"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

Gilbert & Sullivan's
Ruddigore
or, The Witch's Curse

June 11, 12, 13, 19 & 20, 2015 at 8pm
June 14**, 20** & 21, 2015 at 2pm

Directed by Helen Aberger
Music Direction by Joseph Sorge

The F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre
Rockville Civic Center
603 Edmonston Dr. Rockville, MD 20851

Roles

Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd/Robin Oakapple - Joshua Hughes
Richard Dauntless - Joseph Wilson
Sir Despard Murgatroyd - Blair Eig (6/11, 6/13, 6/20 mat., 6/21) & Michael Beder (6/12, 6/14, 6/19, 6/20 eve.)
Sir Roderic Murgatroyd - Tom Goode
Old Adam Goodheart - Joshua Milton
Rose Maybud - Keely Borland (6/12, 6/14, 6/19, 6/20 eve.) &  Emma Jensen (6/11, 6/13, 6/20 mat., 6/21)
Mad Margaret - Amanda Jones (6/12, 6/14, 6/19, 6/20 eve.) & Carla Rountree (6/11, 6/13, 6/20 mat., 6/21)
Dame Hannah - Mary Mitchell
Zorah - Kris Devine
Ruth - Margot Perry

Chorus - Kevin Caughlin, Denise Cross, Kayla Cummings, Rick DuPuy, Noah Friedlander, Lena Goldweber, Chuck Howell, Ralph Johnson, Gabriella Jones, Joshua Katz, Jennifer Lauren Lee, Carlton Maryott, Jane Maryott, Stevie Miller, Roger Porres, Bill Rogers, Sarah Seider, Stephanie Shade, Maria Wilson, Kent Woods

Orchestra

Violin I - Steve Natrella (CM), Bonnie Barrows, Carolyn Larson, 
                Irv Berner
Violin II - Peter Mignerey, Martin Brown, Audrey Chang, 
                 Edwin Schneider, Andrew Nixon
Viola - Amanda Laudwein, E. Foley
Bass - Ross Capon
Cello - Michael Stein, Sheryl Friedlander
Flute - Jackie Miller, Louise Hill
Oboe - Gwen Earle
Bassoon - Betsy Haanes
Clarinet - Laura Langbein, Laura Bornhoeft
Horn - Joe Cross, Gail Hixenbaugh, Lora Katz
Trumpet - Curt Anstine, Rick Pasciuto, Tom Gleason
Trombone - Steve Ward, Frank Eliot, Al Potter
Percussion - George Huttlin
 Special Events!

Thursday, June 11th - 8pm
Half-price performance! Only $12!

Saturday, June 13th - 7pm
Pre-show lecture on Ruddigore & Melodrama 
presented by Helen Aberger, director of Ruddigore, and 
Felicity Ann Brown, University of Maryland's Librarian for Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies.

Sunday, June 14th - 12:45pm and Saturday, June 20th - 12:45pm
Community Outreach Matinee - bring the whole family!
Backstage tours and a special craft activity for kids beginning at 12:45pm. There will also be a talk-back session with cast and crew immediately following the performance.

Production Staff

Producer - 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

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