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The Gilbert & Sullivan
Society of Edinburgh
Hon. President
THE LORD PROVOST OF EDINBURGH
THE RIGHT HON. MR. ERIC MILLIGAN
Hon. Vice-Presidents
MR. BRIAN MCMASTER
MR. BRUCE GRAHAM
THE MIKADO
Or
The Town Of Titipu
Libretto by
W.S.Gilbert
Music by
Arthur Sullivan
Director
ALAN BORTHWICK
Musical Director
DAVID LYLE
Assistant Director
LIZ LANDSMAN
Assistant Musical Director
MARTYN STRACHAN
The Gilbert & Sullivan
Society of Edinburgh
President’s Message…
On behalf of the Council and members of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society
of Edinburgh, I would like to welcome you to this performance of The
Mikado. Sullivan’s wonderful musical score and Gilbert’s witty, satirical
libretto have kept this opera among the best-loved of all, just as sparkling
and clever today as it was at its first performance in 1885.
Founded 1924
Charity Number:
SC027486
Web site:
http://www.g-and-s-edin.org.uk/
President
NORMA MACDONALD
Vice-President
ANDREW CRAWFORD
Immediate Past President
ALAN HOGG
Hon. Secretary
CAROLINE KERR
61 EAST TRINITY ROAD
EDINBURGH EH5 3EL
Hon. Treasurer
WENDY CRAWFORD
23 DAICHES BRAES
EDINBURGH EH15 2RD
Hon. Membership Secretary
JANE SMART
18 CAMPBELL AVENUE
EDINBURGH EH12 6DP
Hon. Assistant Secretary
HILARY ANDERSON
Hon. Assistant Treasurer
STEWART COGHILL
Council
CATHERINE HARKIN
CAROL MACBETH
EILUNED LAWSON
ALISON YORK
The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Edinburgh was founded in 1924 to foster the love of
and appreciation for the works of W.S.Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
Once a month, between October and May, the Society meets for a varied and exciting
programme of music and talks and anyone who loves G. & S. is invited to come along. A
very warm welcome awaits you. Contact any Council member for details of dates and
venue.
Performing members meet during the winter to rehearse the annual production. During
the year, performing members also provide concerts for many organisations and groups
throughout Edinburgh, the Lothians and beyond.
Membership of the Society is open to anyone with an interest in Gilbert & Sullivan. If
you would like the opportunity to join the company on stage or to come along to the
monthly meetings, please contact the Hon. Membership Secretary, Jane Smart (Tel: 0131
337 1581) for further information.
Norma Macdonald
(president)
The year 2000-2001 has been a hectic, but immensely enjoyable time for
us. In addition to a busy rehearsal schedule for this show, we were
involved in the recording of Haddon Hall and, in November 2000, to
commemorate the centenary of the death of Sir Arthur Sullivan, we joined
David Lyle in performing Sullivan’s splendid cantata The Golden Legend.
The concert party has also been busy, singing at Peebles Festival in
September (we have been invited to make a return appearance in 2001)
and performing at a variety of venues in the city and beyond, helping folks
to raise money for good causes.
Although a year away, next year’s show is already planned! Princess Ida is Gilbert and Sullivan’s
only three-act opera, not often performed because of the high production costs involved. Edinburgh
G. & S. Society is always willing to take up a challenge so we are all looking forward to what will
be, for most of us, a completely new show. Auditions will take place fairly soon so if you are
interested in auditioning for a principal part or for chorus, please contact Jane Smart (0131 337
1581) who will be delighted to give you details.
Thank you, our audience, for coming along to this performance in the King’s Theatre today without you, there would be no show. So many people give their time, their talents and their support
to make it possible to put on shows such as The Mikado that we must simply say a grateful “thank
you” to everyone. Now the overture is about to begin, the curtain is ready to rise, the town of Titipu
awaits our arrival. Enjoy the show!
Norma Macdonald.
