March 25, 2025

The Covid-19 Pandemic brought The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company’s cabarets to a sudden close in 2020 and resulted in the permanent closure of Honey, the cabaret’s regular venue in northeast Minneapolis. It seemed to most that our company’s cabarets had passed into history.

In 2025, however, a new opportunity presented itself. MetroNOME Brewery in Saint Paul became a new venue where cabarets might once again take place.

MetroNOME was “founded on the belief that education in general, and music education in particular, is the gateway to a better, more fulfilling life, and we want to make sure that any child who loves music should be able to find a way to play.” To that end, the brewery contributes a portion of its profits and public direct contributions, to music education groups in the Twin Cities metro area. These profits and contributions are bolstered by their inviting live talent to perform in the venue, as a means of mutual promotion.

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company took advantage of this new opportunity and performed a selection of songs from Patience, during the middle of the production’s run on March 25, 2025. It was exciting for the company member involved to be performing in cabaret again!

The Patience Promotional Cabaret cast included …

Joe Allen, Adam Arnold, Robert Banks, Natalie Dulka, Scott A. Gorman, Mary Kettlewell, Hannah Pantano, Mallory Rabehl, Lara Trujillo, and Sam Vinitsky …

… with Presenter Stephen Hage, and Accompanist, Jean Orbison Van Heel, and Gary Briggle, Director introducing Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience and the Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company’s production of the operetta.

The Patience Promotional Cabaret Program

I Cannot Tell What This Love May Be

Sung by Mallory Rabehl, with Natalie Dulka, Mary Kettlewell, Hannah Pantano, and Lara Trujillo

Am I Alone and Unobserved?

Sung by Sam Vinitsky

If You Want a Receipt

Sung by Scott A. Gorman, with Adam Arnold, Robert Banks, and Stephen Hage

When I First Put This Uniform On

Sung by Scott A. Gorman, with Adam Arnold, Robert Banks, and Stephen Hage

Long Years Ago, Fourteen Maybe

Sung by Mallory Rabehl and Hannah Pantano

Prithee, Pretty Maiden

Sung by Joe Allen and Mallory Rabehl

Silvered is the Raven Hair

Sung by Lara Trujillo

A Magnet Hung in a Hardware Shop

Sung by Joe Allen, with Natalie Dulka, Mary Kettlewell, and Hannah Pantano

Love is a Plaintive Song

Sung by Mallory Rabehl</p

So Go to Him and Say to Him

Sung by Lara Trujillo and Sam Vinitsky</p

If Saphir I Choose to Marry

Sung by Adam Arnold, Robert Banks, Natalie Dulka, Scott A. Gorman, Hannah Pantano</p

When I Go Out of Door

Sung by Joe Allen and Sam Vinitsky