- Tolloller
- A Peer. Tenor counterpart of Mountararat
- The Lord Chancellor
- Comic Baritone - Wonderful solos (including the Nightmare Song) and wonderful dialog.
- Pvt. Willis
- A sentry. Bass Baritone - One funny solo, a fun ensemble and some good dialog.
And, of course, there are the choruses: The women are dainty little fairies (none of whom looks a day over 17), and the men are wealthy and influential members of the House of Lords of Great Britain. How can anyone resist?
January 18 Meeting: Spontaneous PINAFORE at Emmanuel: A very spontaneous HMS PINAFORE provided the highlight of our January 18 meeting in the friendly precincts of Emmanuel College, Boston, whose Theatre Guild co-hosted the event. In much the same vein as our time-honored Last-Minute Light Operas, this concert version was presented in simple surroundings, lightly adorned by a few props and performed by an array of singers -- some off the book, some on. A couple of roles were divided to accommodate willing volunteers. Josephine in Act I was Jenna Wilkinson, with voice sweet and true (who could, I suspect, project more power with some encouragement). Act II's Josephine was Rebecca Consentino (recently MIT's Rose Maybud), with voice sweet, true and no lack of confidence. Katherine Bryant was Buttercup, thoroughly apt in every way. Sir Joseph was David Jedlinsky, whose Savoy experience was evident throughout. Likewise Walt Howe's authentic Dick Deadeye. Ralph Rackstraw was shared by a confident Carl Weggel and his twin brother Bob, whose reading was a bit less dramatic than that of his alter ego. Dick Freedman gave us a valiant Captain Corcoran, and Nathan Handspicker doubled as an enthusiastic Carpenter and Boatswain. Randi Kestin was the accommodating Cousin Hebe. George Greco conducted an orchestra consisting of Stephen Malionek on clarinet and the signature vigor of Mike Bromberg's piano. Unfortunately, yr. correspondent failed to compile the names of the enthusiastic choristers. A good time was had by all.
New member Trudy Sevier asks: "Where do you get the music to use at the Spontaneous productions?" We answer: Any good music store ought to have piano/vocal scores for G&S operas. So should any good library. If all you have in your neighborhood are bad stores and libraries, risk attending the meeting anyway, and share someone else's copy. And tell us where you live, so that NEGASS can hound the local libraries and bookstores into purchasing scores! - mlc
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Next Bray Stuffing: April 5 . Call Us at (617) 253-5810 during the day, at (781) 646-9115 evenings and weekends, or email mlcar@mit.edu at any time, for directions to Our arbored home. -- mlc
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome We New Members Jim Krainin, Martin Lurie, Eva & Alan Radding, and Irma Selling. Martin, Alan and Alan & Eva's children are Enthusiastic Audience Members; Eva "likes to sing along" while Alan is a flutist, and Irma lists herself as a very fine Singer, Musician and Enthusiastic Audience. Jim is from Sharon - that's all We know about him. We’d love to hear more - Tell Us, Tell Us All About It! Hearty Greetings Offer We!
New member Susan I. Lindquist writes: I noticed my name in the new member welcome paragraph in which you indicated your surprise at a new member from Michigan.
I am a third generation G&S lover. It began in the 1920s with my grandfather. Sadly, I am the only member of my generation with a strong interest in the operas. I spent my teenage years listening to records and singing as many of the parts as could wrap my vocal cords around. To this day I wonder if the extra octave I have below middle C is a consequence of my penchant for singing the patter songs in their written register! When I went to college, the music department in which I studied considered G&S substandard [the old, old tale! - how can we counteract this error on the part of "serious" musicians? - mlc] and effectively stamped it out of my repertoire. I was dragged kicking and screaming to Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini instead.
At present I am a church soloist and substitute organist. I also arrange, compose, and publish sacred solos. In addition, I do music proofreading and typesetting for other sacred composers. Beyond that, I am an English, ESL, and German tutor at a local community college. My G&S activities are back to what they once were -- playing the recordings and singing the scores for my own pleasure.
As to how you ended up with a Michigan member, up until last year I lived in New Hampshire. I thought The Trumpet Bray would help keep me up to date on G&S happenings on the East Coast. -- SUSAN I. LINDQUIST
(Welcome, Susan! - but We feel Duty-Bound to remind you - and other NEGASSers as well - of the existence of the University of Michigan-based UMGASS, a sister G&S society which publishes an excellent newsletter, GASBAG. Don’t leave us, Susan - but do look into UMGASS for your daily G&S diet! -- mlc)
Now is our opportunity! I doubt that we can get the entire canon included, but if we lobby hard enough, perhaps little tiny brains in Georgia can spend those important first years absorbing "I have a song to sing, o!" or "With cat-like tread." So write early and write often!
