Gilbert & Sullivan's
The Yeomen of the Guard

July 25, 26 & 27 and
Aug. 1, 2 & 3, 1980

Directed by Peter Kline
Music Directed by Paul Green

Performed at the Paint Branch High School Auditorium.

Cast

Sir Richard Cholmondely, Lieutenant of the Tower - John Perine
Colonel Fairfax, Under sentence of death - Micaele Sparcino*
Sergeant Meryll, of the Yeomen of the Guard - Barry Hahn
Leonard Meryll, His son - Lionel Marcoux*
Jack Point, A strolling jester - Peter Kline (July 25-August 2)
                                            John Ross (August 3)
Wilfred Shadbolt, Head Jailor and Assistant Tormentor - Fred Houghteling
The Headsman - Eric Lease
First Yeoman - Peter Nighswander (July 25- 27)
                        John King (August 1-3)
Second Yeoman -  James Glass (July 25- 27)
                             Jim Hummel (August 1- 3)
First Citizen - Neal Plotkin (July 25- 27)
                      Edmund Blau (August 1-3)
Second Citizen - Tom Fuchs
Elsie Maynard, A strolling singer - Debra Lawrence*
Phoebe Meryll, The sergeant's daughter - Linda Allison
Dame Carruthers, Housekeeper of the Tower - Rosalie Santilhano
Kate, Her niece - Eleonore Hettich (July 25- 27)
                            Laurie Hubbard (August 1-3)
Page - Genevieve Brown

*Ms. Lawrence and Messrs. Hahn, Marcoux and Sparacino appear through the courtesy of AGMA.

Chorus of Yeomen of the Guard - Dave Bock, James Glass, Greg Grenier, Jim Hummel , John King, Peter Nighswander, Larry Nuckles, Wanda Spence

Chorus of Gentlemen, Ladies, Citizens , and so on - Evelyn Adkins , Edmund Blau, Gail Bock, Ruth Burdette, Patricia Buynak, Helen De Roo, Tom Fuchs , Robin Graine, Sandy Gilbert, Gayle Grenier, Jeff Guice, Eleonore Hettich, Laurie Hubbard, Diane Ivins, Lyle Jaffe, Sue Merritt, Pam Owen, Fred Palmer, Neal Plotkin, Andrea Redding, Shirley
Santilhano, Marion Scodari, Roberta Smit, Andrew Smith

Production Staff

Producer - Marion Scodari
Musical preparation of the principals and ensembles and    
                                                Chorusmaster - Micaele Sparacino
Assisant Chorusmaster - Thomas Harris
Assistant to the Director - John Ross
Codirector - Micaele Sparacino
Costume Design - Laurie Hubbard
Costume Constuction - Sue Merritt
Costumes Assistants - Gail Bock, Sue Cassidy, Helen De Roo,
                                   Sandy Gilbert, Marion Scodari, Roberta Smit
Make-up - John Ross
Performance Pianists - Beth King, AI Newman (July 27 only)
Rehearsal Pianists - Edmund Blau, James Glass, Beth King,
                                Joan Miller, Al Newman
Orchestration - Paul Green
Orchestra Coordinator - Robin Graine
Programs - Steve Behrens
Poster Design - Laurie Hubbard
Properties - Sue Higel
Properties Assistants - Mona Carneiro, Sandy Gilbert, John King
Publicity - Ruth Burdette, Laurie Hubbard, Marion Scodari
Public Relations - Greg Grenier
Stage Managers - Troy Arbogast, Don Johnston
Lighting Design - Dennis Jelalian
Lighting Execution - Dennis Jelalian, Don Johnson, Gil Thompson,
                            Lyle Jaffe, Dan Fary, Andrew Smith, Jim Dement,
                            Larry Nuckles, Eric Engling

Additional Assistance:

• Yeomen costumes, courtesy of Sandy Springs Friends
• School. Hats, courtesy of Birdie Katz.
• Broom, courtesy of Wooden Indian , Rehoboth Beach,
• Del. Spinning wheel, courtesy of Evelyn Adkins
• Timpani, courtesy of Washington Bach Consort.

We wish to express our appreciation to:
Ms. Freddy Davey; Betty Simmons, St. Paul's Methodist Church, Kensington; Interlocking Curriculum School of Colesville; Sandy Springs Friends School; Bethesda Theatre Supply Co.; Beitzel & Co.; Steve Behrens; Wooden Indian, Rehoboth Beach, Del.; Tony Riggs, WETA-FM; Shirley Markham; Dunkin' Donuts, Wheaton; Orange Julius, Laurel Shopping Center; Wooden Shoe Bakery, Wheaton; Washington Bach Consort; and Chris Cary.

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Program Notes

For their 11th collaboration, Gilbert & Sullivan turned to a more serious subject than they had used before. Gilbert sought to get away from the established formula that had made his partnership with Sullivan so popular. When he hit on the setting of the Tower of London for his next opera, he found something that Sullivan liked very much. Here was a chance for Sullivan to write music verging on grand opera, and a chance for Gilbert to explore less whimsically drawn characters, against a sombre background.

Though The Yeomen of the Guard is a serious work, its characters derive from the sense of absurdity and topsy-turveydom that had motivated Gilbert in the earlier operas. Sgt. Meryll and Dame Carruthers make a pair of lovers not too far removed from Ko-Ko and Katisha. The blase Col. Fairfax greets death with the heroic respect that only an operetta tenor can, but once free he behaves like a real scoundrel, playing a game of deception with the naive Elsie (while quietly ignoring the heartbreak of Jack Point.)

In the character of Jack Point, Gilbert's work rose to the level of true drama. Point avoids sentimentality precisely because he must attempt humor throughout the opera -humor which nearly always fails. In the rare moments when he reveals his true feelings , they have real poignancy because they are so concisely expressed.

Gilbert was quite nervous on opening night of Yeomen, fearing that the audience would not accept the succession of serious moments with which the show begins. Consequently, in a fit of self-doubt, he cut an outstanding song for Sgt. Meryll, which was appropriate in mood to the scene. Though seldom performed , that song- has been restored in this production.

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Synopsis

Phoebe Meryll is in love with Col. Fairfax, who is scheduled to be beheaded for "dealings with the Devil," though there is no proof of any such transactions. Phoebe persuades her father to sneak Col. Fairfax out of prison, disguised as his own son returned from the wars.

Meanwhile, Col. Fairfax, in order to deprive his heirs (responsible for his plight) of the fortune they hope to gain, arranges to marry the strolling dancing girl, Elsie Maynard, on the grounds that she will be a wife only for an hour.

Escaped, the colonel falls in love with Elsie, and she with him, though she does not know that he is her husband. In the end, all would turn out happily, except that Elsie is unfortunately loved by Jack Point, who, broken-hearted, falls "insensible" at her feet.

Both Phoebe and her father are forced to pay for their complicity in the plot by making marriages which are not to their liking, so in this opera not everyone gets married and lives happily ever after.