“We sail the ocean blue,
and our saucy ship’s a beauty;
we’re sober men and true,
and attentive to our duty.”
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore or The Lass That Loved a Sailor
March 6 to 29, 2015
Directors
| Stage Director: | Lesley Hendrickson |
| Music Director: | Randal A. Buikema |
Director’s Notes
H.M.S Pinafore was Gilbert & Sullivan’s first full-length hit, opening 1978. It has remained, with Mikado and Pirates, among the “big three” of the G&S canon, continually in performance by groups ranging from professional companies to elementary schools. It’s story manages to be sweetly romantic while tying logical (and mathematical) granny knots. Half the fun is rolling along with the rapidly rising level of implausibility. Don’t ask how old Little Buttercup is supposed to be. Don’t even think it.
As originally staged, the work had a contemporary setting. Over the years, the GSVLOC has mounted three productions of Pinafore, the first an homage based closely on photos and engravings of the original. Our second was a very contemporary ‘Love Boat’ setting. This, our third, is set on a World War II battleship. For a gaggle of blitz-wearied “sisters and cousins and aunts,” a jaunt down to Portsmouth is a jolly distraction, and aiding young love an added treat. So grab your gas mask and your ration book and join us on the H.M.S. Pinafore.
Lesley Hendrickson
Victoria Valencour as Josephine and
Kai Brewster as Ralph Rackstraw
H.M.S. Pinafore Reviews
Cherry and Spoon, by Jill Schafer
One Girl Two Cities, by Laura vanZandt
Two excellent internet resources for information about H.M.S. Pinafore:
Show Poster
Poster design by Tom McGregor and Mary Olson
Rowland Hilder / © Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK / Bridgeman Images
Company Photo
Photography by Daniels Studio
“He is an Englishman!
For he himself has said it,
and it’s greatly to his credit,
that he is an Englishman!”
H.M.S. Pinafore
Photo Gallery