AND - GREAT G&S SING-OUT NEWS: Leta continued: PS - To those who have been asking (and to whom I have been meaning to write), VLOC's 1998 Sing Out is still on schedule. The event will be August 29 and 30 and we will officially open registration in February and begin assigning roles in late March. So, yes, it's still on and, no, you haven't missed anything. I got several very helpful comments from some SavoyNetters before our first committee meeting and brought up the points suggested, and I am happy to announce that this year's Sing Out will include two short breaks for rest and refreshment. More news in February, bulletins and broadcasts anytime. -- LETA HALL
Don Smith writes: The OFFICIAL dates for the 5th International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, Buxton, England are July 29 - August 15, 1998. The Festival's temporary web page is: http://www.u-net.com/gsfest/ with links to the full one, when it is available. |
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FRESH BLOOD FOR THE BOARD! NEGASS is sorely in need of new active members -- people willing to take part in the tasks that make the group work. Elections aren't until June - but it's not too soon to start thinking about the part you'd like to play in next year's organization. Positions available as of June: Vice President (currently Patricia Brewer), Secretary (currently Carol Mahoney), and - up for renewal every year (since only Patricia Brewer has ever been able to survive more than one year in that seat!) - Program Chair (currently shared by Mark Woodruff and Steve Levine). A couple of Memberships-At-Large are also coming up for grabs. What do these people do? Mostly, they make themselves available for a couple of meetings per year, stay in touch to discuss plans and policy, and lend a hand stuffing Brays or bringing refreshments to meetings. If you'd like more details, get in touch with the Board member whose place you'd like to usurp, and ask. This year, nearly everyone on the Board is e-mail accessible, which makes communications easier - but it certainly isn't a requirement. The Program Chair is the only one listed with a serious set of duties - and they are admittedly serious. With plenty of input and help from the rest of the Board, s/he is expected to set the date, time, location & content of each meeting, taking into account the time requirements of Bray publication: We try to announce each meeting in an issue mailed at least 2 weeks before the meeting date - which means that We actually need the info 3 weeks before the meeting in question. In fact, We also need the date, if nothing else, of the following meeting, so that We can announce the next Bray deadline and stuffing in the same issue. Ideally, We'd have the entire tentative calendar available to print in September, but, of course, such firm commitments leave out opportunities for serendipitous - not to say Spontaneous - activities that We all enjoy. So we strike a balance between the two. And the challenge is to lure more members to meetings. Meetings have not been well attended in recent years. Anyone tempted to re-vamp our program? -- mlc |
SULLIVAN RARITIES DISCUSSED ON SAVOYNET: Janice Dallas gleaned this article, in which Ashley Frampton <frampev@eurobell.co.uk>, a former D'Oyly Carte member, interviews Sir Charles MacKerras on Pineapple Poll and the Sullivan Cello Concerto.
AF. How did you come to know Gilbert and Sullivan so well?
CM. During the war I played oboe in the orchestra of a Sydney theatre; we played all the operas with the exception of UTOPIA and the GRAND DUKE.
AF. How did the idea of a ballet score based on the operettas come about?
CM. Whilst playing in the pit orchestra I played the piano for Gaitie Parisienne, a ballet arrangement by Rosenthal of Offenbach operettas. I thought, Well, wouldn't Gilbert and Sullivan go well like that!
When the chance came to go to England after the war in 1947 I got to know John Cranco (spell?) who was a rustic young choreographer at the time; he was South African and I was Australian. I then went away to Prague for two years, ‘47-‘48, where I got to know and love the music of Janacek; then I came back and talked to John, saying, Why not use the music of Sullivan for a ballet?
He took The Bumboat Woman’s Story, one of the Bab Ballads by Gilbert which was the genesis story for HMS PINAFORE; it had a similar story, of people getting mixed up etc. He decided to use this; he saw it as a good balletic situation as the girls disguise themselves as sailors and of course as they don't speak you can't tell they are not sailors for a long time. I arranged the music and John had final say over what was suitable -- and when it wasn't I thought of something else until it was! I knew all the operas, note and word, except UTOPIA and the GRAND DUKE, which I had never heard. That is how I was able to raid the Savoy operas and in particular the words of the tune match the action -- if you knew the words it was appropriate to what was going on in the ballet.
