Past Productions

The Gypsy Baron: October 1971

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by Johann Strauss. Original Book by Ignatz Schnitzer

Set in Hungary in the 18th Century, this is the colourful story of the marriage of a landowner (returned from exile) and a gypsy girl who is revealed as the daughter of a Turkish Pasha, and the rightful owner of hidden treasure. It involves a fortune-telling Romany Queen, an absurdly self-important Mayor, a rascally Commissioner, a Military Governor, a band of gypsies and a troop of Hussars. Theatrically very effective and musically superb.

Produced by Charles Pole

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Orpheus in the Underworld: October 1970

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Music by Jaques Offenbach. New book and lyrics by Phil Park

Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld), first performed in 1858, is said to be the first classical full-length operetta, and is arguably Offenbach’s most popular work. An irreverent parody of Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), and scathing satire on many aspects of French society and politics, the operetta is internationally famous for its risqué galop infernal, popularly known as the ‘Can-Can’.

Produced by Charles Pole

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The New Moon: October 1969

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Music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab.

Robert is a young French aristocrat whose revolutionist inclinations force him to flee his country. Under an assumed name, he sells himself as a bond-servant to planter and ship-owner Monsieur Beaunoir and his family in New Orleans in 1792. Because the Paris police are looking everywhere for him, Robert cannot tell Beaunoir or Beaunoir’s beautiful daughter Marianne, with whom he has fallen in love, that he is of noble blood. Eventually he is tracked down by Vicomte Ribaud, the detective villain, and put aboard a ship, the New Moon, so that he can be returned to France. Robert thinks he has been betrayed by Marianne, who has gained her father’s consent to travel on the same ship, pretending that she is in love with the ship’s captain, Duval. A mutiny occurs, and Robert and the bond-servants come into power. Everyone goes ashore on the Isle of Pines, and a new republic is founded.

The republic flourishes under Robert’s guidance, but Marianne, her pride hurt, at first refuses to marry Robert. French ships arrive, apparently to reclaim the island. Vicomte Ribaud expects them to conquer the island for the King of France. But the French Commander reveals that there has been a revolution in France, and that all aristocrats must die unless they renounce their titles. Ribaud, a Royalist, heads for execution, but republican Robert renounces his title. All ends happily for him and Marianne.

Directed by Roy Johnson

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The Mikado: October 1968

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

The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, Operetta in two acts by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan that premiered at the Savoy Theatre in London on March 14, 1885. The Mikado is set in the 1880s, in the imaginary Japanese town of Titipu. Nanki-Poo, the son of Japanese emperor Mikado, has fled there to avoid marrying Katisha, an older woman, and he ends up falling in love with Yum-Yum, who is betrothed to the Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko. When The Mikado was composed, Londoners were enthusiastic about all things Japanese after the opening of Japan to the West in the mid-1850s, and the initial production was a triumph, running for 672 performances. Within a year some 150 other companies were performing it in England and the U.S. The operetta continued to fill theatres in the 21st century, but its Japanese stereotypes often put it at odds with contemporary ideals of cultural representation.

Directed by Michael Thorne

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White Horse Inn: October 1967

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Adapted by Hans Muller and Erik Charell, from a play by Blumenthal and Kadelburg : Original Lyrics by Robert Gilbert. Music by Ralph Benatsky and Robert Stolz

Head waiters of White Horse Inn have found that to fall in love with the attractive young widow who owns the establishment is a swift and certain route to dismissal. Yet none have been able to resist Josepha; least of all Leopold, the present incumbent. She, however, pines for Valentine Sutton, a regular visitor from England, and is resolutely blind to all the evidence that his thoughts for her are no more than warm friendship. Valentine’s annual visit is at hand, and by the same steamer arrive Ebenezer Grinkle, a self-made lad from Lancashire with plenty of brass, his sweet young daughter Ottoline, an impoverished Professor Hinzel and his gawky, lisping, but appealing daughter Gretel, and a dapper young man, Sigismund Smith (of Hammersmith). Sub-plots abound as Smith and Grinkle discover they are hated business rivals. Sutton (who is Smith’s solicitor) falls in love with Ottoline, and Smith with Gretel, while Leopold repeatedly threatens to resign and wish them all a last “Good-bye!” The subsequent arrival of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor serves at first only to add to the acrimonious chaos, but finally his kindly understanding and wisdom do much to bring about the statutory happy ending.

Directed by Michael Thorne

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The Yeomen of the Guard: October 1966

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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.

Directed by Michael Thorne

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The Merry Widow: October 1965

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Music by Franz Lehár: Book and lyrics by Victor Léon and Leo Stei

Often called ‘The Queen of Operettas’, this is certainly the most celebrated and successful show of its kind ever written. The melodies and songs – Vilja”, “The Merry Widow Waltz”, “You’ll Find Me At Maxim’s” to name but a few – are lovingly played and sung the whole world over, making it one of the surest box-office attractions of all time.

Directed by Charles Pole

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The Pirates of Penzance: October 1964

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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

Directed by Ron Whetton

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Song of Norway: October 1963

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Based on the life and music of Edvard Grieg. Musical adaptation and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest.

The show is set in and around Norway in Troldhaugen and Bergen; as well as Copenhagen and Rome in and after 1860. It follows the fictionalized lives of three childhood friends: Edvard Grieg, Nina Hagerup and Rikard Nordraak. The play tells of the early struggles of Edvard Grieg and his attempts to develop an authentic Norwegian national music. Grieg dreams of being a great composer and these dreams are shared by his friend Nordraak and Grieg’s sweetheart, Nina. Grieg is lured to Italy by the great prima donna Louisa Giovanni, but he finds he cannot create amid all the glitter and excitement and so returns to Norway and his beloved Nina to write his music.

The melody of the Norwegian National Anthem, Ja, vi elsker dette landet was actually written by Rikard Nordraak to lyrics written by the Norwegian national poet, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Although Nordraak was in fact the composer who wrote the national anthem, he was portrayed as a poet in the show because it was believed “two composers would be confusing”.

Directed by Ron Whetton

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The Rebel Maid: October 1962

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Written by Alexander M. Thompson and Gerald Dodson. Music by Montague F. Phillips

Lady Mary Trefusis is secretly engaged in aiding the landing near Torbay of Prince William of Orange as part of a plot to rob James II of the English throne. At a garden party at Lord Milverton’s house in Devonshire, Mary meets Lord, Milverton’s son, Derek, who is also working secretly for the cause. They have been childhood playmates and are now immediately attracted to each other, although neither is sure of the other’s political sympathies. Her fondness for Derek annoys Sir Stephen Crespigny who has been appointed by the King to investigate reports of secret landings of men and arms, because he, too, is in love with Mary. Sir Stephen has his suspicions about Mary’s and Derek’s rebellious activities and they fall together into a trap he sets at a local inn. Luckily, the fishermen thronging the inn are on their side; they overpower Sir Stephen’s soldiers and allow Derek to escape. Sir Stephen then threatens that if Mary does not marry him, she will be tried for high treason and Derek will be shot he moment he is seen As Sir Stephen has anticipated, Derek comes to find Mary. He is seized and is about to be executed when the timely arrival of the Prince and the fishermen averts the disaster. Mary, the rebel maid, surrenders to Derek who pays tribute to the fishermen of England; they have saved his life and their country’s liberties

Produced by Ron Whetton

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