Motley Wandering Minstrels’ Trial by Jury at the Sorenson Unity Center Black Box Theater Gives You Back Much More Than You Pay For

By Suzanne Reese

Motley Wandering Minstrels’ Trial by Jury at the Sorensen Unity Center Black Box Theater in Salt Lake City is an underappreciated gem of culture and entertainment. I had never been or even heard of them – despite this being their 10^th year of entertaining Utah audiences. Being that tickets are free I wasn’t sure what to expect. It turns out I had a delightful time and definitely plan to make it a tradition. Because of the intimate nature of the venue, by the end of the evening I felt as though I’d been enjoying the evening with some incredibly talented extended family members.

Trial by Jury is an operetta written by Gilbert & Sullivan that tells the story of Edwin (Erik Nielsen), a fickle defendant who has fallen in love with another woman (Celeste Reese) and has jilted the Plaintiff, the beautiful Angelina (Jessica Benson), who hires a Counselor (Tony Porter) to charge Edwin with crimes of the heart. Unfortunately for Edwin, all of the parties involved, especially the Judge (Justin Cook), have fallen for Angelina themselves. Edwin proposes that in order to solve the conflict, he “marry this lady today and the other tomorrow,” which seems to satisfy everyone except Angelina. Hilarity ensues, with the Usher (Dick Wunder) and the Foreman (Jim Dale), doing their best to keep the court in order. Ultimately, the resolution that pleases everyone is for the judge to marry Angelina himself.

Because the delightfully-ludicrous Trial by Jury  is a one-act play, Act 1 for the evening was a series of 13 Gilbert & Sullivan songs, performed by the troupe and given what they called a “little twist”. Some of my favorites were swaggering show-tunes like “I am a Pirate King” performed by Celeste Porter, (converted to Pirate Queen) in a rich and unique alto voice; “Three Little Maids” performed hilariously by Jacob Bruner, Porter, and Dale. Sara McFarland showed her vocal prowess in a hauntingly-beautiful version of “When the Night Wind Howls”. There were several very fun Patter Songs, including a patter song about patter songs, “My Eyes are Fully Open” by Porter, Dale and Benson; one of the best renditions I’ve ever heard of the classic, “Modern Major General” by Porter; and comical relief offered by Reese with a patter song that I’m fairly certain wasn’t written by Gilbert & Sullivan. (I’ll leave an element of surprise by not saying any more).

The thing that makes this performance most unique is that it is missing many typical elements, like sets and fancy costumes, and the company uses books for their lines. However, what it offers in return is a collection of incredible talent that makes you forget that lines aren’t memorized and there isn’t a fancy set behind them. Trial by Jury is one of the few Gilbert & Sullivan shows that has absolutely no dialogue. But the storyline is easy to follow, largely due to the acting performances of the characters. The music is wonderful and engaging and made me forget that anything may have been lacking. The stand-out performances go to Cook, who not only has a powerfully-controlled tenor voice that was clear and smooth, but was very strong and charismatic as the judge; as well as Benson, whose operatic skills would be right at home in the largest of opera halls. Though I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the stellar performances of Porter and Dale.

The troupe seems to clearly enjoy what they are doing, and enjoy being together. The director (Beth Bruner) seems to know every word and keeps the performance running with barely a hiccup, which is an impressive feat for any Gilbert & Sullivan show when you consider that they pack more notes into a minute than just about any songwriting team in history. The pianist (Kary Billings) didn’t miss a note. And flutist (Jacob Bruner) also plays the role of narrator who keeps the evening running smoothly with skill and humor.

When the cast members are performing, they stand in front of easels with their books; which I felt added to the casual feel of the event. When they aren’t performing, they sit on chairs on a platform behind the performers; and they are just as fun to watch as those who are on stage. They could be spied making faces at one another (in character), having sword fights with inflatable swords, and plenty of other jocularity. But most importantly, despite their theatrics, when they sing as a troupe, the music is powerful and spot on.

This show has a very short run – it opened Thursday night and closes Saturday night. If you want to do something fun this weekend that won’t cost you a dime, The Motley Wandering Minstrels’ Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury and Other Gilbert & Sullivan Favorites in Salt Lake City is the place to be with the entire family. You will not regret it.
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The Motley Wandering Minstrels present Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury and Other Gilbert & Sullivan Favorites.
 The Sorenson Unity Center Black Box, 1383 S 900 W, Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 16-18  7:00 PM
Tickets are FREE
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