Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Savoyards Ithaca will perform Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers in Martha Hamblin Hall on the third floor of the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA): 8:00 PM Friday, May 4 and Saturday, May 5; and 2:00 PM Sunday, May 6. Tickets ($15 for general admission, $10 for students) are available at the door or online at www.savoyardsithaca.org.

Gilbert and Sullivan's most joyful work, The Gondoliers celebrates youth and renewal. Sullivan's score weds English comic opera and Neapolitan folk music, while Gilbert's book satirizes republicanism, capitalism, and tourism. Director Ellen Jackson examines the paradox of modernity: In the cultural and political clash between old and new worlds, can anything ever really become "modern"?

The young bride of the heir to the island kingdom of Barataria arrives in Venice to join her husband. Unfortunately, he cannot be identified, since as an infant he was entrusted to the care of a drunken gondolier, who mixed up the prince with his own son. Until he can be identified, both brothers must reign jointly. A carnival of misrule follows, but in the end proper order is restored.

The cast features Seamus Buxton and Marshall Pokrentowski as Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri; Magdalyn Chauby and Marija Bosnar as their sweethearts, Gianetta and Tessa; Lucrezia Ceccarelli as Casilda; Ben Stevens as Luiz; Nick Roscoe as Don Alhambra del Bolero; Doug Mathews and Lisa Balanki Frank as the Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro; and Debbie Miller as Inez. Soloists and chorus of gondoliers and contadinas include Alexia Castle, Evan Sacco, Jim Hedlund, Wendy Kimble-Dugan, Pat Ober, Nick Paraggio, Betsy Schermerhorn, and Liz Stamerra. Nicole Cronin directs the vocal ensemble. Mary Holzhauer accompanies on the piano. Evie Hammer-Lester choreographed the dances. Nick Roscoe and Kris Scott, respectively, constructed the set and designed the costumes.

v14i16