ENO’s sparkling production of HMS Pinafore makes a welcome return with guest star Mel Giedroyc

Directed by acclaimed comedy director Cal McCrystal and with set and costumes designed by takis, the production was nominated for an Olivier Award following its premiere in 2021 for Set and Costume Design in the Outstanding Achievement in Opera category.

The action of the opera is set aboard the eponymous Royal Navy warship – though the ship never actually leaves Portsmouth. Critics praised McCrystal’s production as ‘pure unadulterated fun’ (Seen and Heard International), ‘an endlessly mischievous staging… joyous’ (The Times) and ‘elegant, buoyant and witty’ (The Guardian).

Gilbert & Sullivan’s comedic classic is known for its rollicking humour and sharp social satire, which pokes fun at the British class system. Also known as The Lass That Loved a Sailor, HMS Pinafore premiered in London in 1878 and became Gilbert & Sullivan’s first major international success, running for 571 performances. It remains one of the duo’s most popular operas and includes some of the most popular operatic music in the world, which has featured in popular TV shows like The Simpsons and The West Wing.

Acclaimed Irish director Cal McCrystal, previously been named by The Telegraph as ‘the king of physical comedy’, returns to the ENO to direct the production’s first outing since its 2021 premiere. McCrystal directed 2018’s Iolanthe for ENO, one of the opera house’s most popular productions of all time and ‘an all-round, knockout success’ (Financial Times). The mastermind behind some of the most celebrated comic scenes in modern theatre and film (including One Man, Two Guvnors and Paddington), he lends his trademark slapstick humour to Gilbert & Sullivan’s farcical satire.

Taking up the baton and leading the award-winning Orchestra and Chorus of the ENO is conductor Matthew Kofi Waldren, former Mackerras Conducting Fellow and International Opera Awards (2017) nominee, who previously conducted ENO’s Olivier Award-nominated production of Blue.

Mel Giedroyc leads multi-talented cast bringing Pinafore’s absurd characters to life. The former Great British Bake Off host and national treasure will make her ENO debut in an acting role, lending her trademark comic timing and warm wit to the production.

TV presenter, writer and actress Giedroyc is best-known for her work alongside Sue Perkins. She has been a regular presenter for BBC’s Children In Need and Eurovision, and also hosts the comedy panel show Unforgivable for BBC Two and Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker for Channel 4. She comes fresh from the Bristol Old Vic stage, where she has been appearing in the new musical Starter for Ten. She can be heard on Magic Radio’s Sunday Request and on her podcast with Sue Perkins, Mel & Sue: Should Know By Now (Audible).

Following his success in The Yeomen of the Guard, Così fan tutte and The Marriage of Figaro, award-winning British bass-baritone Neal Davies returns to ENO to play the Rt. Hon Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty, intended to marry Captain Corcoran’s daughter Josephine.

Neal is joined on board by ENO favourite and Gilbert & Sullivan specialist John Savournin, who reprises the role of Captain Corcoran, having also appeared in the 2021 premiere. Himself a distinguished director (including for Opera Holland Park, Opera North and the Royal Opera House), bass-baritone Savournin has previously sung in ENO productions La bohème: Drive & Live and Iolanthe (the latter directed by Cal McCrystal).

Starring as the Captain’s daughter Josephine, a romantic torn between duty and love, is ENO Harewood Artist Henna Mun, in her principal role debut for ENO. Described as having a voice that is ‘richly expressive and gleaming’ (Opera Magazine) and ‘show-stopping’ (The Observer), the South Korean soprano was the winner of Glyndebourne’s 2024 John Christie Award and the 2025 Clonter Award.

Singing the role of Josephine in the 24, 29 and 31 January matinee performances of this run is up-and-coming soprano Eleanor Sanderson-Nash. She makes her ENO debut, having previously covered the role of Phyllis in Iolanthe.

Completing the love triangle is lowly deckhand Ralph Rackstraw, played by Thomas Atkins, fresh from his successful performance as Nemorino in ENO’s 2024 production of The Elixir of Love. A graduate of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, the New Zealand tenor is fast becoming a sought-after artist on the international scene, praised for his ‘tenorial heroism’ (Opera Magazine).

Singing the role of cynical shipmate Dick Deadeye is Canadian bass Trevor Eliot Bowes, an ENO regular who has previously appeared in productions including The Merry Widow, La bohème: Drive & Live, Paul Bunyan, Salome, Rigoletto and The Girl of the Golden West.

Joining them on the Coliseum stage as Buttercup, a dockside vendor, is New Zealand contralto Rhonda Browne, who has sung in the UK and internationally, including at the Royal Opera House.

Reprising her role as Sir Joseph’s cousin Hebe is mezzo-soprano Bethan Langford, a former Scottish Opera Emerging Artist, baritone Marcus Farnsworth (previously for ENO: Iolanthe and Billy Budd) as the Boatswain and bass-baritone Nicholas Crawley as the Carpenter.

Set and costume design for HMS Pinafore is by Olivier Award nominee takis and sound design is by Dominic Bilkey. Tim Mitchell is the production’s Lighting Designer, with Adrian Poult as the Revival Lighting Designer. Lizzi Gee is the Choreographer and Spencer Darlaston-Jones, who also appears on stage as a dancer and in a non-singing acting role, is the Associate Choreographer.