Cast interview: David Jeffrey

We know it's cold outside, but The Gondoliers rehearsals are really warming up, and things are coming together beautifully! We're happy to bring you another cast interview, as well - please welcome David Jeffrey!

Name
David Jeffrey

What's your role in The Gondoliers?
In The Gondoliers I am enjoying playing Giorgio, a passionate gondoliere.

What made you decide to get involved with The Gondoliers?
I had just finished playing The Usher (as part of an innovative usher trio!) in Trial By Jury with the Georgetown Gilbert and Sullivan Society when I heard from some of the cast that VLOC was producing The Gondoliers. Musical theater is a relatively small world once you enter it and some singers who had previously sung with VLOC recommended the experience highly. The fact that the opera is set in beautiful Venice, which I have had the pleasure of seeing while seated in a magnificent gondola, expertly piloted by un gondoliere, and is one in which I had not previously performed, made the decision an easy one, which I am thoroughly enjoying.

What are you enjoying most about working on The Gondoliers with VLOC?
Joining any theater company brings with it a heady mix of excitement and energy combined with numerous questions such as “how will I remember all these names?” and “what is the particular style of the group?” My first impressions of VLOC were that it is most welcoming to newcomers and very well organized, which greatly facilitates absorption into the group. I am particularly enjoying being amidst performers and production staff who are so passionate and knowledgeable about Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas and who help make the work done in rehearsal so much fun and equally satisfying as the performance itself.

What is your dream role/job?
One day I would love to play the role of the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, with its wonderful of take on both the political and legal establishments and such lively lyrics as:
“For you dream you are crossing the Channel, and 
Tossing about in a steamer from Harwich,
Which is something between a large bathing machine and
A very small second class carriage”.

What is the first musical/opera/play you ever saw and what effect did it have on you?
The first musical I saw on stage as a child was Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music in Sydney, Australia with one of its many themes being the universal power of music, not only to entertain but also to inspire and uplift, whatever the situation. It led me to study music and theater and to share in the joy of helping to tell stories through song. 

How do you think 21st Century audiences can benefit from seeing Gilbert & Sullivan performed today?
Audiences today seem to readily identify with the many institutions and personages the subjects of Sir W.S. Gilbert’s satire in what is perhaps an even more topsy-turvy world than the one for which he and Sir Arthur Sullivan were writing. I think today's theatergoers can benefit from seeing how Gilbert’s rich and clever language helps to shape beautifully nuanced characters. And what a perfect partnership he entered into with Sullivan, whose melodies do so much to create moods ranging from high comedy to searing pathos, as well as emulating many styles found in grand opera. Their works say so much, not only about their crafts but also the challenges and rewards of collaboration, whatever the project. So perfectly do the lyrics and music mesh that, as many others have observed, G&S operas appear to flow from one pen.

When you're not performing in community theatre, what do you do? (job, hobby, family, etc.)
Apart from performing in musical and other theater I am a Docent at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, conducting tours of the building and assisting with theater workshops for children, do voiceover work, enjoy writing poetry and short stories, sing with church choirs and do voluntary work for the United Nations where I worked for many years in international law.

Thank you, David! Opening night of The Gondoliers is coming up fast, and it will only be open for 2 weekends! Tickets are on sale HERE, and you can also purchase from the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre box office by calling 240-314-8690.

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