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So glad that you liked it.

I am sorry that you did not care for the way in which we performed Iolanthe. But I confess that I don't understand what you mean by "ridiculous vocal" and that "Eeeeverythiiiing Seeems too be streeeetch ouuuut." Since you have performed Iolanthe in a professional group, and done it with D'Oyly Carte, I would especially appreciate your feedback and would like to better understand what you found to be wrong with our vocals. To that end, can you give me several examples in this production that illustrate your point? Can you also point me to audio or video recording of Iolanthe that illustrates what you believe to be the right or better way of doing those same vocals? (I am not clear whether by vocals you are referring to songs, dialog, or perhaps both). We are always open to suggestion and take peoples feedback quite seriously. Regards, John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

Both women are very, very good. You should check out Julie in the Act II finale of Princess Ida. She captures Ida's defiance, and her voice soars over the full chorus of men and women. Spectacular. czcams.com/video/m8z-aow_DEU/video.htmlsi=H4EcM2yEH-boqhTT

Tony, we are always willing to learn and open to suggestions. Could you take a few minutes and identify to us what costuming we got wrong in these two shows. That way we have that info for the next time we stage these shows.

Ian, I am glad that you enjoyed our production of The Mikado. I can understand how, watching the video of the show, that you do not like the surtitles. And certainly from the standpoint of watching it on CZcams, the surtitles are not needed at all since the entire show has been subtitled (which of course anyone is free to turn off if they wish). That said, our audiences constantly complement us including surtitles in the live performance. Many people know all the lyrics to The Mikado. But we do have many coming to the show, who don't. And we do have audience members who are hearing impaired. From the standpoint of staging, the surtitles do pose a challenge for us. The screen has to be lowered below the proscenium arch. That in itself can be distracting to some. But more problematic is that having the screen lowered, even though just a little bit, can make it harder to light the show. Not all of the lights are on the battens over the stage. Some of the show lighting is in auditorium ceiling pointed at the stage. The lower screen can partially block some of those and we have to compensate by making some creative adjustments to the on-stage lighting. But on the whole, we constantly receive strong thumbs up from our audiences for using surtitles. Some have gone so far as to tell us that they would not otherwise have come to see the show. Best regards, John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

Joshua, I'm glad that you enjoyed our production of The Gondoliers. I agree that it is a fun show. There are a number of terrific songs in it. One that I am especially fond of is "Then one of us will be a queen" where Tessa and Gianetta excitingly describe all the perks of being a "right down regular royal queen." I understand that this was one of Queen Victoria's favorites. This October 19th & 20th we will be staging The Yeomen of the Guard. Though it is not as well known or popular as The Mikado, H.M.S Pinafore, or The Pirates of Penzance, I think this is one of the best of the G&S collaborations. It is arguably the most operatic in the G&S canon. And the dramatic and rather sad ending is beautiful and heart-wrenching. If by any chance you get to the States this Fall, we hope you stop in to see the live production. Best regards, John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

Ahh I love Yeoman of the Guard, (I saw it for the first time last year, staged by Kentish Opera, which gives away that I'm from Southeast England). Not sure why but I've always found 'A Man who would woo a fair maid' super catchy. I would love to visit the States and see, but I'm not really sure if my Uni student budget allows, not too mention October is in the middle of term! @@jfreedman35

Sorry you did not like our production. Is there a particular G&S group that you follow and like?

And certainly, along with "My name is John Wellington Wells" from The Sorcerer, one of the most difficult of the G&S patter songs. We're doing Patience this Oct 28th and 29th. And that show has what I consider to be one of the most difficult of all the patter songs; "If you want a receipt" sung by Colonel Calverley. What makes this one especially difficult is that it does not tell a story. It is merely a rhyming recitation of historical people's names, and many of those are people who are unfamiliar to most of us. It is a stinker. Here is a little promo video about the upcoming production of Patience. czcams.com/video/4ly2L6ntZew/video.html John Freedman, Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

@@connecticutgilbertsullivan2348 I love the nightmare song precisely because of its difficulty. Took me weeks to learn it and I still sometimes get it wrong. I've seen many versions of it online but very few singers have the breath control to handle it, especially that final verse. I love the patter songs especially, but while I could probably get Heavy Dragoon down I don't think it would be fun to do so, so I probably wouldn't try unless I had to. My local company on LI is doing Iolanthe this year, I plan to try out for it.

@@authorguy5696 Break a leg on your audition. When and where is your show?

@@connecticutgilbertsullivan2348 The rehearsals start on Tuesday, auditions some time after that, once we all know what we can do, I guess. I'm the right age for the LC at least. I just see him as a downbeat romantic lead, not a humor role. The show would likely be next summer, a few performances around LI. I've never auditioned for anything, no idea how to do it. Thanks for the good wishes.

