The Great Gilbert and Sullivan Sing-Off
"The Great Gilbert & Sullivan Sing-Off” was a summer fundraiser for Lyric Theatre that helped guarantee we can continue to delight patrons, as we have for 50 years, with our signature diverse musical theatre heritage, with roots in Gilbert & Sullivan and other light opera.
The plot: Three fictional theater companies competed in a Gilbert & Sullivan Festival, performing musical numbers drawn from throughout the Gilbert & Sullivan canon. One company was very traditional in their presentations, while another company was very non-traditional, indulging in things like gender-swapped characters, updated lyrics, and modern references. The third company was unlucky; somehow or other, everything they tried to do went wrong in some way: the lead forgot the lyrics, or the supertitles operator went rogue, or the choreography turned into a train wreck. Tension built between the three companies throughout the show until the final winner was chosen through an uproarious audience vote.
We're delighted to report that the show was a sell-out and garnered rave reviews!
"The whole show was performed with enormous joy and vigor,
and the audience was enraptured." -- blog by David Bratman
Story by Doreen Finkelstein
Script and new lyrics by
Doreen Finkelstein,
Cordelia Willis, and
Ronan Beltracchi
August 9 at 2:00 and 7:30PM;
August 10 at 2:00PM
at the Saratoga Civic Theater
13777 Fruitvale Ave,
Saratoga, CA 95070
Producer: Kim Van Tran
Stage Director: Doreen Finkelstein
Music Director: Jeff Yaeger
Vocal Director & Music Coordinator: Paul Zawilski
Choreographer: Katelin Foley
Costumes: Kathleen O'Brien and Eileen Stein
Stage Manager: Sarah Terman
Assistant Stage Manager:
Natalie Kenyon
Props: Shirley Benson
Lighting: Ed Hunter
Projections: Don Nguyen
Supertitles: Larry Byler, Alex Kou, and Kay Parkin
Production Manager: Steve Austin
Box Office Manager: Chris Frye
Marketing: Dennis Gaushell
ORCHESTRA
- Violin: Ann Byler, Silin Chen, Alan Cooper, Rosemarie Eurgubian, Jill Miller, May Yoneyama, Yvonne Zhang
- Viola: Goetz Leonardt, Claire Wilson
- Cello: Karmen Peng
- Bass: Clark Cox
- Flute: Alison Sciobor, Eileen Wickemeyer
- Clarinet: Bob Yaeger, Sue Biskeborn
- Oboe: Joel Greene
- Bassoon: Matt Volkar
- Trumpet: Guy Clark, Laura Shea-Clark
- Horn: Brian Anderson, Tim Dowd
- Trombone: Saranya Sethuraman
- Percussion: Griffin Levine
REHEARSAL PIANISTS:
- Angela Cheng, Bruce Herman, Peter Spicer, Paul Zawilski