The “I Have a Song to Sing, O! Ballads, Songs and Snatches from the Works of Gilbert and Sullivan” Concert
October 17, 1982
William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan collaborated to write fourteen musical shows between 1872 and 1896. The first, Thespis, was not well received, and most of the musical score was physically thrown away, so the only melody which remains is “Climbing Over Rocky Mountains,” later re-used in Pirates. Their next show, Trail by Jury, was a 35-minute cantata, with no spoken lines. That went over very well, and the operettas followed in twelve years. Seven of those are represented in tonight’s program. After a four-year hiatus, they wrote two more, Utopia, Limited and The Grand Duke, but the critical consensus was that these were not as good. Of course, these two final operettas do have their admirers.
In all of the thirteen for which we still have the music, the clever word-mongering and wry humor of Gilbert complement the lively melodies of Sullivan. Gilbert gave vent to his many firmly imbedded prejudices and found weak spots in the conduct of the British upper class. Sullivan skillfully parodied the styles of popular composers and utilized melodic patterns of his own to emphasize these ridiculous plot situations.
Their format developed from the humorous but simple shows of mid-nineteenth century British music halls, and they established a pattern for more complex works which has evolved through such composers as Victor Herbert to the gala Broadway musicals of the 1940s and 50s.
The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company is a non-profit, amateur troupe, whose membership of about fifty is drawn from the entire metro area. They are held together by a common bond; they like to sing and act in the operettas of these two eminent Victorians.
The troupe was formed in the summer of 1979, and its first appearance was at the Hauenstein Concert of December 1979, when they performed Trial by Jury. That travelling production went on to 18 more presentations, in as many different locations, and was retired in April of this year. They have produced three full length operettas, Patience (1980), Iolanthe (1981), and Princess Ida (1982). Their 1983 show, Ruddigore, is now in rehearsal. Tonight, they present their new travelling show.
The “I Have a Song to Sing, O! Ballads, Songs and Snatches from the Works of Gilbert and Sullivan” Concert cast included …
Wally Benbenek, Ernest Brody, Stephanie Brody, Camilla Cane, Peter Erickson, Roger Evans, Richard Fishel, Diane Friebe, Ray Goins, Fred Griebie, Gary Hansberger, Larry Hill, Dorothea Jensen, Rhea Lee Kaner, Dean Laurance, Sue Ann Loomis, Dick Lueben, Becky Lynum, Brenda Lynum, Holly MacDonald, Carol Manning, Mary Mescher, Tim Miller, Sue Ellen O’Connell, Sheila Palmer, Richard Rames, Stephen J. Rawlins, Roxie Schenzel, Claudia Schnitker, Ann Schnitzen, Cynthia Anne Spencer, Rita Stough, Stephen B. Sullivan, Barbara Webber, Holly Windle
… with Roxann Schenzel, Director, and Joanne Thrash, Pianist
The “I Have a Song to Sing, O! Ballads, Songs and Snatches from the Works of Gilbert and Sullivan” Program, First Set
In a Doleful Train, from Patience
Sung by Waldyn Benbenek
I Have a Song to Sing, O!, from The Yeomen of the Guard
Sung by Sue Ellen O’Connell and Waldyn Benbenek
Poor Wandering One, from The Pirates of Penzance
Sung by Sheila Palmer, Brenda Lynum and Becky Lynum
Never Mind the Why and Wherefore, from H.M.S. Pinafore
Sung by Holly Windle, Richard Rames and Dean Laurance
So Go to Him, from Patience
Sung by Dorothea Jensen and Richard Fishel
From the Sunny Spanish Shore, from The Gondoliers
Sung by Diane Dinndorf Friebe,Carol Manning,
Stephen B. Sullivan and Waldyn Benbenek
Sad is That Woman’s Lot, from Patience
Sung by Barbara Webber
The Criminal Cried As He Dropped Him Down, from The Mikado
Sung by Ann Schnitzen, Waldyn Benbenek and Fred Griebie
Prithee Pretty Maiden, from Patience
Sung by Sue Ellen O’Connell and Waldyn Benbenek
Over the Bright Blue Sea, from H.M.S. Pinafore
Sung by Ann Schnitzen, Waldyn Benbenek and Ernest Brody
The “I Have a Song to Sing, O! Ballads, Songs and Snatches from the Works of Gilbert and Sullivan” Program, Second Set
When I Was a Lad, from H.M.S. Pinafore
Richard Fishel
Things Are Seldom What They Seem, from H.M.S. Pinafore
Sung by Barb Webber and Richard Fischel
Oh, Better Far to Live and Die, from The Pirates of Penzance
Sung by Fred Griebie
When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold, from The Pirates of Penzance
Sung by Barbara Webber, Larry Hill and Waldyn Benbenek
Were I Thy Bride, from The Yeomen of the Guard
Sung by Dorothea Jensen
Good Morrow, Good Lover
None Shall Part Us, from Iolanthe
Sung by Sue Ann Loomis and Waldyn Benbenek
A Man Who Would Woo a Fair Maid
When a Wooer Goes a-Wooing, from The Yeomen of the Guard
Sung by Claudia Schnitker, Dorothea Jensen,
Ray Goins and Richard Rames
Alone, and Yet Alive
Willow, Tit-Willow
There is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast, from The Mikado
Sung by Roxanne Schenzel and Roger Evans
I Am So Proud, from The Mikado
Sung by Waldyn Benbenek, Roger Evans and Fred Griebie
Strange Adventure, from The Yeomen of the Guard
Sung by Claudia Schnitker, Dorothea Jensen,
Ray Goins and Richard Rames
When the Foeman Bares His Steel, from The Pirates of Penzance
Sung by Barbara Webber, Holly Windle,
Roger Evans and Fred Griebie