The Gondoliers

Season: Spring 1981
(also performed May 30^th, 1981, Auditorium Theatre, Perry NY)

Dramatis Personæ:

Contadine:

Christina Arden-Hopkins, Mary Brzustowicz, Eleanor Cinelli, Lisa DeMetsenaere, Patricia Bonino Fischler, Merry Green, Anne Havens, Betsy Holloran, Mary Lou Payne, Suzanne Schroeder, Lyn Shepard, Martha Vail, Jaunell Waldo

Fiametta:

Christine Elliott

Giulia:

Judy Hopkins

Vittoria:

Rosalba Bonazza

Tessa:

Karen Thomas

Gianetta:

Elizabeth Blades-Zeller

Gondoliers:

Francesco:

Michael Swart

Antonio:

Jeff Tomkinson

Giorgio:

Robert Buck Edwardsen

Marco Palmieri:

Robert N. See

Giuseppe Palmieri:

Ronald Sinesio

Annibale:

Malcolm Judd

John Arden-Hopkins, Russ Batson, Terry Benedict, William DeMetsenaere, Patrick Dunford, Eugene Weren

The Duke of Plaza Toro:

Brian Smith

The Duchess of Plaza Toro:

Esther Handleman Vail

Casilda (their daughter):

Linda Siembor

Luiz (their attendant):

John S. Sherman

Don Alhambra Del Bolero (the Grand Inquisitor of Spain):

Alan Fischler

Inez (the King's foster mother):

Kathy Palokoff

Production Staff:

Accompanist:

Carol Tennenbaum

Choreography:

Terry Benedict, Michael Swart

Director:

John Arden-Hopkins

Producer:

Christina Arden-Hopkins

Costume designer and creator:

Anne Havens

Program/Poster Design:

Larry Green

Set design and concept:

Anne Perose Havens

Notes: (by Alan Fischler)

The Gondoliers, the 12^th of the 14 Gilbert and Sullivan operas, was first presented at the Savoy Theatre, in London on 7 December 1889, and had an original run of 554 performances. From a financial point of view, it was the most successful product of the authors' long collaboration; unfortunately, it was also their last complete success. Just a few months after their new opera opened, the two partners became involved in a quarrel which started over the cost of a new carpet for the theatre but which had to be settled in a court of law. The two operas which they wrote after their 1894 reconciliation are rarely performed today.

Gilbert's libretto for The Gondoliers contained the elements that had, by now, become standard for him: mistaken identities, political satire and a miraculously neat last-minute resolution of the plot: this last device was used in parody of the melodramas that had dominated the English stage in the early 19^th century, the final scenes of which would often spring completely unexpected solutions to seemingly insoluble problems.

Sullivan, meanwhile, steeped himself in Italian opera and atmosphere by journeying to Venice before beginning the score to The Gondoliers. He too had parody on his mind, but his particular triumph here, as one critic has noted, was that he "managed to reproduce the Italian operatic style and yet write music which is spontaneous and entirely original." The consistently sunny and joyful qualities of this music belie the great pain that Sullivan suffered when he composed it, victimized as he was by attacks of a kidney problem that plagued him throughout his life.

The opera was an immediate success: over 20,000 copies of the score were sold within a few days of its publication, as were over 70,000 copies of arrangements of individual numbers. On the day after the opening, Gilbert wrote to Sullivan: "I must thank you for the magnificent work you have put into the piece. It gives one the chance of shining right through the twentieth century." Today's performance proves him to have been right.

Last updated: 07/31/09