Auditions for Iolanthe

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company will hold auditions for its 2025 production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, on Saturday, June 14, 2025, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm and Sunday, June 15, 2025, from 12:30 to 3:30 pm.

Auditions will be held at the Golden Valley East office building, at 820 Lilac Drive North, in Golden Valley. Please park in the West Lot and enter the building through the building’s main doors.

This production will be directed by Michelle Schwantes, with Music Direction by Dr. Randal Buikema.

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company presents its shows at the Conn Theater, 1900 Nicollet Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403.

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company welcomes and strongly encourages people of all races, identities, and backgrounds to audition. We believe that our shows are brought to life when the stories unfold onstage within a fully realized community, with both lead and chorus characters having distinct identities and relationships.

Sign up for auditions HERE

Iolanthe

Iolanthe tells the story of a fairy named Iolanthe who was banished from fairyland because she married a mortal, which is forbidden by fairy law. Her son, Strephon, is an Arcadian shepherd who wants to marry Phyllis, a Arcadian shepherdess a Ward of Chancery. Phyllis’ guardian, the Lord Chancellor, and all the members of the House of Peers also want to marry Phyllis.

Phyllis does not know that Strephon is half fairy and when she sees him kissing his mother, who, who as an immortal fairy, appears to be a young woman, she assumes the worst. Phyllis confronts Strephon and this sets off a climactic confrontation between the peers and the fairies. All is happily sorted out in the end, thanks to the “subtleties of the legal mind”.

In Iolanthe, Gilbert satirizes the House of Lords as a bastion of the ineffective, privileged and dim-witted. Britian’s political party system and other institutions also come in for a dose of satire. Yet, both author and composer managed to couch the criticism among such bouncy, amiable absurdities that it is all received as good fun.

Both Gilbert and Sullivan were at the height of their creative powers when they wrote Iolanthe in 1882, and many people feel that this operetta is the most perfect of their collaborations.

Roles in Iolanthe

Principals

Phyllis, an Arcadian Shepherdess and Ward in Chancery (soprano)

Iolanthe, a Fairy, Strephon’s mother (mezzo)

Celia, a Fairy (soprano)

Leila, a Fairy (mezzo)

Fleta, a Fairy (speaking role / chorus)

Queen of the Fairies (mezzo – contralto)

Strephon, an Arcadian Shepherd (tenor)

The Lord Chancellor (comic baritone)

George, Earl Mountarat (baritone)

Thomas, Earl Tolloller (tenor)

Private Willis, of the first Grenadier Guards (bass)

Ensemble

Chorus of Fairies and Peers

Casting

All principal roles for the production will be cast through these auditions. No principal roles are pre-cast.

In addition to casting the principal roles, the directors will cast covers (understudies) for each principal role through these auditions. These covers (understudies) will be cast as members of the chorus, but will be offered the opportunity to appear in the principal role in one performance, by mutual agreement with the person cast in the principal role.

While approximately a fourth of the ensemble is already filled by performers who are company members, the remaining ensemble vacancies, all voices, will be filled through these auditions.

All performers will be offered a stipend of $200.00.

To Audition

You will sign up online to audition at a specific time HERE. using a link that will be provided here in late May 2025.

When you submit for an audition appointment, you will be prompted to submit your performance resume and your head shot or another good photo of yourself, both of which will be required to audition, as noted above.

We prefer that you audition with a song or aria in English, but other languages are acceptable. Your selection may be an opera or operetta piece, a Gilbert and Sullivan song, a show tune, etc. No pop or rock music, please.

An accompanist will be provided. We strongly recommend that all those auditioning prepare an accompanied piece rather than something unaccompanied.

You do not need to prepare a monologue. The Directors may provide you with sides during your audition. If they do so, you will rehearse the sides privately with others who are auditioning and then present it to the Directors.

Call Backs

Call Backs will be held only if deemed necessary by the Directors. Some or all roles may be cast based on the auditions, without Call Backs.

If Call Backs are held, they will be scheduled for Monday, June 16, 2025, starting at 7:00 pm. All those who will be called back will be notified via email on Sunday, June 15, 2024, immediately after Sunday’s auditions have been completed.

Those being called back will be notified of which role or roles they’ll be asked to read and sing. Sides will be provided at Call Backs. The music and sides that will be used for specific roles will be available on this page in the future.

Notification

We intend for casting to be completed by Monday, June 30, 2025

We will call those being offered principal roles first. They are given a limited amount of time to accept or decline the offer before the offer goes to the next candidate. After the principal roles have been filled, those being offered Ensemble roles will be called. Finally, we will notify via email those whom we are unable to cast. This process may take up to two weeks, but everyone who auditions will be called or notified via email.

Rehearsals

Rehearsals will be held at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, from Monday, September 8, 2025, to Thursday, October 16, 2025.

Rehearsals are held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, from 6:30 to 9:30 pm, and Saturdays from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Typically, the chorus rehearses on Mondays and Thursdays. The Directors, however, may call the chorus to rehearse on Tuesdays and Saturdays as necessary.

Typically, the principals rehearse on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Principals will be added to the Monday and Thursday rehearsals, as scenes which include them are rehearsed.

All cast members must understand that they might be called and should be available all Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

All cast members are expected to attend every rehearsal to which they are called unless their absence has been approved in advance or due to illness or emergency. Those who are determined to be excessively absent should expect a reassignment of blocking and business on stage. Excessive absenteeism and/or an unexcused absence may result in dismissal from the production.

Rehearsals will be held at the Conn Theater, 1900 Nicollet Avenue South, Minneapolis, from Monday, October 20, 2025, to the Thursday, October 30, 2025 Preview Performance.

Directions – Google Map

Performance Schedule

Performances will take place with a 14-show production schedule, including the Preview Performance.

The performance schedule is as follows:

Thursday, October 30, 7:30 pm, Preview Performance
Fridays, October 31, November 7, 14, 21, 7:30 pm, Evening Performances
Saturdays, November 1, 8, 15, 22, 7:30 pm, Evening Performances
Saturday, November 15, 2:00 pm, Matinee Performance
Sundays, November 2, 9, 16, 23, 2:00 pm, Matinee Performances

Attendance for Tech Week rehearsals and all performances are mandatory, except for only the most serious circumstances of illness or emergency, or in the very exceptional event that the role has been cast with the understanding that a person will be missing a specific performance. Without any exception, however, the Directors or Stage Manager must be notified by the cast member of a pending absence. Failure to do so may result in dismissal from the cast.

Sign Up to Audition for Iolanthe

If you would like to audition for Iolanthe, please sign up HERE.

Sign Up to Be Notified About Auditions

If you would like to receive direct notification for our auditions now and in the future, please sign up for our audition mailing list.