Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy opera The Gondoliers might be funny and light but it is also a piece of magnitude which, when combined with a director's desire for much movement, adds up to plenty of sweat.
The day after his arrival from London five weeks ago, Alan Spencer got to work, concentrating on what he describes as a "mammoth task".
Though Gilbert and Sullivan's previous work, Yeoman of The Guard, is regarded as the closest the pair came to grand opera in its style, their 1889 light opera is vast in comparison to most of their other works, Spencer says.
"There are two sets of principals - nine in all. There are more people to cast. Like any production, you have to have quality in depth. With nine principals, that is really hard to achieve. This is my third visit here and I think this is the highest quality cast overall that we've had - and it needs to be."
With a typically convoluted plot involving a pair of gondoliers, one of whom is an unknown king (Luiz, played by Martin Kidd), court intrigues and competing love interests (including Casilda, played by Bridget Telfer), The Gondoliers is regarded as the last major success enjoyed by librettest W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan.
Its premiere at the Savoy in London in 1889 came at a time when the duo's partnership was strained.
"It is the 11th out of 13 productions by them. I am not an academic - I am a musical theatre person, although Gilbert and Sullivan is a speciality of mine - but the partnership was tenuous, to say the least, by that time," Spencer says.
"They used to fall out over all sorts of things. It really got quite vitriolic. The Gondoliers, because it was successful, brought them back on track, but it went downhill from there."
A former professor at London's Trinity College of Music, where he was in charge of dance, Spencer also studied voice at the Royal Academy of Music.
Having grown up in London, he dreamed of making it as a singer at Covent Garden "but that didn't happen".
Instead, he worked in many fields, including the Black And White Minstrel Show, Welsh National Opera, and West End productions such as Showboat and Hello Dolly.
"I joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1974, initially playing small parts or in the chorus. I got a bit bored, got a dance class together and presented my ideas to management. I was brought off-stage and became choreographer and assistant director.
"I went on to grand opera - Richard Strauss, Wagner and all those things - but then a job brought me back to Gilbert and Sullivan. I am now employed a good 60% of my time directing Gilbert and Sullivan operas."
Spencer's travels have brought him to Dunedin before: he was first here in 2003, when he was directed HMS Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance; and returned in 2007 to direct The Mikado.
Like The Gondoliers, the shows are in collaboration with The Really Authentic Gilbert and Sullivan Performance Trust.
"I've been fortunate enough to be handed all the popular ones. That's not to say I don't enjoy doing the others. Apart from two - Utopia and Grand Duke - I've directed them all."
Spencer says any challenges involved in the latest production are offset by the work ethic of the cast and crew.
"That is particularly what I enjoy about coming to New Zealand. People will go away in corners and rehearse without me telling them to; they have that in-built willingness to work for me. We try to make it fun, too, but there is a lot of money put into these projects and you have to get a good product out.
"I am firstly known as a professional choreographer; that is quite evident in my work. The Gondoliers suits my style of direction in this area.
"If you are going to attract a youthful audience - which these pieces deserve - I really think you have to go in that direction. So I expect a lot from my cast in terms of movement."
Spencer also moves about a fair bit.
Three days after his return to the United Kingdom, he will be in Plymouth auditioning for Pirates of Penzance.
"The show goes on. At the moment I've got six productions lined up.
"I'm very fortunate. It's quite hectic. I don't get much of a chance to have a rest. But I work in a field I enjoy. And the people here make it enjoyable."
See it
The Gondoliers plays at the Mayfair Theatre, Dunedin, on November 6,7,9,10,11; and at the Oamaru Opera House on November 13.