Welcome aboard. All Trekkies welcome. Playing Bob Beckett (the bass part) and getting to sing "A British tar" in the the CG&SS 2012 productionof PINAFORE was my stage debut.

raiders of the lost ark

Alexej< We absolutely agree with you about Henry. He was great as Samuel in Pirates, and even better as Cyril in Princess Ida. He is extremely talented performer. He has a natural ease on stage, wonderful stage presence, and comic timing.We all really miss him. Henry was a H.S. junior when we did Pirates in 2016 and a senior when we did Ida in 2017. He was off to college after that. I expect that we will all see his name up in lights someday. John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

+Alexej, you are correct. According to Sullivan most of the original music to Thespis was destroyed of lost. But in an interview Sullivan said that the music that was in Thespis was later reused in one form or another in a later show. A good example of that is "climbing over rocky mountain" which was later reused in The Pirates of Penzance. That song, and "little maid of arcadee": are the only remaining original songs from Thespis. There have been several reconstructions of Thespis. One was done by Professor Jonathan Strong of Tufts University. Strong set the lyrics in Thespis to music that was in the later shows. And our Music Director, Dr. John Dreslin, wrote the orchestrations for Strong's reconstructed songs. For instance, you may recognize that the music to the number "goodness gracious, how audacious" was later in The Gondoliers as the song "try we lifelong" and "Oh I'm a celestial drudge" was the same music as "Gentlemen listen I pray" from Trial By Jury. It is strange how ingrained lyrics from the later have become. One of the challenges for our cast in performing Thespis was to unlearn the lyrics that were set to the music in the later shows.and relearn the music with the lyrics in the Thespis libretto. John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

We are of like minds. When I first listened to Princess Ida, and heard this song I fell in love with the show. The music and lyrics in this number are wonderful. And Lady Psyche's sentiments that at best, Darwinian man, though well behaved, at best he is only a monkey shaved, are very clever. And I really liked what our Artistic Director did with the end of the song, where Cyril, Florian, and Hilarion get into the classic illustration showing man rising up out of the primordial ooze with Lady Psyche the fourth in the series standing upright and fully evolved. Princess Ida is not as well known nor does it have the following of Pinafore, Pirates, and The Mikado. But to me, it is one of the best of the G&S operettas. Funny characters and story line, and many great songs, particularly the ones in Act II. And in Act II my favorite is the finale. In this performance, Julie Rumbold plays Princess Ida, and is absolutely sensational. Her powerful voice just so soars over the chorus czcams.com/video/m8z-aow_DEU/video.html. If you haven't seen that clip, be sure to do so. And of course you are welcome to watch the entire 2017 production.czcams.com/video/Hm461k71Mwk/video.html John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

@@connecticutgilbertsullivan2348 Hi, I think this play is very clever, because while dealing with a topic that was very controversial at the time of writing (women's education and emancipation), it doesn't serve to simply mock these innovative notions. It seems to suggest in a light and humorous way not to take extreme positions (the women don't give up their university, quite the contrary, but they also learn that men are not worthless brutes either). I had a look at your full show, it's brilliant. A very humorous production. A while back, I also saw your production of "The Yeomen of the Guard." I liked it very much.

Glad you enjoyed it. I had barely heard of Princess Ida before we decided to do it. When I listened to an Ohio Light Opera production of this show and heard Lady Psyche sing "A lady fair of lineage high" whose closing line is "and Darwinian man, though well behaved, at best he is only a monkey shaved" I fell in love with this show. The characters, story line, dialog and music are so clever. The only weak part in the original libretto was the original ending where Ida gives up. It made her, her women, and her cause look stupid. We figured out a way to fix that and I think it made a big difference. John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

@@connecticutgilbertsullivan2348 "Princess Ida" seems to be much underappreciated. It now surely ranks among my favourites.

@@connecticutgilbertsullivan2348 You can't reasonably change the art that another has created. Ida's "cause" WAS stupid! And it was more demeaning to all men than it was to women.

I have heard this song at a faster tempo. But I rather prefer this slower tempo because it is reminiscent of a clumsy ape struggling to change himself into Darwinian man. That slower tempo evokes images of a lumbering, knuckle dragging ape. John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

Roderick, We appreciate the kind words and are most flattered by them. And, of course, we are pleased that you enjoyed our production. Although some of our cast members majored in theater or vocal performance in college most did not and are simply big G&S fans who love to perform. We put our heart and soul into these shows and it is so nice to get such glowing praise. John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

Julie Rumbold was great as Princess Ida. Her singing was spot on, and her powerful voice what you'd expect of Princess Ida who has defiantly shunned man. She really comes across as a force to be reckoned with. John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

Glad you enjoyed it. This is always a fun show for us to perform. We like the way the set turned out for this one too. We wanted to have a rocky promontory upstage left so that the daughters had a way to come down off the mountain and down to the seaside. Similarly Major General Stanley and Mabel had to have some place from which to make a grand entrance. We included a ramp with a switch back in it to allow them to do that.

