Gilbert & Sullivan's
The Yeomen of the Guard
or, The Merryman and his Maid

June 12, 13, 19, 20, 26 & 27, 1998 at 8pm
June 14, 21 & 28, 1998 at 2pm

Directed by Pamela Leighton-Bilik
Music Directed by Larry Garvin

Cast

Sir Richard Cholmondely, Lieutenant of the Tower - Jesse Holt, Jr.
Colonel Fairfax, under sentence of death - Sean Bajkowski
Sergeant Meryll, of the Yeomen of the Guard - Julio Martinez
Leonard Meryll, his Son - Joe Sorge
Jack Point, a Strolling Jester - John Barclay Bums
Wilfred Shadbolt, Head Jailer and Assistant Tormenter - Jeff Breslow
First Yeoman - David Lee Robinson
Second Yeoman - Peter Beach
First Citizen - Tom Lane
Second Citizen - Lyle Jaffe
Elsie Maynard, a Strolling Singer - Beatrice Alexander
Phoebe Meryll, Sergeant Meryll's Daughter - Tracy Davidson
Dame Carruthers, Housekeeper to the Tower - Shirley Friedman
Kate, her Niece -E. Caroline Rogers
Headsman - John O'Neill
Lily the Cat - Herself
Yeomen - Edward Byrdy, Jim Hummel, Lyle Jaffe, Tom Lane
Young Women - Gaye Freese, Lisa Freese, Lauren Friedman, Leta Hall,                                Emily Wescott
Ladies of the Tower - Virginia Garber, Donna Jaffe, Deborah Prindle,                                                Judith Rubenstein
Tower Staff - Fran Fleming, Rosalie Santilhano, Mary Anna Vineyard

---

Orchestra

Violin - David Friedlander*, Bonnie Barrows, Chienmo Wu, Martin Brown,               Carolyn Larson, Willard Morris, David Zagic
Viola - David Zajic, Amanda Laudwein, Dottie Wayne
Cello - Charles Finney, Sheryl Friedlander
Bass - Sue Lyon
Flute - Louise Hill, Jackie Miller, Juliane DunnOboe - Gwen Earle, Birgit Koehler
Clarinet - James Bensinger, Emilio Montoya
Bassoon - Brett Louis, David Roney
French Horn - Don Hunter, Lorin Krusberg
Trumpet - Curtis Anstine, Bernie Rappaport, Tom Gleason
Trombone - Christa Pezold, Jim Stewart, Steven Ward
Percussion - George Huttlin

*Concertmaster

Production Staff

Producer - Pamela Hodges
Artistic Director - Rosalie Santilhano
Assistant to the Director -  Eugene Ossa
Assistant Musical Director - Joe Sorge
Vocal Score Editor - Bruce I. Miller
Stage Manager - Pamela Hodges
Assistant Stage Manager - Mollie Toms
Light Board Operators - Les Elkins, Kerry Freese
Sound Operator - John O'Neill
Set Design - Holly Beck
Master Carpenter - Les Elkins
Lighting Design - Harold Burgess
Costume Design - Helen Hester-Ossa
Costumers - Gaye Freese, Lisa Freese, Leta Hall, 
                         Alanna Ossa, Eugene Ossa, Helen Hester-Ossa,                                 Mollie Toms
Technical Director (Rockville Civic Center) - Kim Haug
Technical Crew - Tony Dwyer, Antwain Sturgis
Orchestra Manager - Amanda Laudwein
Rehearsal Pianists - Jenny Bland, Michael Tyson
Make-up - The Cast
Tickets and Box Office - Merle Haber
Program - Leta Hall
Publicity - Ira Haber, Pamela Hodges
Set Construction/Painting - Les Elkins, Gaye Freese,  
                   Lisa Freese, Kerry Freese, Larry Garvin, Mitch Gillett,                          Leta Hall, Jim Hummel, Lyle & Donna Jaffe, 
                   David Kaysen, Torn Lane, Todd & Katie Long, 
                   Steven Mager, Gina Nowaki, Bill Rippey, Mollie Toms
Properties - The Cast
Videotaping - Falls Church Cable Television
Photography - Joel Hoffman
House Management - P. Barry Grinnell, Ira Haber
Refreshments -The Wooden Shoe Pastry Shoppe
Costume Storage - Donna & Lyle Jaffe
Set Storage - Maureen Roult, City of Gaithersburg, 
                          Rockville Civic Center

VLOC would like to extend its sincere thanks to:
Christ Congregational Church, Mitch Gillett, Grace Episcopal Church, Hughes United Methodist Church, Bruce I. Miller,
People's Congregational Church, Rockville Band, Rockville Musical Theater, Sudbury Savoyards, WETA, and WGMS for their efforts on its behalf.