AF. So the music does match the on stage action.
CM. Yes it does, very often, not always but as often as I could.
AF. There is a large amount of PRINCESS IDA in the score; had you just got to know the opera?
CM. No, the music just fitted the bill. It was suitable for re-arranging in a brilliant way; the original is small scale, mine is more modern. I base it on Sullivan’s, of course, but in fact the music is completely reorchestrated with lots of percussion, xylophone etc., partly because the voice has to be replaced with some distinctive colour -- not like the old G & S selections where the cornet plays the tune from "Sparkling eyes", or the euphonium playing "There lived a king".
AF. Please tell us something about the Cello Concerto?
CM. The Cello Concerto is a completely different thing. When Poll first came out the publishers were keen to keep the copyright as it had run out on Sullivan -- Chappells, who publish most of the operettas, were keen to keep the copyright so they asked if they could publish Poll. They did in fact publish a suite which was a slightly watered down version - they knocked twenty minutes off it and simplified the orchestration so any orchestra could play it. When I do Poll with orchestra I always use my own parts photographed from the complete ballet (triple woodwind and three trumpets).
AF. I have been on the programming group of my orchestra for six years and I constantly argue to programme it!
CM. I used to go to publishers (Chappells) a lot as I had become a conductor of light music on the radio, for the BBC - I had my own light orchestra - the works. I had two persona at that time, conducting Music-while-you-work one day and on the third programme the next day with a Mozart symphony. One of the directors at Chappells said, Would you like to do another Sullivan arrangement? - We have all the serious music he wrote here in our library. There I saw this Cello Concerto in manuscript score, beautifully written out -- I think it was a copyist’s hand, not Sullivan’s, (Sullivan’s is good but not that good - this was lovely). It also had a set of parts with it, and so I said, This is interesting for a radio concert on the third programme, and I had started to work with the Goldsborough Orchestra (later to become the English Chamber Orchestra). I suggested the Sullivan Cello Concerto for broadcast; they thought it was a very good idea and engaged William Pleeth. the famous cellist, to play it. He learnt it; it is very difficult in parts. He played it very well indeed. Several years later loads of material of Chappells was destroyed in a famous fire, including the Concerto - nothing remained except a cello part in the Morgan library in New York. It had the melody cued when the cello wasn't playing - sometimes a counter melody as well - so I was often asked if I would re-construct it on the strength of Poll, but I was always too busy.
Then I got struck down with hepatitis, and I was in stuck in Australia, but I had brought the score with me. Thinking about it, I can tell you that it was a very good thing that I did; I was able to use the time when I was sick to work on this. Hepatitis A, which is what I had, is a very nasty recurring illness; you get better then worse and the cycle continues; you feel tired and you can't move. I just worked slowly on this thing for months, eventually finishing it. Julian Lloyd Webber was the first to express an interest in it, then Weinbergers were interested in publishing it (a bit of a departure from The Merry Widow, which is their staple diet). The reason had more to do with fact that the chief editor’s wife was my secretary! Nothing to do with Sullivan’s music. We rehearsed it and then out of the blue as the performance was due (with the London Symphony Orchestra) an old chap, Vernon Elliot, a fine bassoon player who had been in the Philharmonia, came up to me: He was married to a cellist and she remembered that May Mucle (a fine cellist between the wars) had also got a cello part - she had played it with the Bournemouth Orchestra under Godfrey and she was a relation to Mrs. Elliot. When I looked at this part it was the bass that was cued in and not the melody - thus I could improve the bass part to my arrangement!
AF. How accurate were you?
CM. Pretty good, little needed any real alteration at all, I was very pleased.. I did change a few things but not much; my orchestration was partly memory. When I could not remember it I used my knowledge of Sullivan orchestration and filled the gaps; it is just like Mendolsohn or Schubert, it sounds very stylish I think.
AF. You certainly would have fooled me, if I didn't know, The slow movement is beautiful and a favourite of mine.
CM. Yes, isn't it! That’s the history. It is not done often, partly because it is so hard. The last movement is a sort of patter song for the cello: it doesn't stop! I did a concert here (the Liverpool Philharmonic) where one soloist played it with me and he had got the wrong idea of the last movement. I said it goes much faster than that - he said that it would be unplayable! I said that Bill Pleeth played it fast of course.