Martin, I am not sure what you are referring to. Many of the productions that I have seen, including the Joseph Papp production and the movie do this number much differently then we do it here. While I enjoy some of those, and I appreciate Azito's incredibly elasticity as the Sergeant, I have always thought that the bobbies mocking themselves makes this scene less funny. To me, and to our music and artistic directors, the thing that really makes the bobbies funny is that they take themselves so seriously and play it so deadpan. They are of course incompetent, and not at all up to the task of taking on the pirates. But the fact that they don't know that and that the audience does is what makes this scene so funny. I did not see the Pirates production that was staged in Central Park. But if this scene was done there as it was done on Broadway and in the movie, than I would argue that our staging of this scene was quite different from that. If you haven't done so already, be sure to check out the full length videos of our shows czcams.com/play/PLpy6NB5QxjnMAl1dwoMpLVMiRAHOOEx-7.html Thanks for the feedback. John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society (and Sergeant of Police)

I actually find each of the Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society's productions to be refreshingly unique. Of course productions will take from those that the producer etc. have seen. It's the nature of things. I have watched hundreds of G&S productions, appeared in a couple and designed for nearly all of the canon.

Glad you enjoyed watching the video. When we cast these shows we try to put the best people we can into each role. We are not a professional group but we do the best we can with the people who come out to audition for one of our shows. Some of them have wonderful trained voices with degrees in vocal performance from various colleges or they have taken voice lessons. Others not. But overall, I think our shows are something special. They are fully staged with a professional orchestra and we endeavor to stay faithful to the original libretto and Gilbert's stage notes. This year we did a full live production of Ruddigore. With COVID continuing to be a threat it was extremely difficult to rehearse and do this show. But it was a great one and the people who made it out to see us loved it. It will be at least a year before we put that here on our CZcams channel. John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

Titipu is a real place!

Hmm Even the dialogue could use subtitles...

Much of it seems to be based on the late Terence Rees and Garth Morton's 'reconstruction' of the music, which dates from around 1971 and was performed in London and recorded shortly thereafter. It's not though quite the same, as they took great care only to use items from Sullivan's other works if they could be almost seemlessly arranged to fit the 'Thespis' libretto. For example in their score the opening chorus "Throughout the Night the Constellations" is set to part of "All Is Darksome" from 'The Grand Duke', while in this version it is set to a piece from Sullivan's 1897 ballet 'Victoria and Merrie England'.

@@robertwhittaker5477 I preferred the reconstruction with music from the film composer Bruce Montgomery (e. g. Buxton) because he knew how to imitate Sullivan's style to a T.

@@richardduployen6429 I was in the world premiere of Bruce Montgomery's edition of THESPIS in 1971, which took place at the Plays and Players Theater on Delancey Street in Philadelphia, PA. I portrayed Cymon/Father Time with Bruce's group, The Gilbert & Sullivan Players of Philadelphia. In 1989 the group performed the show again. This time I was Apollo. Bruce directed both productions.

Thank you so much. I think Bruce also composed film scores. Is either of the Gilbert and Sullivan Players of Philadelphia productions of "Thespis" available on CZcams? I used to have the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival video.@@scottbullitt723

Professor Jonathan Strong, who reconstructed our Thespis score had this to say about the pronunciation of those character's names: "The scansion of Gilbert's verse indicates that the second syllable is stressed in Spar-KAY-on and Ni-SEE-mis; the same likely applies to Tip-SAY-on and Pret-TAY-a." I grant you that Gilbert may have been having a bit of fun with us; thinking that when an audience saw Nicemis written out in a show program, they might recognize, and think funny, that the rather Greek sounding name Ni-SEE-mis as spoken in the show could also be seen as "nice miss." And that Pret-TAY-a could also be seen as pretty-ya (prettier). That said, as it is Jonathan Strong who is the expert on Thespis and the person who reconstructed the score that we used to stage our production of this show, we defer to his judgement regarding the correct pronunciation of the characters names. John Freedman Vice President, Producer, Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society

@@jfreedman35 Thanks for such a thoughtful and scholarly reply. I could accept Ni-SEE-mis for meter in a song, but I still think one should say Nice-Miss when scansion and meter are not an issue, like in dialogue. Maybe I'm a little old fashioned and grumbly on this. It's all a little mysterious anyway since we lack the score.

@@jfreedman35 Also, I don't remember offhand what other Thespis reconstructions, Henty's and Shepherd's, do with the names. But I really like some of your creative melody choices!