---

Note

VLOC is proud to bring you the D.C. area premiere of "When jealous torments rack my soul," Wilfred Shadbolt's song in Act I. This song was written by Gilbert and Sullivan, but was cut just before opening night and was not printed in any of the vocal scores. It survived in the autograph and in a copyist's score in the New York Public Library, from which the music we are using derives. We hope you enjoy its delayed appearance.

---

Synopsis

Colonel Fairfax is sentenced to death because a relative, Sir Clarence Poltwhistle, has accused him of sorcery in order to inherit Fairfax's fortune, and this is the day of the execution. Fortunately, the Colonel has two good friends in the Tower, the Lieutenant and Sergeant Meryll. Meryll's son, Leonard, has been appointed a Yeoman, and his father makes plans to keep him in hiding and introduce Fairfax among the Yeomen as his "brave son, Leonard, with whose exploits all England is ringing." To Phoebe, the Sergeant's daughter who is in love with Fairfax, is entrusted the delicate task of getting the dungeon keys from Wilfred Shadbolt, the jailer, described by her father as "thy sour-faced admirer." Meanwhile, Fairfax has explained his predicament to his friend the Lieutenant, who undertakes to find him a wife, so that the unscrupulous kinsman may be thwarted in his scheme to inherit. Jack Point and Elsie Maynard, travelling players, arrive and the Lieutenant induces Elsie to consent to a marriage with Fairfax by offering a hundred crowns, badly needed by Elsie for her sick mother. Jack Point intends to marry Elsie himself, but, on being assured that the bridegroom will certainly be dead within the hour, agrees to the plan. Phoebe successfully steals the keys from Wilfred, Fairfax is dressed as a Yeoman, the crowd assembles, and all is ready for the execution when it is discovered that Fairfax has escaped. Jack Point is in despair and Elsie, stunned by realization of her position, faints in the arms of Fairfax as the curtain falls on the first act.

The second act opens with Dame Carruthers, who is the housekeeper to the tower, and the crowd deriding the yeomen for their failure to find Fairfax. Elsie has been nursed back to health by the Dame, who reveals that the girl has talked in her sleep, and from her murmurs it can be gathered that she was married to Fairfax, who, still in his character of Leonard, is agreeably reassured to find that his bride is the lovely Elsie. Meanwhile, Point concocts a scheme with Wilfred to free Elsie from her present quandary. Wilfred fires a shot, and when the crowd gathers to find out what is the matter, the two conspirators declare that they discovered Fairfax in the act of escaping and shot him dead as he tried to swim the river, whereupon the citizens hail Wilfred as a hero. Point eagerly proposes to Elsie, but Fairfax, as Leonard, calmly steps in and carries her off, leaving both Point and Phoebe in despair. From the hysterical outburst of the latter, Wilfred learns the truth, and Phoebe consents to marry him as the price of his silence in regard to the plot. The Dame has also heard the revelation, and promptly takes possession of Meryll on the same terms. Elsie enters for her wedding to the supposed Leonard. But a reprieve has arrived - Fairfax is alive, and free! Once more she is plunged into despair, but soon recognizes her beloved, and all is set for a happy ending when the disconsolate Point arrives, and the curtain falls upon his sorrow and his final collapse amid the merriment of the crowd.

---

Musical Numbers

Overture

Act 1

• When maiden loves, she sits and sighs (Phoebe)
  
• When jealous torments rack my soul (Wilfred)
  
• Tower warders, under orders (People & Yeomen, with Solo 1st & 2nd Yeomen)
  
• When our gallant Norman foes (Dame Carruthers & Yeomen)
  
• Alas! I waver to and fro (Phoebe, Leonard, & Meryll)
  
• Is life a boon? (Fairfax)
  
• Here's a man of jollity (People, Elsie, & Jack Point)
  
• I have a song to sing, 0! (Elsie & Point)
  
• How say you, maiden, will you wed? (Elsie, Point, & Lieutenant)
  
• I've jibe and joke (Point)
  
• 'Tis done! I am a bride! (Elsie)
  
• Were I thy bride (Phoebe)
  
• Oh, Sergeant Meryll, is it true (Ensemble)
  

Act 2

• Night has spread her pall once more (People, Dame Carruthers, & Yeomen)
  
• Oh! a private buffoon is a light-hearted loon (Point)
  
• Hereupon we're both agreed (Point & Wilfred)
  
• Free from his fetters grim (Fairfax)
  
• Strange adventure! (Kate, Dame Carruthers, Fairfax, & Sgt. Meryll)
  
• Hark! What was that, sir? (Fairfax, Wilfred, Point, Sgt. Meryll, Lieutenant, & Chorus)
  
• A man who would woo a fair maid (Fairfax, Elsie, & Phoebe)
  
• When a wooer goes a-wooing (Elsie, Phoebe, Fairfax, & Point)
  
• Rapture, rapture! (Dame Carruthers & Sgt. Meryll)
  
• Comes the pretty young bride (Ensemble)