The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company

The Orchestra

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company performs with a full orchestra.  While a number of theater companies in the Twin Cities region perform with orchestras, few but the most professional productions do so with an orchestra of comparable size and quality.  The orchestra covers all instrumental parts, performing Sullivan’s music in its fully orchestrated form, not a reduced version.  Some instrumentalists return, year after year, while others are new to a given production.

The Orchestra’s Humble Beginnings

Like most musical theater companies, The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company first performed with only a piano.  As there is no orchestra pit in the Howard Conn Fine Arts Center, in which the Company performs, the piano was placed in the house, in front and off to the left of the stage.  In the years that followed, however, the Company began to add instruments to what became a small orchestra.  In a couple of the first productions, one of the chorus members would actually slip down into the improvised pit to add his string bass to the solo and duet numbers.  By the company’s seventh staged production, The Mikado, in the spring of 1985, the orchestra had grown to more than a dozen instruments.  It became necessary to remove seats in the theater to make room for the added musicians at a time when the company’s growing popularity led to sold-out performances.  In addition, the orchestra was interfering with audience sightlines and sometimes overwhelming the voices on stage.  Something had to be done.

A “Double Decker” Orchestra

Yale Marshall, the stage director for our fall 1985 production of The Sorcerer, was the one who suggested moving the orchestra backstage.  The following year, Dean Laurance, one of the company’s founding members, built a platform, backstage right, to make up for limited wing space.  The platform could accommodate six musicians above, with room for another six below.  The rest of the orchestra fanned out in front of the platform, immediately off stage right.

In order for the actors to see the conductor, who was now backstage with the orchestra, Dean created a system of monitors and video cameras.  One video camera was placed to view the conductor, with the conductor’s image cabled to three monitors in the theater, visible only to the cast members on stage.  Another video camera was placed in the light booth to view the stage, providing the conductor with an image of the actors, through a monitor.  The company’s audio / visual specialist, Bob Johanneck, has continued to refine and improve the system.

The arrangement was an immediate success.  With the orchestra backstage the company was able to sell tickets to the entire house just in time to accommodate the growing audiences.  The three monitors, placed house right, center and left, allowed the actors to see the Conductor in three different locations.  Most importantly, being backstage made it possible for the orchestra to play with a wider range of dynamics, as it was no longer necessary always to play softly, as it had been when the orchestra was actually in the audience. 

Growth Through the Years

Every year the orchestra seems to grow as Music Directors call for more violins, additional woodwinds, or even a “second trombone.”  The orchestra now numbers over thirty for each performance, drawn from a pool of about sixty.  As to the quality, many actors say that they’ve never had the opportunity to sing with such a fine orchestra and consider it a privilege to do so.  Audience members have shared that, as wonderful as the productions are, the orchestra alone is “worth the price of admission.”  Occasionally, other audience members, not realizing that we are performing with a live orchestra, have asked where we found such a fine recording of the orchestration! 

The very much “live” Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company orchestra remains an essential part of making attending one of the company productions such a delightful experience.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company orchestra, you can learn more on our Get Involved: Orchestra page.

The Orchestra’s Leadership

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company’s Music Director is also the production’s Conductor.  This allows the Music Director, who is responsible for developing the musical interpretation, to be able to realize that concept throughout the entire run of the production. 

The orchestra and its interests are represented on the company’s Board of Directors by an Orchestra Representative.

The company engages one of the musicians to serve as Orchestra Manager.  The manager is responsible for recruiting instrumentalists, arranging rehearsal schedules, making the schedule for performances, and so on.

The Members of the Orchestra, for Patience, 2012

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company Music Directors