1973 a season of gilbert sullivan

Gaiety Theatre Dublin D irectors

Eam onn Andrew s. Lorcan Bourke. F red O’Donovan.

Derm od Cafferky, Tom W alsh & fo e Kearns

RATHMINES and RATHGAR MUSSCAL SOCIETY DIAMOND JUBILEE 1913-1973

presents

A Season

of

GILBERT & SULLIVAN Operas FOR TWO WEEKS COMMENCING MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19th 1973

10p

w FIRST ACT Meet in the Gaiety. Have a drink in comfort before the show.

Bars open 7.30 p.m. Order and pay for drinks fo r the interval.

INTERVAL Your drinks are ready and waiting for you at your table.

You’ re saved time and trouble.

ENCORE Relax after the show.

Have a drink. The bars are always open for half an hour after curtain fall.

FINALE ft H i A t i i J

tmast come gaYou jn| enj°yed .6 y ° ur G ^ etV evening Licenced Bars on ail Floors.

T ne taking of photographs in the auditorium is prohibited.

GAIETY

THEATRE

STH. KING STREET, DUBLIN 2 Resident M anager JOE KEARNS

Telephone 771717

Telegrams 771717

Rathmines & Rathgar Musical Society COMMENCING MONDAY, 19th NOVEMBER PRESENTS

The Mikado Monday 19th, Thursday 22nd, Saturday (matinee and evening) 24th, Tuesday 27th, Wednesday 28th, Friday 30th, Saturday December 1st (m atinee)

Princess Ida Tuesday 20th, Wednesday 21st, Friday 23rd, Monday 26th, Thursday 29th, Saturday December 1st (evening) Musical Director

TERRY O’CONNOR, L.R.A.M. Chorus Master

ROBERT J. DALY Settings designed and executed by

GAIETY THEATRE WORKSHOP ENTIRE PRO DU CTIO N BY

BERYL DIXON

Maureen Potter in

(^ .in c le re U u

DANNY M IN S DAVID KEIUY JEAN SWIFT

BARBARA BRENNAN

JIM BARTLEY

VERNON HAYDEN

THE BILLY BARRY CHILDREN THE GAIETY DANCERS Guest Stars MILLE. ZIZZI & CO. FRANK & MAISIE MUMFORD PUPPETS

DIRECTED BY URSULA DOYLE Musical Director THELMA RAMSEY Choreographer MAVIS ASCOTT Produced by

F r £ D O 'D O n O V \N

THE MIKADO THE MIKADO w ill have its twenty-fifth presentation by the Rathmines and Rathgar M usical Society, at the opening of the present season.

It was the first p roduction of the Society sixty years ago (D ecem ber 8 1913) in the old Q ueen’s Theatre.

It was nearly not written!

Sullivan, during a period of unusually deep depres­ sion, inform ed D ’Oyly Carte that he w ou ld not w rite again fo r ligh t opera. (S ince com pleting PRINCESS IDA he had been obsessed with the idea of com ­ posing a g ra n d opera .)

A fte r many heated argum ents and nerve-w racking m eetings however, between himself, G ilbert and Carte, an am icable arrangem ent was reached, and at Carte’s special request, Sullivan agreed to w rite the score fo r w hatever piece G ilbert co uld produce.

The piece was THE MIKADO! A f t e r six m o n t h s ’ w riting and re-writing, this opera

w hich was to be the m ost fam ous of them all, was presented in London on M arch 141885.

The story of Nanki-Poo’s glo riously inconseque ntial love affair is as w ell-know n and loved no w as it was in the days im m ediately follow in g its first presen­ tation eighty-eight odd years ago.

One of its main characters, Pooh-Bah, gave a new w o rd to the English language, and its d ram atic m usic and lovely songs are honoured w herever music-m akers gather.

G. M ac N.

THE MIKADO Cast

(#&> The Mikado

(T h e Mikado of Japan)

BASIL HOLLAND

Nanki-Poo (his son) .............................. TED RYAN KO'KO (Lord High Executioner ofTitipu) ............. EOIN O’BRIEN Pooh-Bah (Lord High Everything Else) ....... BILLY BLOOD-SMYTH Pish-Tush (a

Noble Lord)

TO N Y SWEENY

Go-To ..................................................... PAT LAWLOR Ko-Ko’s Attendant ..................... GARY MOUNTAINE Yum -Y u m ............................................... LIZ

WHELAN

Pitti-Sing .......................................... MONA CONROY P eep -B o ................................................... ANN CAHILL Katisha (an elderly lady in love with Nanki-Poo) ... HEATHER HEWSON C HO RUS O F SCH OOL GIRLS, NOBLES, GUARDS

AND C O O L IE S : A nne McEvoy, M a rg a re t O ’Carroll, A n g e la W alsh, S a r a Tierney, A nn e Marie Kelly, P a tric a Mulvihill, U na C raw ford, Eliz.

M a c au ley, M arie Cahill, Y vonne R u ss ell, H arriet Wall, Mary Lally, P a tric ia M acC auley, S h e ila Molloy, E ithn e Maguire, S u s a n O'Brien, D o re e n S h e r id a n , Noelle Byrne, Im elda B radley, Sally Y oung.

Tom m y O 'D w ye r, E d Delaney, R o b e rt J . Daly, William C o s g r a v e , Brian Reidy, Henry K e n n e d y , J o h n M aguire, P a t Laivlor, J o e B ev an , M ic h ae l C u lle n , Kevin Ryan, Noel Dillon, J o h n O ’Carroll, P a tric k E g an , N oel Byrne, C hris Bruton, Noel M a g e e, Jim Culliton, Alan S p e n c e .

