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!

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