President
The Story…
Ko-Ko, a cheap tailor of Titipu, having been condemned to death for flirting, is reprieved and raised
to the exalted rank of Lord High Executioner. When Nanki-Poo arrives in the town, fleeing to escape
the attentions of an elderly lady named Katisha, he falls madly in love with Yum-Yum, the ward of
Ko-Ko. Unfortunately, as Yum-Yum is betrothed to her guardian, their case seems a hopeless one.
A letter arrives from the Mikado announcing that somebody must be beheaded within the month and
Ko-Ko racks his brains to think of a suitable victim. Nanki-Poo, overcome with grief at his inability
to marry Yum-Yum, agrees to be beheaded in a month on condition that he be permitted to marry
Yum-Yum at once. However, this argument is seriously flawed, for it is discovered that when a
married man is beheaded his wife must be buried alive.
In the midst of this dilemma, the Mikado arrives and Ko-Ko pretends that he has beheaded NankiPoo. He is somewhat taken aback when he then learns that Nanki-Poo is the Mikado’s son and that
his punishment, along with that of his collaborators, will be a slow and lingering death - after lunch!!
A solution is found in the nick of time…
The Opera…
Let me start with a non-contentious statement!! W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan wrote a series of
comic operas the like of which had never been seen before and, despite the fact that over a century
has passed since the collaboration ended, has never been seen since. Of their fourteen operas, at
least half of them are masterpieces - from the perfection of the one-act Trial by Jury, through the
salty satire of H.M.S.Pinafore to the gentle lampooning of aestheticism in Patience and the sunny
brilliance of The Gondoliers - not to mention Iolanthe, The Yeomen of the Guard and the muchrevived The Pirates of Penzance.
But right at the top of the list is their crowning achievement - The Mikado.
In 1884 when Sullivan, possibly with the encouragement of his influential friends, had decided to
write no more with Gilbert but to concentrate on what he conceived to be “more important” works,
the latter suddenly came up with the idea for a whimsical “Japanese” opera. The fact that Sullivan
needed money to maintain his gambling habit, and the fact that the Savoy Operas made him pots of
cash, is possibly beside the point - but whatever the real reason, Sullivan was immediately fired
with enthusiasm for the new script and he plunged into the task at hand, producing an inspired
string of musical pearls.
The opera opened at the Savoy Theatre on 14th March, 1885, and ran for 672 performances. It was
then performed all over the world, became the first opera of any kind to receive a “complete”
recording and in 1939 became the first of the G. & S. operas to be filmed. In 1907, despite its
popularity, the opera was banned by the Lord Chamberlain so as not to offend Crown Prince
Fushimi of Japan who was visiting Britain. His Lordship had, of course, completely missed the
point! Although set in Japan, the locale was quite simply a cover-up for a satire on everything that
was English, from corruption in high places to the tendency to promote individuals above their level
of competence - a topic dear to Gilbert’s heart and already tackled by him in the characters of the
Learned Judge in Trial by Jury and Sir Joseph in H.M.S.Pinafore. Gilbert’s satire, so biting in the
late 19th century, has retained much of its point at the beginning of the 21st, and the music is as
fresh and effervescent as ever - a fact that testifies to the brilliance of the authors.
For over a hundred years The Mikado has been one of the most frequently played of all British stage
properties and as such the opera has been subjected to many liberties. My intention when working
on the opera for this presentation was to present a colourful, stylish and entertaining show that is as
true as possible to what I surmise would be the authors’ original intentions. One experiment that I
found too tempting to resist, and which may not be to everyone’s taste, is to present the opera in a
version that corresponds to the first-night version which Gilbert changed for subsequent
performances. I simply had this rather perverse feeling that, since the work is so familiar to so many
people, a change such as this might add even more interest. The taking of liberties with Gilbert’s
words started early in the original run when Rutland Barrington, the original Pooh-Bah, introduced
some gags into his portrayal. Gilbert hated anyone to tamper with his work and he frequently
chastised Barrington - but on occasion, he had to agree that some of the gags were funny and should
be retained. A few of Barrington’s 1908 additions, authorised by Gilbert, have been inserted tonight
and many of you who know every word and note of the work may care to spot them. In other words,
although this presentation is based on the original performance, I haven’t been so pedantic as to
omit all subsequent changes which, undeniably, improved many aspects of the script. I can’t
therefore claim that this is a reconstruction of the “original version”, but those of you who can recite
the opera parrot-fashion may find some added interest in my approach!