AF. Many friends and colleagues have copies of your recordings of G & S with the Welsh Opera. Have you done everything you want to do with them or is there more in the pipeline?
CM. No, there are three that are crying out to be done: PATIENCE, IOLANTHE and GONDOLIERS. The company (WNO) say that they loose too much money: It takes as much work as any opera and it sells reasonably but not all that well, and there has never been an agreement as to whether or not to include the dialogue. There has been disagreement, especially in the USA, and the recording company (Telarc) -- I am trying to find a sponsor for recordings with the WNO but it could be anywhere! The Scottish Chamber [Orchestra] wanted to record G & S but as yet have not got the money. We all need sponsorship nowadays. WE ARE LOOKING FOR SPONSORS!
AF. Do you think that professional G & S has a future?
CM. Only if the D'Oyly Carte play other operas in rep. other than G & S, not trying to play the whole canon in any one time. It might take ten years to get through them all but they could do older musicals as well as Offenbach and Strauss of course. The musical comedies that are a bit later than G&S are very fine - you know, German and Monkton and the White Horse Inn. I think the place of G & S is in a company such as that and I can never understand why nobody has managed to form a company like that that will perform classical operettas. We are crying out for operetta like Lehar and Strauss in English - there is no point in doing it in German - and doing it properly.
The other companies will do G & S on the odd occasion; the Scottish have done three and Sadlers Wells have done a good number of them, four I think including RUDDIGORE with the original finale, which I used in Poll -- people did not like this ending; they wanted a reprise - they were so conditioned to having old rather than new music for the finale of an opera.
AF. Thank you very much it has been very enlightening
CM Thanks, a real pleasure to talk to G&S fans over the world.
-- ASHLEY FRAMPTON (of Classic Occasions - see his Web Page at www.zynet.co.uk/base/frampev/Welcome.html)
Have We printed this giggle, which Janice Dallas gleaned from SavoyNet?: Someone described a cartoon in The Spectator (a UK weekly) showing the dismay of a signer for the deaf as a person at a microphone says, "Next, I'd like to do I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General."
Did anyone see The New England Lyric Operetta's production of Bah Humbug!, a musical version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol which played (with a 28-piece orchestra) in December in Stamford, Connecticut? Apparently the show featured Sullivan's music & Gilbert's or Gilbertian style words - the numbers described to Us included Scrooge and the Chorus singing "Oh Why at This Time of Year?" set to "Oh Why Am I Moody and Sad?" from RUDDIGORE, and Young Ebenezer, Dick and Old Fessiwig singing "No More Working Here Tonight" set to "Hereupon We’re Both Agreed" (The Cock and Bull Song) from YEOMEN. The company's contact is apparently Bill Edgerton, who can be reached at (203) 655-0566.
BUILDING NEW AUDIENCES: First of all: Ocean State Light Opera (OSLO) has changed its name to Ocean State Lyric Opera. We hear that next year’s plans include GONDOLIERS, The Three Penny Opera, and Rigoletto. This should address the problem of hoity-toity opera types who need to learn the value of G&S!
Next, OSLO’s Artistic Director, Marilyn K. Levine, has arranged for a new educational touring program, called Opera-tunitysm, which will begin this February by involving school kids in Providence, RI, in an abridged production of PIRATES. They’ve been funded by the RI Council on the Arts, and expect to expand the program in future years to include more and a greater variety of operas. For more info, contact their PR person, Shawn Kendrick, at (508) 252-6375 or shwnkndrk@aol.com
DISCOURAGING NEW AUDIENCES: Dame Rumour (in the person of Debra Hanggeli) whispers that a high school on Springfield, MA, is said to have cast a young lady with a magnificent tenor voice in the role of Ralph in their production of PINAFORE. So far, so good -- how many of us recall such cross-casting from our youth? However, a parent in the school objected; the principal overruled the artistic judgment of the director, and the young lady was replaced with - guess who - with the son of the objectionable - er - objecting parent. Apparently, this has caused a well- deserved furor in the press, as well as on SavoyNet. The last We heard, PINAFORE had been abandoned in favor of West Side Story, to which there were other objections. Has anyone heard the rest of the story? - mlc
Wally Mason is eager to share info on books available through The Scholar’s Bookshelf, 110 Melrich Rd., Cranbury, NJ 08512:
- 4FR6P
- Complete Annotated G&S, Ian Bradley - $39.95
- 4JB5P
- Modified Rapture: Comedy in W.S. Gilbert’s Savoy Operas, Alan Fischer - $8.95
- 4L56P
- Complete Plays of G&S (Norton), paperback - $16.98
Credit cards and institutional P.O.s accepted - fax: (609)395-0755; email: books@scholarsbookshelf.com
Auditions for MITG&SP’s PIRATES will be held February 9 in the MIT Student Center, Room 407, and Feb. 10 in Twenty Chimneys (same bulding, strangely-named room!) from 6 to 10 pm, with callbacks on 1/11. Performances are planned for April ‘98. Orchestra members are also being sought. E-mail savoyards-request@mit.edu or call 253-0190 for directions or more info on MITG&SP events.
