Reviews from Elsewhere: Patience by Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin reviewed by "ODoubleGood," Austin Metblogs

published at Austin Metblogs: 

Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience = Happiness

(Donald Bayne, Meredith Ruduski, Arthur DiBianca)

by odoublegood
June 11th, 2012 @ 11:07 AM

Patience played to a full house, including all the children who arrived early for a special program and remained for the entire matinee performance yesterday, just as entranced as the rest of us.

H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado seem to be the most frequently performed masterpieces, but, thanks to our very own Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin, we are privileged to enjoy every gem and delight in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertory.

Sparkling in the intimate new performance setting of the arts center of Brentwood Christian School (map), which seats 400 and boasts an orchestra pit that conceals the professional-quality 15-piece orchestra, Patience is a complete theatrical experience. The 22-voice chorus (11 men, 11 women) sang with a snappy vigor and the clarity that made the supertitles showcasing the lyrics really unnecessary.

Every principal singer shone, and the audience welcomed the return of comic and musical stalwarts Arthur Di Bianca, Holton Johnson, Jeanette Jones, and Russell Gregory. Meredith Ruduski, as Patience the dairy maid herself, was a fine lyric and comic presence.

Everyone associated with this production should be very proud. A lot of the stage business and choreography was quite demanding. The audience laughed everywhere it was supposed to and nowhere it was not.

Just five performances remain: Thursday, 14 June, at 8 pm; Friday, 15 June, at 8 pm; Saturday, 16 June, at 3 pm and at 8 pm; and Sunday, 17 June, at 3 pm. For ticket information, call 474-5664; advance prices are $20 for adults ($25 at the door), $15 for students over 18 with identification ($20 at the door), and $7 for those 18 and under ($10 at the door).

Do not deprive yourself. If you love music or theater or both, treat yourself to Patience.

Upcoming: The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin at Travis Performing Arts Center, June 9 - 19

Received directly:

presents its summer 2011 grand production

The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu

by Sir W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan

directed by Ralph MacPhail, Jr.

musical direction by Jeffrey Jones-Ragona

June 9-19 -- 9 Performances

Evening performances Thursdays, Fridays, & Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Matinees at 3 p.m., June 12, 18 & 19.

Special Children’s Activities Sunday, June 12 at 2 p.m.

Travis High School Performing Arts Center / 1211 E. Oltorf (click for Google map)

For information, visit www.gilbertsullivan.org or call (512) 472-4772

For group sales of 10 or more, contact Michael Meigs at (512) 420-0888 or michael@gilbertsullivan.org

The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin is proud to present its Summer 2011 Grand Production of The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu. The Mikado has delighted audiences for more than a century and is perhaps the most popular comic opera ever written. This quintessential satire of human nature represents Gilbert and Sullivan at the height of their creative geniuses. The Mikado is filled with masterful Gilbertian lyrics and magnificent Sullivanian musical “hits,” conveyed with orchestral brilliance. Populated with memorable characters and colorfully exotic costumes and sets, The Mikado is wildly funny. Audiences of all ages will be captivated by its hauntingly beautiful tunes and its colorful pageantry.

The Mikado opened in London on March 14, 1885, and ran for a record-breaking 672 performances at the Savoy Theatre. This comedy about an executioner, while set in Japan, displays wit that is very much British, albeit kimono-clad. Victorian England is the target of Gilbert's satire, thinly disguised as a strange and distant land. The Mikado has had an extensive influence on popular culture, from “Pooh-Bah,” “Tit-Willow," “A Wand’ring Minstrel I” and “Three Little Maids” to the 1999 Mike Leigh film “Topsy-Turvy,” which tells the story of the creation of The Mikado.

Artistic Director Ralph MacPhail, Jr. returns for his 11^th summer with the Society, along with Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, enjoying his 15^th season as Music Director.

The cast includes Holton Johnson (Nanki-Poo), Tamsen Cohagan (Yum-Yum), Russell Gregory (The Mikado), Janette Jones (Katisha), Arthur DiBianca (Ko-Ko), Patricia Combs (Pitti-Sing), Robert L. Schneider (Pooh-Bah), Angela Irving (Peep-Bo), Jay Young (Pish-Tush), and a Chorus of 24 Noblemen and School-Girls.

A free Opening Night Gala with refreshments follows the Friday, June 10 performance. Special Children's Activities precede the performance on June 12 at 2 p.m. All performances will have supertitles.

Usually regarded as Gilbert & Sullivan's masterpiece, The Mikado has been translated into other languages and adapted more than any other of their works. The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin will continue its tradition of offering The Mikado that Gilbert and Sullivan wrote, demonstrating why the work has proved so enduring and endearing for 125 years.

Read synopsis and further information at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Sneak Peek Images: Yeomen of the Guard, Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin, June 11 - 20

Austin's Gilbert & Sullivan Society, now in its 34th year, is preparing for the June 11- 20 presentation of The Yeomen of the Guard, directed by Ralph MacPhail, Jr., with musical direction by Jeffrey Jones-Ragona. The show has been cast and musical rehearsals are proceeding.


ALT offers some of the publicity images taken by Brenda Ladd photography of three of the principals -- Russell Gregory as Sergeant Meryll of the Yeomen of the Guard, Arthur DiBianca as Jack Point and Michelle Hache as Elsie.




(all images © 2010 Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin)


View more images at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Iolanthe, Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin, June 11 - 21

What a sensation Gilbert & Sullilvan must have been back then, the 19th century London equivalent of our Capitol Steps and Second City rolled into one! In fine satirical style, in their best known works they took on the Empire, the peerage, exotic Asia and the Royal Navy.

The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin in its 34th year brings us with Iolanthe their mockery of Parliament itself, pairing the pompous velvet-clad peers of the House of Lords with diaphanous fairies operating by quite a different set of social rules.

Gilbert and Sullivan provided my very first initiation into musical theatre. I was about 12 years old when my father took my brother and me to see The Mikado, all unprepared, in the distinctly unexotic setting of a high school in northern Alabama. We were enraptured by the music, the style, the color and the wit, and we have probably not recovered even yet. I took my wife, equally unexposed to G&S, to see this production of Iolanthe. I was cheered to see on her face, throughout the two acts, the same very attentive little smile that must have marked my own, way back then.

Their light opera is brainy stuff, pretty far removed from your standard American broadway musical. Recognizing that Austin's G&S society has put a lot of effort into teaching and outreach. Artistic director Ralph MacPhail Jr. and musical director Jeffrey Jones-Ragona worked the talk shows with Dianne Donovan at classical station KMFA and with John Aielli at KUT-FM. Their website includes streaming video both on the front page and on the page providing a history of the organization, with photo and video galleries reporting the last five years of productions. Since Gilbert and Sullivan is music, song and promenading-cum-dancing, that visual approach is effective.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .