International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival: GETTYSBURG

This summer will see the second International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Gettysburg, PA.  9 of the 13 G&S operas will be performed there, by groups from New Jersey, New York, Maine, Pennsylvania, and several British companies.  Also, there will be a Festival Production of Pirates of Penzance and a Festival Youth Production of The Mikado.  These productions comprise the core matinee  and evening Festival events.  Highlights include the productions by Charles Court Opera, a small professional company out of London known for doing creative small-cast versions of shows (I saw them do a wonderful 9-person production of H.M.S. Pinafore in Buxton last year) and the productions from Trent Opera (Iolanthe and The Yeomen of the Guard).  I saw Trent's Iolanthe at Buxton last year, and it was quite good.  Yeomen, being my favorite of the canon, should be a real treat.

Outside of the core productions, there is an entire Fringe Festival that will be going on with smaller performances, presentations, and much more.  Examples of Fringe events include reviews, such as "We Are All Single Gentlemen" by the group Utopia Unlimited out of New York (of which I am a member);  The Pirettes of Penzance, a switch-gendered version of Pirates; or Di Yam Gazlonim, a Yiddish-language version of Pirates of Penzance, performed by The Gilbert and Sullivan Yiddish Light Opera Company of Long Island, New York.

Beyond the Fringe events, this year will see a first:  A scholarly symposium entitled 'Papers, Presentations, & Patter:  A Savoyards' Symposium'.  This symposium, organized by the top G&S Scholar in the U.S., will feature three sessions with presentations from a wide variety of G&S Scholars.  I was honored to have my own presentation chosen to be among these.  It will be an expanded version of the presentation I am preparing for this class, and will feature not only the project I am working on in regards to Yeomen of the Guard, but also my work last semester on Trial by Jury.  It will also be a venue in which I can introduce my intention to work on my performance guides to a wide range of North America's Savoyards.  Hopefully some assistance will be found in that crowd.

I strongly encourage anyone who will be around for part of the Festival to attend.  The events run from Friday, June 24 - Sunday, July 3.  If there is any interest, please let me know and I can help you find more details.