The artists begin by promising “Gilbert and Sullivan as you have never seen and heard them before.” By this, they seem to mean renderings by singing multi-instrumentalists. They use banjos, guitars, tambourine, violin, viola, trumpet, flute, a saw, and more, including something in a little blue case that may contain computer-output or a kind of xylophone. “Unplugged” apparently means the arrangements aren’t traditional, though the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas highlighted are the most popular: Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, and H. M. S. Pinafore. Their songs are treated as if by modern groups like The Beatles. With the latter, however, one has no trouble distinguishing the lyrical words, which is not always the case with (for lack of an actual group name) The Unpluggers. The best enunciation comes in solos: Matt Kahler’s “I am the Pirate King,” Dana Salen Omar’s “Poor Wandering One,” and Shawn Pfautsch’s “A Wandering Minstrel.” Lauren Vogel has the best voice, a clear soprano, on several numbers. Mario Alvazian shows an amazing memory of songs from all of Gilbert and Sullivan’s works, which he can quickly produce at audience request. There’s little patter between individual songs and medleys, atypical of either cabaret or even of a usual jukebox musical. Audience reaction on opening night was tepid toward the group singing but more appreciative of a few solos. Omar’s musical saw number had fans, as did Lauren’s hitting the high notes in her featured songs. A patron next to me said she rose above the cruise ship level of the act. Artistic arrangement of instruments against a curtained background provide a setting reflecting the show’s emphasis. Basic costumes are casual clothing for the men but plain evening wear for the women with no distracting jewelry. Colorful, often funny headgear plays the role of characterizing—for example, a pirate or a constable—the featured singer of individual songs. The technical work at opening progressed without a hitch. A possible audience backlash was averted by a final concession made to the traditional G & S with a rendering of “A Modern Major General” in which the wonderful words in the tricky music could be made out.