Finally, for what it’s worth, let me add some personal thoughts about the works of W.S. Gilbert and
Arthur Sullivan. It has always amazed me that behind the sheer exuberance and light hearted fun of
the Gilbert and Sullivan operas lies a true-life story of two individuals who totally failed to
appreciate the worth of their joint collaboration. Gilbert always felt that his straight plays were much
better than his work with Sullivan for the Savoy Theatre, and Sullivan felt himself destined to write
much loftier pieces - symphonies, oratorios and “grand” opera!! Both the partners were, of course,
entirely wrong. The Savoy Operas were by far their greatest works. However, the real tragedy is that
the success of these operas has blinded posterity to the gems to be found elsewhere in their
individual work. When an artist creates a masterpiece, posterity has always had a way of
undervaluing their other works that fall a little short from this benchmark. It took 50 years from
Verdi’s death before his operas such as Un Ballo in Maschera, Macbeth and La Forza del Destino
re-entered the repertoire and now, a century after the death of Sir Arthur Sullivan, we are at last
beginning to see a revival of interest in his non-Gilbert works. Recent new recordings of his
symphony, his oratorio, his Shakespeare music, his church hymns and anthems and some of his nonGilbert operas have shown these to be fascinating and generally inspired works. A new recording of
his magnificent oratorio The Golden Legend is scheduled to appear later this year- but with so many
obscure works by minor composers presently being issued on CD it’s surely a national scandal that
no professional recording exists of his only surviving grand opera Ivanhoe - a work that still, after
over a century, holds the record for having the longest original run of any grand opera ever written
by any composer in any country. Gilbert still awaits rediscovery, and I only hope that his centenary
in 2011 will see a major revival in interest for such terrific plays as Engaged or Pygmalion and
Galatea. After all, as an eminent critic recently stated, without Gilbert and his pioneering writing
and stagecraft we very possibly wouldn’t have Oscar Wilde.
Enjoy this evening’s performance of The Mikado - and please come back next year.
Alan Borthwick
Director
ALAN BORTHWICK has sung leading tenor roles in operas
ranging from Poulenc to Puccini as guest artiste for companies
throughout Scotland. He is probably the only singer ever to have
performed all the tenor roles in Sullivan operas - including those
written without Gilbert. In last season’s performances of H.M.S.
Pinafore Alan was not only directing but returning to a principal
role for the first time in many years as Captain Corcoran. Alan is
now in great demand as a professional director and earlier this
month he directed Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon for the
Southern Light Opera Company in this theatre. Last December
Alan Borthwick
his own company presented the same authors’ Camelot in the
(director)
Church Hill Theatre, raising over £400 for charity. Alan
continues to sing in numerous charity concerts and is presently signed up for at least
another two seasons to host Hail Caledonia, a Scottish entertainment which runs in the
Carlton Hotel seven nights a week over the summer months. Alan’s full-time job is
Assistant Headteacher in a large secondary school. In his spare time he lectures in
Mathematics for the Open University and in this role he is presently involved in recording
a series of mathematical videos with the BBC.
The Music…
By 1885, Arthur Sullivan was firmly established as Britain's foremost composer, with a popularity
bordering on adulation and a list of successes, including financial ones, which none of his
contemporaries could rival. Knighted in 1883(the same year as his great friend, George Grove), he
reigned (as he would until his death in November, 1900), as the undisputed master of British music
in many spheres, including large, and small scale choral and orchestral works, and opera and other
theatre music.
1884 had seen the opening of Princess Ida, which won considerable praise for both Sullivan and
Gilbert, although, as the critic Edmund Yates noted, the performance he had attended was
“desperately dull” and the theatre-going public agreed with his reaction against the opera's unusual
three-act form and the obsolescence of its satire. By the end of its moderate run of 246
performances, a new work from the undisputed masters of the British musical stage should have
been well under way - but it was not; the problem was that Gilbert was happy, and Sullivan wasn't.
