“Oh, maiden, rich in Girton lore that wisdom which, we prized before we do confess is nothingness, and rather less, perhaps, than more. On each of us thy learning shed. On calculus may we be fed. And teach us, please, to speak with ease, all languages, alive and dead!”

—Women’s Chorus
Utopia, Limited
Utopia, Limited 2024
Poster design by Tom McGregor and Mary Olson

“Oh! the hours are gold, and the joys untold, when my eyes behold my beloved Princess; and the years will seem but a brief daydream, in the joy extreme of our happiness!”

—Princess Zara and Captain Fitzbattleaxe
Utopia, Limited
The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company’s 45th Aniversary Production of

Utopia, Limited or The Flowers of Progress

March 1 to 24, 2024

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The GSVLOC COVID-19 Health and Safety Plan for our Audience

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company is pleased to announce that it will present Utopia, Limited, for four weekends, from March 1st through March 24th of 2024.

This production will be directed by Maureen Kane Berg, with music direction by Dr. Randal Buikema.

In our newly revised production, Utopia, Limited takes place on the idyllic island of Utopia, somewhere across the sea. Utopia is now a society of people whose great-great-great-grandparents had arrived from England to settle the uninhabited island over a century ago.  During the years before the story takes place, Utopia has developed into an independent nation, which has recently renewed its relations with Britain. 

Princess Zara returns to Utopia, after having completed her studies at Cambridge University’s Girton College, with a plan to free her father from the machinations of the two judges of the Utopian Supreme Court, by remodeling Utopia’s government. While Princess Zara’s reforms appear to be successful, are they, perhaps, too successful?  

Written near the turn of the nineteenth century, but with the sensibilities of the late twentieth century, Utopia, Limited is a remarkably progressive story, unique to all of Gilbert and Sullivan, in that the driving force of the story is a college educated woman, who sets out to reform her nation’s society and government out of love for her father.

The cast for this production of Utopia, Limited includes:

King Nigel Paramount: Waldyn Benbenek
Princess Zara: Mary Kettlewell
Princess Natasha: Mallory Rabehl
Princess Katherine: Ella Rose Katzenberger
Lady Sophy: Lara Trujillo
   
Henry Phantis; Joe Andrews
Colin Scaphio: Tom Berg
Thomas Tarara: Scott Benson
   
Captain Fitzbattleaxe: Josh Zapata-Palmer
Mr. Goldbury: Joe Allen
Mrs. Blushington: Kelly Danger
Captain Corcoran: Jacob Koshiol
Sir Bailey Barre: Jeff Erickson
   
Phyllis: Rosemary Vega
Sarah: Mikaela Moe
Margaret: Alyssa Ehlen

 

Chorus of Utopians, First Life Guards

Mary Mescher Benbenek Maggie Benham
Sarah Brickeen Jim Brooks
Justin Cervantes Tessa Dahlgren
Mary Gregory Stephen Hage
Noah Han Trenton Johnson
Therese Kulas Dean Laurance
Blanka Melbostad Jaezmyne Pheanious-Browne
Gary Pye Richard Rames
Seth Tychon Steidl Angela Walberg
Riley Webster Holly Windle

 

Our company has revised Utopia, Limited to address the various concerns with the original script.  We encourage you to read about our revisions on our website’s Utopia, Limited Revised page and to review the revised script

Our production will be a world premiere of an adaptation that we will share freely with other Gilbert and Sullivan companies that might be considering staging the show. It is our hope that our adaptation will make it possible for Utopia, Limited to become an operetta that is performed far more regularly by companies around the world.

The performances will be at the Conn Theater, at Plymouth Congregational Church, located at 1900 Nicollet Avenue South, in Minneapolis. 

Friday and Saturday evening performances are at 7:30 pm.  The Saturday and Sunday matinees are at 2:00 pm.

If you would like to be notified about when to order tickets, we invite you to add your name to our mailing list. This way, we will know how to contact you!  We never sell our mailing list to other parties.

Two excellent internet resources for information about Utopia, Limited:

Wikipedia – Utopia, Limited

The Gilbert & Sullivan Archive – Utopia, Limited