The Gondoliers

Richmond Theatre

17th-22nd May 1982

Producer – Val Fardell
Musical Director – Peter Holt
Production Manager – Peter Sporle

The Gondoliers, or The King of Barataria, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert.

It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on December 7, 1889, and ran for a very successful 554 performances (at that time the fifth longest-running piece of musical theatre in history), closing on June 20, 1891. This was the twelfth comic opera collaboration of fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan.

The Gondoliers was Gilbert and Sullivan’s last great success. In this opera, Gilbert returns to the satire of class distinctions figuring in many of his earlier librettos. The libretto also reflects Gilbert’s fascination with the “Stock Company Act,” highlighting the absurd convergence of natural persons and legal entities, which plays an even larger part in the next opera, Utopia Limited.

As in several of their earlier operas, by setting the work comfortably far away from mother England, Gilbert was emboldened to direct sharper criticism at the nobility and the institution of the monarchy itself.

This production was given an Edwardian feel by designer David Casey.

CAST

The Duke of Plaza-Toro – Mr Robert Salter
Luiz – Mr Peter Barnett
Don Alhambra del Bolero – Mr Roger Roseboom
Marco Palmieri – Mr Peter Campbell
Guiseppe Palmierei – Mr Steven Alais
Antonio – Mr Norman Marks
Francesco – Mr Peter Vaughan
Annibale – Mr Richard Matthaie
The Duchess of Plaza-Toro – Miss Alex Jervis
Casilda – Miss Carol Vinall
Gianetta – Miss Ann Siggins
Tessa – Miss Margaret Boughton
Fiametta – Miss Fiona Hughes
Vittoria – Miss Mandy Stenhouse
Guila – Miss Janet Turner
Inez – Miss Barbara Weedon
Chorus of Contadine – Liz Angell, Pauline Beament, Sue Brittle, Sandra Buckland, Alison Cooper, Barbara Hall, Ellen Harvey-Smart, Anne Kitcherside, Rachel Marks, Marion McLaren, Rosalind Mitchell, Sonya Raymond, Anne Tustin, Patricia Vandepeer, Aranka Zsidi
Chorus of Gondoliers, Men-at-Arms, Heralds and Pages – Ellis Berg, Jess Deacon, Derek Dundas, David Evans, Robert Hicks, John McElwee, Colin McMahon, Paul Saunders

CREW

Designer – David Casey
Stage Managers – Godfrey Buckland & David Casey
Wardrobe Mistress – Pauline Kendrick
Assisted by – Debbie Harkness, Christine McMahon, Esther Rowlands & Mandy Stenhouse
Duchess’s turbans by – Wendy Allingham
Make-up – Christine McMahon
Rehearsal Accompanists – Colin Attree, Denis Gomm, Simon McCheane, Stephanie Underhill, & Alison Wilson
Box Office – Barbara Weedon
Prompt – Lorraine Ward
House Manager – Peter Brown
Sets Constructed by – Peter Barnett, Pauline Beament, Godfrey Buckland, David Casey, Peter Sporle & Aranka Zsidi
Lighting Designed by – Richard Broadhurst
Properties – Heather Mitchell