A rift had opened between them, highlighting the essential difference in their approach to the
writing of the operas, where Gilbert, the source of the basic idea, book and lyrics and director of
every aspect of the staging, found his work at the Savoy Theatre fulfilling, but where Sullivan
considered the opera conventions restricting to his inspiration and the cause of the subordination of
his music to Gilbert's words.
A lengthy and, at times, mutually hurtful correspondence ensued, in which, as never before, the
attitudes of the two men and their mutual relationship as artists were vividly set out. Neither “won”
the argument, but, eventually, Sullivan agreed to consider a new plot from Gilbert, which did not
involve the “charm” or “lozenge” device, whose effect the composer considered to be totally played
out; and, in November that year, he was shown the first act of what was to become his and Gilbert's
unmatched comic masterpiece, The Mikado.
Sullivan's creative impulse was vigorously stirred by Gilbert’s new Japanese libretto and the record
of the opera's composition (as drawn from Sullivan's diary) shows the typical and ever-intensifying
pace at which the composer worked, with entries noting his working until 5 and 6 in the morning,
frequently in the midst of competing compositional and conducting commitments, and
accompanied, as ever, by bouts of the recurring kidney complaint which dogged the composer
throughout his life and which, eventually, led to his death at the age of only fifty eight. Such strain,
typically, is nowhere apparent in the music, which “bubbles with wit and good humour” and which
ably demonstrates Sullivan's melodic genius, mastery of exquisite orchestral colour, and ability to
create deft and enchanting musical pictures.
Throughout, the opera wears a comic mask, using the opulence of the oriental setting to disguise a
satire totally English, with a set of characters whose very names indicate where the author's barbs
are aimed. Sullivan responded to the stimulus of the sheer variety of the lyrics and their adaptability
to character with music of wonderful and joyous invention, and consummate technical skill. (Listen,
for example, in Ko-Ko's and Katisha's duet, “There is beauty in the bellow of the blast”, to how he
models his musical phrases to Gilbert's poetic ones, echoing the word alliterations with the
alternation of adjacent notes, and using repeated musical phrases for rhyming lines.)
His musical resource has never been better demonstrated than in the trio, “I am so proud”, in which
the melodies of the three characters describe their individual attitudes and thoughts, before they are
contrapuntally interlocked, with brilliant musical skill. This skill, coupled with his irrepressible
sense of humour, also allows him to insert a fragment of the fugal subject from Bach's G minor
Prelude and Fugue into the Mikado's song, where the monarch describes the fate that awaits “the
Music Hall singer”. The idea is remarkable enough, but the effortless rhythmic and harmonic
deftness of its interpolation is masterly.
The orchestra used in The Mikado is that which Sullivan had adopted as standard, of strings, 2 flutes,
oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 each of horns, trumpets and trombones, and percussion, using one
player. (A second bassoon and bass trombone were added in certain operas.) As ever, the invention,
variety and subtlety of colour which Sullivan provides in his orchestration display the hand of a
consummate craftsman, and raise the orchestral writing far beyond the realm of mere
“accompaniment”. Yum-Yum's haunting aria, “The sun whose rays”, is a classic Sullivan score, with
soft, sustained string chords underpinning the vocal melody, which is left undoubled throughout, and
gentle wind interpolations inter-weaving the introductory orchestral figurations into the second
verse. In such moments, as one critic has remarked, Sullivan “reached out to catch the outer edges of
the sublime...”.
One of the most outstanding features of the Savoy operas is the treatment and use made of vocal
ensemble, by both author and composer. With his expansive ensemble and chorus writing, Sullivan
achieves an undisputed musical dignity, which was admired, without exception, by his contemporary
German critics, who regarded him as worthy to stand in the great British national tradition. His
excellence in this respect stems from his flexibility and pragmatism, which allowed him to produce
ensemble writing of enormous variety, with many subtleties of technique. There can be few first act
finales, for example, which conclude with such majesty as that in The Mikado, and the quartet,
“Brightly dawns our wedding day”, is one of the best examples of Sullivan's madrigals, completely
capturing the mood and essential stillness of the moment.
Throughout his life and ever since, Sullivan's genius has been continually underrated, with
indifferent and incompetent performances of his music (seen, by many, as “easy”)obscuring the
mastery and superb craftsmanship of its composer. Contemporary criticism (spurred, no doubt, by
considerable jealousy in certain cases) caused him endless anxiety, as he fought to reconcile the
fame and fortune his work with Gilbert had brought him, with his own attitude, which saw his gifts
only realised by him, and appreciated by others, outside the world of comic opera. He was, in many
ways, trapped by the equation of “serious” (not comic) with “serious” (important).
Much of the innermost thoughts of this highly complex man elude us, for his diaries and personal
papers record nothing of his perspective on life; his legacy is his music and, undoubtedly greatest of
all, his collaborations with Gilbert, in which, to echo the words of Shaw, he demonstrates so vividly
his gift of making the world “laugh and whistle”. We hope that our performances allow you to do
just that.
David Lyle
Musical Director.
This year will be David’s twenty-fourth as Musical Director to the
Society. Born and educated in Edinburgh, he is prominent in the musical
life of the city, and is well-known as conductor, accompanist and
orchestral timpanist. His services as a musical director are constantly in
demand, and recent engagements have included Rodgers and
Hammerstein’s Allegro and The Sound of Music, Lerner and Loewe’s
Camelot, and Sullivan’s The Emerald Isle.
His specialist field is the music of Sullivan, and, with the release of
Haddon Hall last year, has now conducted on commercial recordings of
all of the composer’s non-Gilbert operas, including the first-ever of
Ivanhoe.
David Lyle
In November, last year, he realised a long-held ambition, when he
organised and conducted a performance, in Edinburgh, of Sullivan’s splendid, and much neglected,
cantata, The Golden Legend, and he is now considering plans to stage the composer’s other, largescale choral and orchestral works.
Dramatis Personae
Musical Numbers
The Mikado of Japan . .......................................................... Maxwell Smart
Nanki-Poo.................................................................................. Neil French
Ko-Ko ........................................................................................ George Rae
Pooh-Bah ................................................................................... Ian Lawson
Pish-Tush..................................................................................... Ross Main
Yum-Yum................................................................................... Fiona Main
Pitti-Sing............................................................................... Deborah Wake
Peep-Bo .................................................................................... Alison York
Katisha.................................................................................... Heather Boyd
Go-To ................................................................................... David Vivanco
Overture
ACT I
If you want to know who we are .................................................................................... Men
A wandering minstrel I ......................................................................... Nanki-Poo and Men
Our great Mikado, virtuous man ........................................................... Pish-Tush and Men
Young man, despair.................................................. Pooh-Bah, Nanki-Poo and Pish-Tush
Behold the Lord High Executioner............................................................. Ko-Ko and Men
Comes a train of little ladies ........................................................................................ Girls
Three little maids from school are we ................. Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing and Girls
So please you, Sir ............ Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah, Pish-Tush and Girls
The sun, whose rays are all ablaze....................................................................... Yum-Yum
Female Chorus
Male Chorus
Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted.................................................. Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo
They'll none of 'em be missed ...................................................................... Ko-Ko and Men
I am so proud Trio........................................................... Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko and Pish-Tush
Hilary Anderson
Katherine Barbour
Carol Binnie
Maggie Cormack
Wendy Crawford
Susan D'Aish
Kate Duffield
Shirley Glynn
Catherine Harkin
Nicole Hay
Caroline Kerr
Anne Laing
Carol Macbeth
Norma Macdonald
Evelyn McHollan
Ruth McLaren
Susan Neilson
Gaby Pavone
Maggie Pringle
Marion Ramsay
Maureene Robertson
Patricia Santer
Alison Scott
Jane Smart
Jane Sutton
Gillian Tait
Emma Taylor
Anne Thomson
Elizabeth Thomson
Mickey York
Ian Boyd
Jim Brown
Brian Caddow
Peter Casebow
Stewart Coghill
Hugh Craig
Andrew Crawford
Alan Dickinson
Alan Hogg
Ron House
Philip Howe
Andrew Johns
Lyle Kennedy
Charles Laing
David Lamb
Craig Macbeth
Anthony Millar
Craig Robertson
Ken Robinson
John Skelly
Ritchie Turnbull
George Wilson
Finale of Act I........................................................................................................ Ensemble
Entr'acte
ACT II
Braid the raven hair ............................................................................. Pitti-Sing and Girls
Brightly dawns our wedding day.................... Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, Nanki-Poo and Go-To
Here's a how-de-do! ........................................................ Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko
From every kind of man obedience I expect ........................... Mikado, Katisha and Chorus
A more humane Mikado ....................................................................... Mikado and Chorus
The criminal cried, as he dropped him down ..... Ko-Ko, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah and Chorus
See how the fates their gifts allot........ Mikado, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko, and Katisha
The flowers that bloom in the spring ................... Nanki-Poo, Ko-Ko, Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing
and Pooh-Bah
Japanese Dogs
Alone, and yet alive!................................................................................................ Katisha
Liz Landsman, Abigail Mullen
Willow, tit-willow ...................................................................................................... Ko-Ko
Understudies
There is beauty in the bellow of the blast .............................................. Katisha and Ko-Ko
Charles Laing (Pooh-Bah), Pat McKerrow (Yum-Yum), Susan Neilson (Pitti-Sing), Carol
Macbeth (Peep-Bo), Catherine Harkin (Katisha)
Finale of Act II ...................................................................................................... Ensemble
The Principals…
Heather Boyd, a regular performer with the Company, studied singing in Glasgow and London,
graduating more years ago than she cares to remember. In constant demand throughout the country
for recitals and concerts, her repertoire ranges from opera and oratorio to West End musicals, and
this ensures she has a very busy schedule. She also runs a thriving teaching practice, and works for
the Council for Music in Hospitals, for whom she provides concerts for sick children. Back today in
her favourite G&S role, Katisha, Heather hopes that the part of an elderly harridan is not type
casting in any way!
Neil French first took to the stage around the age of seven. Throughout his life, he has enjoyed
performing in a wide variety of different musical fields, from oratorio and choral music through to
folk and rock. After a spell in the Scottish Chamber Choir, last year's performance as Ralph
Rackstraw in H.M.S.Pinafore was Neil's first outing with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of
Edinburgh, and one which he enjoyed tremendously. In December of last year, he appeared as Sir
Sagramore in Camelot, and he is now looking forward to playing Nanki-Poo in this year's
production of The Mikado.
Ian Lawson has played 19 different roles in 13 G&S operas, including Ko-Ko and, in a concert
version, Nanki-Poo. Tonight he sinks to new depths, vocally at least, in tackling Pooh Bah. A
passive listener to The Archers, Ian has modelled his performance on the radio character who
should have played the part in the Ambridge Mikado (but didn’t) – Linda Snell. Ian is married to
the great grand-daughter of Gilbert’s next-door neighbour and is father to two little maids, only one
of whom is still at school. By day, Ian works for chartered accountants Deloitte & Touche, where
he strives to emulate one of Pooh-Bah’s many functions as Lord High Auditor.
Fiona Main discovered her love of the stage when she took part in her first Musical, and now alltime favourite, The King and I as one of the Siamese Children. Now, a multitude of musicals,
Operas and Operettas later, she is resident in Dunfermline but spends most of her spare time
rehearsing in Edinburgh with various local companies. Fiona’s most recent parts include Fiona in
Brigadoon with Southern Light Opera Company, Guenevere in Camelot, Anna in The Merry Widow
and Josephine in last year’s production of H.M.S.Pinafore. Fiona is looking forward to taking part
in The Mikado for the second time and knows she will have as much fun playing Yum-Yum as she
had playing Pitti-Sing with Dunfermline G.&S.