Act One The Courtyard of Ko-Ko’s Official Residence.

Act Two Ko-Ko’s Garden

P R I N C E S S I DA Cast King Hildebrand .................... ... JACK O’CONNOR Hilarion (his son) ................. ................... JOE LANE Cyril ................................. CAMILLUS

MOUNTAINE

Florian (Hilarion’s friends) .. .........FRED GRAHAM King Gama .............................. ....... PAT CAMPBELL Arac .......................................... HUBERT O’CONNOR Guron

(his sons) ....... MAURICE O’SULLIVAN

Scynthius ................................ ......... FRED TAYLOR Princess Ida (G am a’s daughter) ...... .... CLAIR KELLEHER Lady Blanche ( Professor of Abstract Science) ........ ................ LUCY LANE Lady Psyche ( Professor of Humanities) ............ CATHERINE GAUGHAN Melissa (Lady Blanche’s daughter) ........................ BARBARA GRAHAM Sacharissa ............................. DYMPNA

CUMMINS

Chloe ....................................... .......... ENA BOYLAN A d a ............................................ .......... MARY MAGEE

S O L D IE R S , C O U R T IE R S , G IR L G R A D U A T E S , AND D A U G H TERS OF THE PLOUGH P asc hal W a ls h , N o e l M a g e e , R a e R yan, D ents L e ah y , Ed D e la n e y , N oe l B yrne, R on E van s, S e a n H o g a n , B arn ey G o rm a n , B re n d a n G a lv in , M ic h a e l C ullen, H arry M u rta g h .

F ra n c e s B arre tt, M a u ra C o x , L u c ille F o s te r, M ary M c C a n n , A n g e la M c B r ie n , A n n W a ls h , P a t P asley, E v a S ta v e le y , S ally Y o u n g , A nn C ro s s a n , E liz a b e th M a c a u le y , M a rie C ru ise, H a rrie t W a ll, P a tric ia M a c C a u le y .

Act One Pavilion In King Hildebrand’s Palace.

Acts Two and Three Gardens of Castle Adamant.

FOR RATHMINES AND RATHGAR MUSICAL SOCIETY Honorary Secretary

CLEM P RYAN

Honorary Treasurer

THOMAS MURTAGH

Stage Director Assistants

BETTY LONG DAPHNE MILLAR PAULA RYAN

Public Relations

GLADYS MACNEVIN

Costumes

S. B. WATTS 4 CO, MANCHESTER

Miss Hewson’s Costume by GINGS. FOR GAIETY THEATRE Stage M a n a g e r : PADDY JO NES A ssistant Stage M a n a g e r : G EO RG E M cFALL Stage E le c tric ia n : SEAN BURKE L ig h tin g E q u ip m en t by B o u rke -S tra n d E le c tric Ltd.

HAPPY FAMILIES TAKE

Jt&W HOLIDAY

PRINCESS IDA PRINCESS IDA was firs t presented a t the Savoy Theatre on January 5 1884. G ilbert w as then living in H arrington Gardens, South Kensington, w here he was established fo r the next seven years. Here he also wrote fo u r other operas, com fo rta b ly en­ sconced in an arm chair in his study.

T his house was to becom e the M ecca of all true G ilbertians The story of PRINCESS IDA is based on a play he had written f o u r y e a rs earlier, entitled THE PRINCESS, w hich was itself a parody o f Tennyson’s poem.

G ilbert apparently never liked to waste anything and we are to ld ‘he lifted chunks of dialogue from the e arlier w ork and transferred it b o dily to PRINCESS IDA, w hich thus became a blank verse opera’.

There were m any storm y scenes du rin g rehearsal, as some of the actors did not take kindly to the blank verse and G ilbert was frequently fo rce d to co rre ct them.

Sullivan com pleted the m usic only fo u r days before the opening night, and the inevitable reaction from overw ork on brain and body then se t in.

He was in severe pain as he m ounted the rostrum , but a te rrific reception from the audience served to revive him su fficie n tly to get thro u g h the evening successfully. He collapsed, however, having taken his bow with G ilbert at the end of the perform ance.

PRINCESS IDA has a com paratively short o rches­ tral in troduction leading shraight into the opening scene. The opera ran fo r alm ost a year, and engen­ dered in Sullivan the idea of com posing a grand opera, w hich however, was not com pleted fo r another seven years. It w as e n title d IVANHOE and w ith its production the com poser attained the am bi­ tion o f his life.

G. Mac N.

WINTER SEASON 1973 The Dublin Grand Opera Society presents Leading International and Irish Artists in

An International Season of Opera Don Carlos (Verdi) MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 5, 7, & 13

Jenufa (Janacek) TUESDAY, THURSDAY, SATURDAY, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 6, 8 & 11

Mignon (Thom as) MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 12, 14 & 15

Booking Now Open

• *>rs: M *» to & jrf i >* • .-■ ’ < .. l& t& tS H * ><(■:■*,{'A \n > y U.'ttiK.lfi VV.

Reserve a box for the interval!

M a d e in Dublin PAC'KFTS CARRY A G O V F R N M E M H E A LT H W AR NING

Palm Grove Delicious Ice Cream Now on Sale in this Theatre

Perri Crisps The Fastest Selling Crisps in the Country ■> =

~— FI O PRF.SS 1 T O

D U B L IN R

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