - Dennis Olsen, Graeme Ewer & Ronald Maconaghie

From "Iolanthe," The Australian Opera, Sydney Opera House, 1980

[mrscpc]

I have very severe trauma and mental illness and truely nothing in 50 years has helped like watching these people!

[jeffwatkins]

G&S are delicious beyond all hope of description. How wonderfully these Aussies perform this, one of their most delightful numbers. This is pure joy.

[rosemarysearle]

Fell in love with my future husband when he was 'the orchestra' on piano for an amateur production of Iolanthe. We were together for 43 years. Sadly, he passed away four years ago. This is still my favourite G & S number.

[witchingours]

This is what Gilbert & Sullivan is capable of being, and so rarely is.

[richardallen]

If this doesn't put a smile on your face you have no heart beat. When I was 16, living in LA, I saw the last Doyly Carte US tour. It was glorious and the encores could have gone on all night. The laughter still rings in my ears. G&S forever.

[d.f.]

This clip — this whole production — has taken me from ‘Dennis Olsen is a very talented comic performer’ to ‘Dennis Olsen is a mad genius.’

[kateandphoebe]

Dennis Olsen is a really good dancer!!

[markbeck]

Utter silliness. Love it. G&S is a little hard when you go on a binge and watch several in a row: a lot of the characters and gimmicks seem interchangeable; but they're delightful when you haven't seen one in a long while. Good tunes, lots of dancing, funny British humor, pretty girls, character actors, lavish costumes..

[anastasiasim]

Ron was my singing teacher in the mid 1980s. How delightful.

[peterscrafton]

An absolutely brilliant performance, with the three of them clearly enjoying themselves. Oh, that there were more of this and like this - I play it frequently, and wish that I could have been anywhere near as good as these three when I performed it. I agree with every one of the compliments paid to Bravissimo!!!!

[Tocsin-Bang]

This is now my all-time favourite performance in the whole of the Savoy Operas that I have ever seen, in more than 50 years. I watch it a couple of times a week, and every time I find something new. Sadly nobody performs G&S where I now live.

[zacariasdelalcazar]

I have never seen that many encores at a time. Bravo! Highlight of the opera for sure. Three stars onstage! Added value if you've seen Patience (1995), it's like seeing Bunthorne and the Duke with a friend.

[Richard-qwmu]

In 1966 I played Strephon in a high school G&S performance of Iolanthe. Still remember the songs and in this song, "scrape scrape" was the director's call on our foot movement. Met my first girlfriend on the set...what wonderful memories for this now 75yr old.

[elmarow]

Best thing I have seen on YouTube to date

[winifredtrout]

Absolutely hilarious!!!Hustle your horse and don't say die!!

[harrietgate]

You were so lucky! I bet you had lots of fun!

[OzAuthor]

Thank you so much for posting this. Dennis Olsen was the master of G&S character roles. Graeme Ewer and Ronald Maconaghie such talented artists too.

[ballaratboy]

This performance was from 1976 not 1980

[thepantweaver]

What is the symbol on the back of the little cart that gets such a laugh from the audience?

[shakespearegames]

I like Graeme Ewer. (As well as Dennis Olsen, of course!) I can't find any theatre credits for him after Patience in 1995, though. Does anyone know if he retired or what happened to him?