Gilbert & Sullivan's
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Special Events! Production StaffProducer - Denise Young
Assistant Conductor - Rebecca Henry Assistant Music Director & Accompanist - Jenny Craley Bland Stage Manager/Assistant to Director - Doug Maryott Assistant Choreographer - Sara Collins Lighting Design - A. Dawson Smith Costume Design - Jesse Shipley Set Design - Bill Pressly Makeup Design - Renee Silverstone Master Carpenter/Assistant Stage Manager - Devin Work Props - Carl and Jane Maryott Dialect Coach - Gary Sullivan |
"With its colorful design, talented singers, wonderful musicians, an intriguing script, and wonderful score, Ruddigore or The Witch’s Curse is by far the best Victorian Lyric Opera Company production I have ever seen. Gilbert and Sullivan fans should embrace this opportunity before it is too late." - DCMetroTheaterArts
"Ruddigore is a witty, charming, hilarious evening, not just for fans of Gilbert and Sullivan but for anybody willing to be delighted by musical theater. This play and this production should not be missed." -TheatreBloom
Director's Note
Overshadowed in its time by the success of Gilbert & Sullivan's previous work The Mikado, Ruddigore was and is not often produced. On its face, it's a rather bizarre story about ridiculous characters with whom it is difficult to sympathize. Without context, modern day audiences can be left feeling like they've missed a greater point.
At its inception, however, Ruddigore was conceived as a parody of British melodrama- a popular theater genre in the 1880s. Melodrama features stock characters and plots- for example, a noble and heroic tenor loves the beautiful and chaste maiden but is thwarted by a villainous baritone. Gilbert and Sullivan turned this on its head and produced a story about a flighty soprano who is loved afar by a cursed comic baritone in disguise and is temporarily swept away by a roguish tenor sailor. Audiences in 1887 would've been familiar with the stock melodrama characters and been amused by the lampooning.
But not all the twists are turns- Gilbert's characters defy complete categorization as good or bad, wrong or right- they actually live in a grey area of real, human qualities. And this is what we present day audiences can hang our hats on- who hasn't put on airs to be someone they are not? Who hasn't listened to their hearts dictates under the premise of doing right but ultimately served themselves? Who hasn't bowed to societal pressures? Through parody, reality peeks out to reveal how "topsy-turvy" life can be.
I am delighted to present you with a traditional treatment of the operetta Ruddigore with a corps of fantastic artists, all of them here for their love of the art form. Gilbert & Sullivan are their own animal in the opera world – loved fiercely by their fans and looked sometimes skeptically upon by opera seria buffs – but their works have endured. I invite you to enjoy this seldom performed work and hope you come back for more!
- Helen Aberger, Director
At its inception, however, Ruddigore was conceived as a parody of British melodrama- a popular theater genre in the 1880s. Melodrama features stock characters and plots- for example, a noble and heroic tenor loves the beautiful and chaste maiden but is thwarted by a villainous baritone. Gilbert and Sullivan turned this on its head and produced a story about a flighty soprano who is loved afar by a cursed comic baritone in disguise and is temporarily swept away by a roguish tenor sailor. Audiences in 1887 would've been familiar with the stock melodrama characters and been amused by the lampooning.
But not all the twists are turns- Gilbert's characters defy complete categorization as good or bad, wrong or right- they actually live in a grey area of real, human qualities. And this is what we present day audiences can hang our hats on- who hasn't put on airs to be someone they are not? Who hasn't listened to their hearts dictates under the premise of doing right but ultimately served themselves? Who hasn't bowed to societal pressures? Through parody, reality peeks out to reveal how "topsy-turvy" life can be.
I am delighted to present you with a traditional treatment of the operetta Ruddigore with a corps of fantastic artists, all of them here for their love of the art form. Gilbert & Sullivan are their own animal in the opera world – loved fiercely by their fans and looked sometimes skeptically upon by opera seria buffs – but their works have endured. I invite you to enjoy this seldom performed work and hope you come back for more!
- Helen Aberger, Director
