Past Productions

The Gondoliers: October 1961

View Programme

Written by W.S. Gilbert . Music by Arthur Sullivan

The twelfth collaboration between composer Arthur Sullivan and librettist W.S. Gilbert, The Gondoliers (or The King of Barataria) tells the story of two charming Venetian gondoliers, Giuseppe and Marco, who are informed that due to an error of identity when they were young boys, one of them is the heir to the throne of Barataria. They are delighted with the situation and agree to share the responsibilities of governing their new kingdom until it can be ascertained which of them is which, but matters are complicated when the Duke and Duchess of Plaza Toro reveal that their beautiful daughter, Casilda, was married to the future king as an infant. The problem? Giuseppe and Marco are both newly married to the contadine Tessa and Gianetta, and Casilda is in love with her father’s attendant, Luiz. Since its premiere in 1889, The Gondoliers has delighted audiences with its memorable score by Sullivan, and its political satire, cleverly tucked into Gilbert’s witty plot line.

Produced by Ronald Smith

Gallery

The Gondoliers: October 1961 Read More »

Merrie England: November 1960

View Programme

Music by Edward German. Book & Lyrics by Basil Hood

This well-known comic opera is set in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The famous courtier, Sir Waiter Raleigh, loves Bessie Throckmorton, one of the Queen’s Ladies in Waiting. Bessie is frightened that a misplaced letter from Raleigh will fail into the hands of the Queen, who would be displeased at the association. Raleigh’s rival, the Earl of Essex, is given the letter by Jill-All-Alone, who is persecuted by the local people who think she is a witch. A forester begs the Queen to protect Jill. However, when Essex hands Elizabeth the letter, the Queen is so incensed that she orders Bessie’s imprisonment, Raleigh’s banishment and Jill’s death by burning. Elizabeth retracts each sentence when Essex halts a threat to her life through his exposure of Dr Lopez, the Queen’s Portuguese physician, who is planning to poison her.

Produced by Ronald Smith

Reviews
Local Reviews
Gallery

Merrie England: November 1960 Read More »

The Vagabond King: October 1959

View Programme

Music by Rudolf Friml. Book & Lyrics by W.H.Post and Brian Hooker

Filled with romance, swordplay, high aspirations and low comedy, ‘The Vagabond King’ recreates the world of medieval Paris saved from the Burgundians by a “king for a day”–the poet-thief François Villon. Paris is under siege by the forces of the Duke of Burgundy and popular support of King Louis XI is at a low point. Poet, braggart, thief Villon, the darling of the Paris rabble, has sent anonymous love poems to the beautiful Katherine de Vaucelles, causing her to reject proposals from King Louis. She goes to seek the mysterious poet at an inn, but King Louis shadows her in diguise. Louis is incensed to hear Villon mocking the failures of his reign and saying what he would do instead “if I were king.” The infuriated monarch reveals himself. As punishment for his treasonous speech, he gives Villon a hard choice: he must either shut up and give up courting Katherine or accept the position of Grand Marshal — with all the powers of King — for 24 hours during which time he must make good on his boasts and free Paris. If he chooses the second but fails, Villon will hang.

Produced by Charles Pole

The Vagabond King: October 1959 Read More »

Princess Ida: October 1958

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 1958-Princess-Ida-Programme_1-771x1024.jpg
View Programme

Written by W.S. Gilbert . Music by Arthur Sullivan

A hilarious twist on a traditional medieval fairy tale, Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant tells the tale of a Princess, who eschews her marriage obligations to the Prince of a neighboring kingdom (made when they both were infants) to run a women’s university. Prince Hilarion has been waiting for his wedding day for twenty years. He is about to meet Princess Ida to whom he was betrothed, as a baby. Unfortunately, Princess Ida has decided that she does not want to honor the commitment, and has, instead, gone off and started a women’s college. But Hilarion does not give up hope! In an attempt to woo her, Hilarion, dresses up as a maiden and sneaks into the women’s compound, accompanied by his friends, Cyril and Florian, who are forced to dress up, as well. Once the “maidens” are in the compound, various girls attending the college discover their secret. These girls attempt to keep their knowledge from Ida, but eventually she Ida discovers and apprehends the intruders. It looks like violence is sure to erupt, but Ida finally relinquishes and agrees to marry Hilarion.

Produced by Charles Pole

Reviews
Local Reviews
Gallery

Princess Ida: October 1958 Read More »

Yeomen of the Guard: October 1957

View Programme

Written by W.S. Gilbert . Music by Arthur Sullivan

The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888 and ran for 423 performances. This was the eleventh collaboration of fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan.

The opera is set in the Tower of London during the 16th century, and is the darkest, and perhaps most emotionally engaging, of the Savoy Operas, ending with a broken-hearted main character and two very reluctant engagements, rather than the usual numerous marriages. The libretto does contain considerable humour, including a lot of pun-laden one-liners, but Gilbert’s trademark satire and topsy-turvy plot complications are subdued in comparison with the other Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The dialogue, though in prose, is quasi-Shakespearean, or early modern English, in style.

