“In the coming by-and-bye!”

—Lady Jane
Patience

Future Shows

The Mikado – Fall 2024

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company is pleased to announce that it will present The Mikado for four weekends, in November 2024.

This reimagined version of the show, graciously shared with us by Gilbert & Sullivan Austin, is set in the highlands of Scotland and retitled The McAdo.

Lanky Doug, a strolling minstrel, arrives in the Scottish town of Ballydew, seeking to marry the beautiful Wynn Somme. He learns, however, that Wynn Somme is already engaged to Coco, a cheap tailor, who has been unexpectedly raised the rank of Lord High Executioner. Heartbroken, Lanky Doug contemplates suicide. In the meantime, Coco is unable to find someone to execute, as he must do, before the arrival of the clan Laird, The McAdo. Coco hits on a plan that will solve both of their problems. He will offer Lanky Doug a month of marriage to Wynn Somme if Lanky Doug allows Coco to execute him at the end of that month. What Coco doesn’t realize is that Lanky Doug is the son of The McAdo and has run away to avoid marriage to the bloodthirsty Katishagh. The arrival of The McAdo complicates matters, but ultimately brings the story to a delightful, satisfying conclusion.

For this upcoming production, the Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company owes an extraordinary debt of gratitude to the members of Gilbert & Sullivan Austin who invited and strongly encouraged the Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company to produce its reimagined version of the operetta, set in Scotland. Surprisingly few changes to Gilbert’s libretto and Sullivan’s score were necessary to transport the story to Scotland, which was accomplished primarily and successfully through scenery and costuming. The fact that it is possible to transport this operetta from its original to a new setting speaks to the underlying universality of the piece. The Mikado serves as a delightful commentary on human folly that isn’t tied to one fictional locale or another.

For a fuller discussion about this and previous revisions to The Mikado, we invite you to read our full presentation on The Mikado Revised page of our website.

Patience – Spring 2025

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company is pleased to announce that it will present Patience, for four weekends, in the spring of 2025.

Patience opens with all the well-born young ladies in the local village, rapturously caught up in aestheticism, and in love with two aesthetic poets. The poets, however, are both in love with Patience, the simple village milkmaid, who cares nothing for poetry. Patience learns that true love must be completely unselfish … it must wither and sting and burn! The young ladies’ military suitors don’t see the point to aestheticism, but they decide to give it a try to win the women’s hearts. It is “touch and go” for a while, but everyone ends up with a suitable partner, even if it is only a tulip or lily.

Patience satirizes the “aesthetic craze” of the 1870s and ’80s, when the output of poets, composers, painters and designers of all kinds was indeed prolific, but, some argued, empty and self-indulgent. This artistic movement was so popular, and so easy to ridicule as a meaningless fad, that it made Patience a big hit in its day. The operetta remains relevant as it can be understood to satirize the adherents to all fads!

All 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.

“The Present as we speak becomes the Past,
the Past repeats itself, and so is Future! 
This sounds involved.  It’s not.  It’s right enough.”

—Lady Blanche
Princess Ida