Auditions for The Yeomen of the Guard

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company will hold auditions for its 2026 production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Yeomen of the Guard, on Saturday, December 6, 2025, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm and Sunday, December 7, 2025, from 5:00 to 8:00 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 Gary Briggle, 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.

A Message from Gary Briggle, Director, The Yeomen of the Guard, 2026

Sign up for auditions HERE

The Yeomen of the Guard

The Yeomen of the Guard is set in the Tower of London during the reign of King Henry VIII. The plot concerns Colonel Fairfax, a gentleman, soldier and scientist, who has been sentenced to be beheaded in an hour on a false charge of sorcery. To avoid leaving his estate to his accuser, and with the help of the Lieutenant of the Tower, Fairfax secretly marries Elsie Maynard, a strolling singer. The bride agrees to be blindfolded during the ceremony and expects to be a well-paid widow in an hour. With the help of the Meryll family, Fairfax escapes, throwing the Tower into confusion and the astonished Elsie and Jack Point, a jester who loves her, into despair. But Fairfax, disguised as Leonard Meryll, woos Elsie, and after a number of plot complications are worked out, she unknowingly falls in love with her husband, but leaves Jack Point broken-hearted.

The Yeomen of the Guard has been described as Gilbert and Sullivan’s most emotionally engaging operetta, more serious in character, with none of Gilbert’s typical satire of British institutions. While the libretto does contain considerable humor, Gilbert’s trademark satire and topsy-turvy plot complications are subdued in comparison with the other Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Musically, the operetta is considered to be one of Sullivan’s finest, most musically ambitious.

Roles in The Yeomen of the Guard

Principals

Elsie Maynard, a Strolling Singer (soprano)

Phoebe Meryll, Sergeant Meryll’s daughter (mezzo)

Dame Carruthers, Housekeeper to the Tower (mezzo / contralto)

Kate, Dame Carruther’s niece (soprano)

Jack Point, a Strolling Jester (baritone)

Colonel Fairfax, a Nobleman, under sentence of death (tenor)

Sergeant Meryll, of the Yeomen of the Guard (bass / baritone)

Wilfred Shadbolt, Head Jailer and Assistant Tormentor (baritone)

Sir Richard Cholmondeley, Lieutenant of the Tower (bass / baritone)

Leonard Meryll, Sergeant Meryll’s son (tenor)

First Yeoman (tenor)

Second Yeoman (baritone)

Ensemble

Chorus of Yeomen of the Guard, Townspeople

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.

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.

If you are auditioning for a Principal Only, we strongly encourage you to audition using the selection noted below, from The Yeomen of the Guard, for the role for which you’re auditioning. Those auditioning for Principal / Chorus may consider doing the same. This is not an expectation for those auditioning for Chorus Only. All those Called Back will be expected to use the selection for the role for which they are auditioning.

The music can be found at Download a Vocal Score. The principal roles and selections to prepare are as follows:

Elsie Maynard: #10 “’Tis Done! I Am a Bride”

Phoebe Meryll: #1 “When Maiden Loves” OR #11 “Were I Thy Bride”

Dame Carruthers: #3 “When Our Gallant Norman Foes”

Kate: #13 “Night Has Spread Her Pall” pages 144 – 145

Jack Point: # 9 “I’ve Jibe and Joke”

Colonel Fairfax and Leonard Meryll: #5 “Is Life a Boon?” OR #16 “Free From His Fetters Grim”

Sergeant Meryll: #4 “The Air I Breathe” pages 40 – 42, OR # 2 “Tower Warders” pages 23 – 25

Wilfred Shadbolt: # 12 Act I Finale pages 117 – 118

Sir Richard Cholmondeley: #8 “How Say You Maiden” pages 77 – 78

First Yeoman: #12 “As Escort for the Prisoner” page 131 – 132

Second Yeoman: # 2 “Tower Warders” pages 23 – 25

For songs with multiple verses, please sing only one verse.

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.

Special Note:  All men in this production will be strongly encouraged to grow beards.

Call Backs

Call Backs are will be held on Monday, December 8, 2025, starting at 7:00 pm. All those called back will be notified via email on Sunday, December 7, 2025, immediately after Sunday’s auditions have been completed.

Those called back will be expected to sing a selection, noted above, for the role for which they are auditioning.

If the Directors would like to hear readings, sides will be emailed prior to or provided at Call Backs.

Notification

We intend for casting to be completed by Monday, December 22, 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, January 12, 2026, to Saturday, February 21, 2026.

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, February 23, 2026, to the Thursday, March 5, 2026 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, March 5, 7:30 pm, Preview Performance
Fridays, March 6, 13, 20, 27, 7:30 pm, Evening Performances
Saturdays, March 7, 14, 21, 28, 7:30 pm, Evening Performances
Saturday, March 14, 21, 2:00 pm, Matinee Performances
Sundays, March 8, 15, 22, 29, 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.

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If you would like to audition for The Yeomen of the Guard, please sign up HERE.

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