Produced by Charles Pole

Reviews
Local Reviews
Gallery

Yeomen of the Guard: October 1957 Read More »

Iolanthe: October 1956

View Programme

Written by W.S. Gilbert . Music by Arthur Sullivan

Since its sparkling 1882 premiere at London’s new Savoy Theatre (the first to be fitted with electric lights, making all manner of magical effects possible), the fantastical satire Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri, has delighted audiences with its clever combination of romance, humor, political satire, and the memorable musical numbers that made Gilbert and Sullivan household names.

Iolanthe is a fairy who has committed a capital offense by marrying a mortal; rather than being killed, she was instead banished from the fairy kingdom, never to see her husband again. Twenty-five years later, at the start of the show, the fairies still miss Iolanthe deeply and convince the Fairy Queen to allow her to return. Iolanthe reveals that she bore her mortal husband a son, Strephon, who is a fairy down to the waist but has mortal legs. Strephon also happens to have fallen in love with the Lord Chancellor’s beautiful and much sought-after ward, Phyllis, who loves him in return but does not know of his mixed lineage. Strephon enlists his mother and the rest of the fairies to help him win his lover’s hand by convincing the Lord Chancellor (who loves Phyllis himself) and the government to allow them to marry. Seeing Strephon in the company of a young woman (fairies do not age, and so Iolanthe looks to be a girl of seventeen), the Peers try to convince Phyllis that her love is being unfaithful, and as punishment, the fairies make Strephon a member of Parliament, magically able to pass any bill he wants. In the meantime, the fairies all fall in love with members of the House of Peers, and the Fairy Queen finds herself with a political and moral mess on her hands. In true Gilbert and Sullivan fashion, the tangled plot unravels and all ends well.

Produced by Charles Pole

Reviews
Local Reviews
Gallery

Iolanthe: October 1956 Read More »

Pirates of Penzance: October 1955

View Programme

Written by W.S. Gilbert . Music by Arthur Sullivan

Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular show, The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty, is a rollicking, delightfully funny tale of a band of soft-tempered pirates. Mistakenly apprenticed to a pirate (instead of a pilot) by his nursemaid Ruth at the age of eight, the handsome Frederic is now twenty-one and, though quite fond of the group of joyous and fun-loving pirates, chooses to abandon his profession and “lead a blameless life henceforth,” dedicating himself instead to their eradication. Shortly after leaving them, he encounters a gaggle of beautiful maidens (one of whom, Mabel, steals his heart) and their father, the eccentric Major-General. The whole group has a run-in with the pirates themselves before escaping on the false premise that the Major-General is an orphan — a fact these tenderhearted pirates simply cannot help but take into account, given the fact that the majority of them are orphans themselves and “know what it’s like.” Just as Frederic is ready to lead a band of lily-livered policemen to take out the Pirate King and his men, a secret is uncovered that will change his fate forever, but, naturally, all comes out right in the end. Beloved since its premiere in 1879, The Pirates of Penzance is a delightful farce of a classic that is fun for all ages.

Produced by Charles Pole

Reviews
Local Reviews
Gallery

Pirates of Penzance: October 1955 Read More »

HMS Pinafore: May 1954

View Programme

Written by W.S. Gilbert . Music by Arthur Sullivan

H.M.S Pinafore, or The Lass That Loved a Sailor, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The story takes place aboard the Royal Navy ship HMS Pinafore. The captain’s daughter, Josephine, is in love with a lower-class sailor, Ralph Rackstraw, although her father intends her to marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. She abides by her father’s wishes at first, but Sir Joseph’s advocacy of the equality of humankind encourages Ralph and Josephine to overturn conventional social order. They declare their love for each other and eventually plan to elope. The Captain discovers this plan, but, as in many of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, a surprise disclosure changes things dramatically near the end of the story.

Produced by Geoffrey Sharp

Reviews
Local Reviews
Gallery

HMS Pinafore: May 1954 Read More »

Patience: November 1953

View Programme

Written by W.S. Gilbert . Music by Arthur Sullivan

Patience, or Bunthorne’s Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera is a satire on the aesthetic movement of the 1870s and ’80s in England and, more broadly, on fads, superficiality, vanity, hypocrisy and pretentiousness; it also satirises romantic love, rural simplicity and military bluster.

Produced by Geoffrey Sharp

Reviews
Local Reviews
Gallery

Patience: November 1953 Read More »

The Mikado: November 1952

View Programme

Written by W.S. Gilbert . Music by Arthur Sullivan

The Gondoliers was well received with full houses most of the week. In November 1952, the society continued with a second Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, The Mikado. By now the society had the feel for who should take the principal parts so there was no more sharing of roles.

Produced by Geoffrey Sharp

Reviews
Burton Mail Review
Gallery

The Mikado: November 1952 Read More »

Scroll to Top