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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.