NYG&SS will hold its next meeting on Thursday, Feb. 12 at CAMI Hall, 165 W. 57th St., NYC. Doors open at 7:30; the meeting starts at 8, and the Inner Brotherhood go out for coffee afterwards.
Valley Light Opera will hold its Annual Meeting Thursday, March 5 at 7:45. They're already gearing up for their 75th anniversary in two years - try calling Sally or Bill Venman at (413) 549-1098 for further info/directions.
Hancock County G&S Soc. plans IDA for February 6, 7, 13 and 14 at 8:00 PM and February 8 and 15 at 2:00 PM. Directors are Kathleen Lake and Bob Bahr. To reserve tickets, call the Grand Box Office at (207) 667-9500 weekdays 10-4. For more info try calling Lee Patterson at (207) 244-4044.
The Paul Madore Chorale will present a concert version of PINAFORE on Saturday March 7, 1998 at 8:00 PM at the First Baptist Church in Beverly, MA. Soloists are: Miae Cho, Donna Murphy, Nadine Sippel, Gary Lubarsky, Robert Chalifour, and John Laberge. Tickets are $12.00 in advance and $15.00 on the day of the concert. For tickets and information, call Donna at 781-639-8062 or Anne at 978-745-7007.
The Gilbert & Sullivan Yiddish Light Opera Company of Long Island will present Der Yiddisher Mikado on February 4-15, 1998 at The American Jewish Theatre Performing Space, 307 W. 26th Street, NYC. For tix & info call 212/613-0051 or visit http://sunsite.unc. edu/yiddish/DYG; for group rates: 516/483-8963
The Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert & Sullivan Players plan IOLANTHE as their spring ’98 production. Stage direction will be by Vladimir Zelevinsky, a grad student at MIT. Dame Rumour - well - their official mailing, actually - whispers that professional-quality CDs of last year’s PIRATES are available for $15 + $2 S&H. And We hear good things about this fall’s MIKADO - review, anyone?! For more info, reach HRG&SP via tmoore@fas.harvard.edu, or by phone at 617- 496-4747.
The Sudbury Savoyard's cast for TRIAL this winter includes Peter Stark as the Judge, with Ben Stevens and Ellen Spear as the litigants, while PINAFORE ships out with Steve Curtis as the Captain and Laura Gouillart as his Buttercup, Lonnie Powell and Amy Allen as the young lovers, Walt Howe as Dick Deadeye, and Eric Ruben as Sir Joseph. Other local favorites in cameo roles include Larry Seiler and Debra Hanggeli. Directors: Kathy Lague and Bill Kuhlman. Show dates: March 24-26, 1998. Visit Sudbury’s (new) Web site at http://www. sudburysavoyards.org/ or call 978 443-8811 for more information.
DON SMITH tells Us: NYGASP (the New York G&S Players) will present PIRATES in Manchester, NH on Saturday, April 4, 1998. (Time and venue TBA.)
The Jewish Theatre of New England, 333 Nahanton Street, Newton Center MA 02159 is aiming for a Nov. 1998 production of Yiddish PIRATES. For further information contact producing director David Mladinov at (617)558-6480 or Fax (617) 527-3104.
PO Box 367, Arlington, MA 02174-0004 Send electronic contributions to our new e-mail address: negass@iname.comPresident RICHARD FREEDMAN: Vice-President PATRICIA BREWER: (617) 323-3480 Members at Large: NEGASS membership dues are $15 and up. Please send membership inquiries to Bill Mahoney C/O the above address. The NEGASS Web Page is located at |