Ross Main first appeared on stage as a member of the Gang Show over 25 years ago and since then
has performed in many operas, musicals and operettas in Dundee, Fife and Edinburgh. He has
played numerous minor principal parts over the years including Steve in Show Boat, St. Brioche in
The Merry Widow and Sir Clarius in Camelot. Having appeared in the chorus of The Mikado on
two previous occasions, its third time lucky for Ross, as this year he is delighted to have the
opportunity to play the part of Pish-Tush.
George Rae is currently in his final year of a music degree at The Ian Tomlin School of Music,
where he studies voice with Andrew Doig. He has sung a wide range of roles with Ayrshire
Voices/Opera West including Hilarion (Princess Ida) and Charlie (Brigadoon). He appeared as a
soloist in the world premiere of Tam O’Shanter – a new opera by Michael Norris. Solo recital work
includes Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit. In July 2000 he sang
excerpts from The Mikado with Linda Ormiston at the prestigious Oxenfoord International Summer
School for Singers. He makes his Edinburgh conducting debut in May with his own private
production of Trial By Jury – an all-female production which will certainly be unique! George was
recently invited to audition for, and was subsequently accepted onto, the esteemed postgraduate
Musical Theatre course at the Royal Academy of Music in London and, providing he can obtain
adequate sponsorship, he leaves for London in September.
Maxwell Smart joined the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Edinburgh in 1963. (Yes his voice had
broken then!). Since then, he has taken part in all of the Savoy Operas, most twice, some three, four,
or even five times! He has been lucky enough to play at least one principal part in each. To misquote, "He began as a guinea pig, and worked his way through the animal kingdom till he has come
to a MIKADO"! In addition to his association with the Society, Max is well known to Edinburgh
audiences for his appearances with other local companies, and, along with his wife, Jinty, enjoys a
busy schedule of concert work for many different groups throughout the city and beyond.
David Vivanco, born to mark the Queen’s silver jubilee in 1977, has always loved to sing. His first
experience of Gilbert & Sullivan was playing the Defendant in a school production of Trial By Jury
at the age of ten. This encouraging debut ensured David’s continued interest in vocal performance
and as a member of the school choir, he often sang solo during his six years at George Heriot’s
School. 1995 saw him as a member of the Aberystwyth University Madrigal Singers (standing him
in good stead for playing his part in The Mikado). He has also performed in the Fringe and with The
Edinburgh University Renaissance Singers and Bel Canto chamber choir.
Deborah Wake is a newcomer to Edinburgh G&S, but not to the topsy turvy world of the Savoy
Operas, having already sung Tessa in The Gondoliers, Lady Psyche in Princess Ida, and previously
Pitti-Sing in The Mikado with E.U. Savoy Opera Group. Other roles include: Orestes (La Belle
Helene), Reno Sweeney (Anything Goes) and Lady Raeburn (Salad Days). Spare time activitiesappearing with Edinburgh Music Theatre, cello playing, gymnastics, topless mud wrestling and
junior doctoring. She has recently set up an internet business called www.condomtastic.co.uk. She
denies responsibility for any suspicious statements made in this biography!
Alison York is the daughter of Gilbert & Sullivan fanatics. Abandoned in a pushchair in an
auditorium at the age of 9 months to watch her father playing Wilfred Shadbolt, it was probably
inevitable that Alison would end up involved in G&S herself. She has performed with Aberdeen
University G&S Society, Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group and Bunbury & Co., of which
she is a founder member. Since joining the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Edinburgh, Alison has
been a stalwart fourth fairy/contadina/villager/sister/cousin/aunt from the left. She is delighted to
have been given the opportunity this year to fulfill a lifetime’s ambition to be a little maid.
Festival City Theatres Trust
The King's Theatre is operated by Festival City Theatres Trust, which also manages
Edinburgh Festival Theatre.
