H.M.S. Pinafore 2019
July 13, 14 2019
The members of the Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company were pleased to return to the Lake Harriet Bandshell to sing with the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra after a year’s hiatus and to perform H.M.S. Pinafore to very receptive audiences on a very warm July weekend.
As was done in 2015, the last time the Company performed H.M.S. Pinafore at the Lake Harriet Bandshell, this year’s concert presentation featured the swing version of “Fair Moon to Thee I Sing,” which had been arranged for the company’s 2015 production of the operetta, which had been set in the 1940s. In the role of Captain Corcoran, Waldyn Benbenek sang the song at the top of Act II, accompanied by fellow cast members blowing bubbles to the delight of over a dozen children who ran around in front of the bandshell stage, trying to catch the bubbles!
Photo Gallery
The cast for this concert production of H.M.S. Pinafore included:
Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B. Eric Mellum
Captain Corcoran Waldyn Benbenek
Ralph Rackstraw Felix Aguilar Tomlinson
Dick Deadeye Ryan Johnson
Bill Bobstay Joe Allen
Bob Becket John Orbison
Josephine Victoria Valencour
Cousin Hebe Sarah Mehle
Little Buttercup Maggie Burr
Women’s Chorus
Mary Mescher Benbenek, Maia Carnicom, Kelly Danger, Cynthia Dickison, Karen Erickson, Mary Gregory, Shawn Holt, Holly MacDonald, Anna Maher, Blanka Melbostad, Katie Miller, Maddie Olsem, Jo Pasternack, Kathryn Petri, Rhea Sullivan
Men’s Chorus
Sam Cacciatore, Peter Erickson, Ronald Giroux, Stephen Hage, Zachary Hedner, Gabriel Heffernan, Rylan Hefner, Trenton Johnson, Mike LaFleur, Albert Mellory, Eric Pasternack, Christopher Rife, Anthony Rohr, Jacob Wellington, Jeff Wilkinson
Production Coordinator:
Waldyn Benbenek
Assistant Chorus Master:
Jean Van Heel
Rehearsal Accompanist:
Jean Van Heel, Steven Norquist
“Fair Moon to Thee I Sing” Arrangement:
Mitchell Johnson, Charlie McCarron