Gilbert & Sullivan's
Patience

June 8, 9, 15, & 16 at 8:00pm
June 10 & 17 at 2:00pm
​fully staged with live orchestra

Directed by Felicity Ann Brown
Music Directed by Joseph Sorge
Adults $28 / Seniors (65+) $24 / Students $20
Opening night special! All tickets $14 for the June 8th performance
Special Events!

Backstage Tours
Sunday, June 10th from 12:45pm-1:30pm
Get a sneak peak into all of the hard work that goes into making our operetta productions, with a backstage tour that will let you see the set, costumes, props, and orchestra up close!  Meet us in the lobby, and one of our company members will show you around!

Talk-back with the Cast & Crew
Sunday, June 10th immediately following the show
Ever wanted to ask the director a question? Ever wanted to meet a performer?  Meet us in the lobby for a Q&A session with some of the cast and production team immediate following the performance.
​Victorian Poetry Readings
Saturday, June 9th &  16th  at 7pm
In Victorian times, poets were revered for their ability to transcend commonplace existence with flights of inspirational verse.  They enjoyed enormous popularity and were in many ways the Rock Stars of their day.   That popularity made them ripe for satire, and Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience lampoons both their adulation and the substance of their work.  Gilbert created a poet, Reginald Bunthorne, who is idolized for his rapturous, aesthetic verses, and sets him against a composer of popular moralistic verses, Archibald Grosvenor.  Patience contains parodies of both of these styles of poetry.  

To enhance the appreciation of these Patience parodies, we will provide our Saturday audiences with the opportunity to hear some actual examples of  Victorian poetry.  Prior to each Saturday evening performances of Patience, we will present a brief poetry reading featuring the works of Oscar Wilde, an aesthetic poet who was rising to fame just as Patience was being produced.  We also will include some moralistic poems and the clever parodies made of them by Lewis Carroll and others.  Please join us to be transported to a higher plain of aesthetic consciousness or merely to a state of hilarity by our team of talented readers!

See a sneak peek!
​Watch us go from sitzprobe to dress rehearsal.

Cast

Patience, A Dairy Maid - Robin Steitz 
Reginald Bunthorne, A Fleshly Poet - Rick DuPuy
Archibald Grosvenor, An Idyllic Poet - Kevin Schellhase
The Lady Jane - Denise Young
The Lady Angela - Katelyn Neumann
The Lady Saphir - Rebecca Poyatt
The Lady Ella - Genevieve Japinga
Colonel Calverley - Jim Knost
Major Murgatroyd - Michael Beder
Lieut. the Duke of Dunstable - Bob Gudauskas

Chorus of Rapturous Maidens and Dragoon Guards
Nicole Cherecwich, Claire Gelilli, Tara Hockensmith,
Rand Huntzinger, Ralph Johnson, Carlton Maryott,
Christina Massimei, Joshua Milton, Monica Rajan, Dave Robinson,
​Bill Rogers, Sarah Seider, Maria Wilson, Michael Wolyniec, Kent Woods

Production Staff

Producers - Bill Rogers & Denise Young
Assistant to the Director - Douglas Maryott
Choreographer - Jackie Rogers
Technical Director - Bill Rogers
Set Design - Bill Pressly
Costume Design - Denise Young
Hair & Makeup Design - Maureen Roult
Properties - Carlton & Jane Maryott

Synopsis

Act I
Bunthorne, an aesthetic poet, is explaining to a group of lovesick maidens the mysteries of love. They listen to him with adoration, but he remains insensible to their passion. He loves Patience, they declare. Patience, a simple dairymaid, has never loved anyone except an aunt, and learns that true love must be "utter unselfishness." The previous year the officers of a regiment of Dragoon Guards have been much beloved by the maidens, but now they are accorded a different welcome. Bunthorne has "idealised them" and "their eyes are opened." When alone, he admits being a sham - only feigning aestheticism to gain admiration. Patience remembers a boy who was her child-companion, and when Archibald Grosvenor appears she discovers it is he. They love each other, but Patience thinks she cannot marry one so perfect. Bunthorne, returning, has decided to put himself up to be raffled for, and just as the lot is to be drawn, Patience in her "utter unselfishness" says that she will marry him because "she detests him so." The disappointed maidens then return to the Dragoons, but when they see Grosvenor, immediately transfer their affections to him because "he is aesthetic!"

Act II
The unattractive Jane bewails the lot of maidens who have been in that state too long. All the maidens now adore Grosvenor. He is annoyed by their attentions. Patience, meanwhile, muses upon love. Bunthorne, deserted and consumed by jealousy, has still one faithful admirer - Lady Jane, whose charms decrease as her size increases. She implores him not to wait too long, but Bunthorne is determined to beat Grosvenor on his own ground. At last the rival poets meet. Bunthorne threatens to "curse" Archibald unless he consents to become quite commonplace. Grosvenor outwardly appalled, but secretly relieved, consents to become an "every day young man". Now that Bunthorne is happy, Patience, in her "utter unselfishness," breaks her engagement. Upon Archibald Grosvenor's return, in a tweed suit, she realizes that since he is now a commonplace young man, she can marry him. Bunthorne finds that the lovesick maidens have returned to their soldier lovers. He then decides to console himself with the portly Lady Jane. But the Duke of Dunstable, desirous of marrying a plain woman, has already claimed Lady Jane, so Bunthorne is left without a bride

Musical Selections

Act I
  • Twenty love-sick maidens we (Maidens, Angela, Ella)
  • Still brooding on their mad infatuation (Patience, Saphir, Angela, Maidens)
  • I cannot tell what this love may be (Patience)
  • The soldiers of our Queen (Dragoons & Colonel)
  • In a doleful train (Maidens, Ella, Angela, Saphir, Dragoons & Bunthorne)
  • Twenty love-sick maidens we (Maidens)
  • When I first put this uniform on (Colonel & Dragoons)
  • Am I alone and unobserved? (Bunthorne)
  • Long years ago, fourteen maybe? (Patience & Angela)
  • Prithee, pretty maiden (Patience & Grosvenor)
  • Though to marry you would very selfish be (Patience & Grosvenor)
  • Let the merry cymbals sound (Ensemble)


Act II
  • On such eyes as maidens cherish (Maidens)
  • Sad is that woman’s lot (Jane)
  • Turn, oh, turn in this direction (Maidens)
  • A magnet hung in a hardware shop (Grosvenor & Maidens)
  • Love is a plaintive song (Patience)
  • So go to him and say to him (Jane & Bunthorne)
  • It’s clear that medieval art (Duke, Major, Colonel)
  • If Saphir I choose to marry (Duke, Colonel, Major, Angela, Saphir)
  • When I go out of door (Bunthorne & Grosvenor)
  • I’m a Waterloo House young man (Grosvenor & Maidens)
  • After much debate internal (Ensemble)