Board of Directors:
Chairman
The Rt Hon Viscount Younger
of Leckie KT KCVO TD DL
Cllr Steve Cardownie
Dr Des Bonnar
Cllr James Gilchrist
Carol Colburn Høgel
Andrew Kerr
Brian McMaster
Francis Reid
Acting General Manager
Finance Manager
Technical Manager
Planning & Personnel Manager
Sales & Marketing Manager
Graeme Baillie
Cllr Lezley Cameron
Cllr Ken Harrold
Paul Holleran
Brian McGhee
Sandy Orr
David Todd
Helen Bates
Alan Campbell
Brian Loudon
Anne McCluskey
Administration Offices:
Address:
Box Office:
Facsimile:
eMail:
website:
13-29 Nicolson Street, EDINBURGH EH8 9FT
0131 529 6000. Offices: 0131 662 1112
0131 667 0744
empire@ eft.co.uk
http://www.eft.co.uk/
A non-profit distributing company limited by guarantee and registered as a charity. Festival City
Theatres is funded by The Scottish Arts Council and The City of Edinburgh Council.
Next Years Show…
The Gilbert & Sullivan
Society of Edinburgh
is proud to announce their
2002 production
The Orchestra…
Violins
Arthur Neele (leader)
Robert Dick
Hilary Turbayne
Fiona Morison
Andrew Rushworth
Alison Lucas
Gillian Akhtar
Sheena Robertson
Violas
Susan Donlevy
Ken Taylor
“Princess Ida”
’Cellos
George Reid
Astrid Gorrie
Bass
Fiona Donaldson
Flutes
David Morrow
Gwen Donoghue
Clarinets
Ron Mackie
David Wilkinson
Oboe
Charles Dodds
Horns
David Rimer
Marian Kirton
Trumpets
Andrew Kinnear
Denise Ward
Trombones
Neil Short
John Adam
Percussion
Mark Greene
Bassoon
Alison Bardgett
The King’s Theatre
Edinburgh
th
12 – 16th March 2002
Auditions will be held on Sunday 29th April 2001.
Please contact Jane Smart for further details on 0131 337 1581.
G.&S. Concert Party
Are you planning a fund-raising event? The G.& S. Concert Party is available to help
make your event a sell-out. Our varied programme is ready to delight and entertain.
Numbers of singers from 4 to 40 can be arranged (given sufficient notice!). There is no
fixed fee but donations to cover the Society's costs are expected.
The concert party is available for bookings from Autumn 2001. For further information,
contact Ian or Linny Lawson on 0131 337 3476.
The orchestra from last year’s show, “H.M.S.Pinafore”.
Backstage and Technical Staff
Stage Manager
Bill Hume
Publicity Artwork
Jane Borthwick
Fiona Main
Ross Main
Max Smart
Set Construction
and Stage Crew
Nicola Callow
Cynthia Clare
Jane Curran
John Curran
Lorna Forrester
George Grant
Jon Hume
Iain Laidlaw
Sheonagh Martin
Maurice McIlwrick
Marketing and
Publicity
Andrew Crawford
Stewart Coghill
Alan Hogg
Hilary Anderson
Alison York
Front Of House
Isabel Campbell
Gordon Campbell
Programme
Alan Hogg
Ross Main
Andrew Crawford
Dep. Stage Manager Frank Clare
Set Design
Alan Borthwick
Jane Borthwick
Bill Hume
Set Painters
Jim Cursiter
Kate Hunter
Lighting Designer
Andrew Wilson
Wardrobe Mistress Jane Borthwick
Costumes
Jane Borthwick
G.5. Costumes Glas.
Photographer
James Radin
Properties
Rosalyn McFarlane
Ian McFarlane
Jinty Smart
Alison Crichton
Mairi Bruce
Rebecca McInally
Pat McKerrow
Ticket Sales and
Theatre Liaison
Stewart Coghill
Andrew Crawford
Thanks to…
North British Distillery Co. Ltd., J. Fairbairn (Joiners), Janitors of Craiglockhart Primary
School, James Radin, The 4th Leith Scouts, The Kirk Sessions of Inverleith Parish Church
and Murrayfield Parish Church, Max Smart, Arvalon Stage Armoury, Edinburgh Grand
Opera Company, Edinburgh Music Theatre and to the many others who have helped in
some way to make this production possible: and finally to David Todd, his management
team and the staff of the King’s Theatre who do so much to make a visit to their theatre
for both audience and performers so enjoyable.