There isn't nearly as good dancing in most of the other videos of this song. They don't even always all three dance. So glad I found this one first. It's so cute. 😍 (sits down to watch, again) (I have no idea how many times it has been. 😉)
All right, I've now just seen a version where every word is very audible but the performance isn't nearly as lovely and lovable as this one. Although ideally you really *should* be able to hear every word, clear as a bell, I'll still willingly trade that for lovability. (Is that a word? It is now. 😉) Besides, I can hear *nearly* every word. So cute. 😍
Here are the updated lyrics: There lived a king as I’ve been told From Opera Australia DVD There lived a king as I’ve been told in the wonder-working days of old When hearts were twice as good as gold and twenty times as mellow. Good temper triumphed in his face and in his heart he found a place for all the erring human race and every wretched fellow. When he had Penfolds Grange* to drink it made him very sad to think that some whose lives were on the blink made do with Chateau Cardboard. He wished all men as rich as he so he imposed a strange decree that all his cronies now should be the well-paid avant-garde horde. Now that’s the kind of king for me he wished all men as rich as he so every hanger-on could be that well-paid avant-garde horde. Ex-ministers in satin clips indulged their taste for first-class trips with Qantas board directorships complete with media snoot jobs. Consultancies were shuffled in bales to party men and silver tails, Ex-Premiers of New South Wales got CSIRO** jobs. And High Court judges were akin to union bosses out to win more perks than there are starters in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Then Gough and Malcolm Fraser scored. The drover’s dog got his rewards Integrity went overboard good faith became court case. Now there’s a very strange accord complete vice-regal bed and board The drover’s dog got his reward. We’ve got another court case. That king although no one denies his heart was of abnormal size If he had acted otherwise If he had been acuter, The end is easily foretold The rot sets in when jobs are sold. With too much silver, gilt, or gold you long for simple pewter. It’s clear that too much power destroys and doling jobs out to the boys means we are all hoi-pollois with fewer brains than Noddy. In short, whoever you may be to this conclusion you’ll agree when everyone is somebody then no one’s anybody. Now that’s as plain as plain can be To this conclusion we agree when everyone is somebody then no one’s anybody. That hawkish king despite his vice in fact was re-elected twice. Cause there were fewer men than mice among the opposition. That hardly makes it less perverse this endless golden handshake curse supporting from the public purse another politician. In Paraguay or Ecuador the peasants may say, Si, Señor, But we should not be falling for that parliamentary club-trick. When carving loot up with your mate has reached this sad and sorry state then we’ve become a second-rate Banana republic! We must agree without debate These shoddy ways to help your mate prove that we’re a second-rate Banana republic! *1 bottle of 2007 vintage, $1,799.99 as of December, 2017 ** Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
@@dorothywillis1 as they are singing to an Australian audience in the theatre and on videocassette sold only in Australia, updating the Victorian lyrics makes the jokes more pertinent while keeping the spirit of the satire.
I agree. The original hasn't lost any of its meaning. But it's performed by Dennis Olsen whom I greatly admire, so I consider it worth watching for that reason.
Olsen is marvelous but miscast as the GI. As to the lyric update I oppose this idea. One doesn't tamper with perfection which has made these works beloved for over 100 yrs.
I believe the company objected to the Gavotte being omitted. But Opera Australia brought in the directors of the Canadian production and that was that. I have seen Dennis Olsen perform the Duke in the early 1970s, which to me is a better role for him. . He hasn't the voice for the Don, compared to Kenneth Sandford.
@@danilo22uk I saw the Doyle Carte on their last US tour in the 70’s when I was 16. Remarkable performances that brought so much joy and happiness to an audience that knew every word and note and still couldn’t get enough. Nothing can compare.
Feels like Brian Macdonald had an unconventional vision for patter baritones that Dennis would have fit weird into since his acting is so subtle and built on his charisma. But he clearly doesn't seem very comfortable in this production. Glad we got this nice number out of it though, it's a really good showcase for his footwork and maybe the only thing that's at all an improvement over the Stratford production.
I am sure that all those involved in this will have come to regret this drastic changing of the original words, which has rendered the song a bit of an embarrassment, utterly dated and self indulgent. The performers are stupendously good, so it's sad to think how good the song could have been. Let's hope producers have learnt to row back their mania for this kind of wholesale "updating" of the lyrics, and confine themselves to an occasional anachronistic tweak As regards Dennis Olsen's performance, he is interestingly "cast against type", and I think it is very successful ---- including his strong (and appropriate) Spanish accent. And that wig!!
Personally I thought this was the best part of this rendition. Almost everything else is cringingly bad, especially the appalling "Duchess", the elimination of "I am a courtier grave and serious", and the creeps with masks.
