Gilbert & Sullivan's
The Yeomen of the Guard
or, The Merryman and his Maid

Feb. 7, 8, 14 & 15, 1992 at 8pm
Feb. 9 & 16, 1992 at 3pm

Directed and Music Directed by Barry Morley

Cast

Sir Richard Cholmondely, Lieutenant of the Tower - Russ Reiff
Colonel Fairfax, under sentence of death - Daryl Landis
Sergeant Meryll, of the Yeomen of the Guard - James Felten
Leonard Meryll, his Son - Robert Kimball, Jr.
Jack Point, a Strolling Jester - Larry Garvin
Wilfred Shadbolt, Head Jailer and Assistant Tormenter - Gordon Brigham
The Headsman - Jim Fanell
First Yeoman - Jamie Zavitz
Second Yeoman - Lyle Jaffe
First Citizen - Christopher Beach
Second Citizen - Kate Lawniczak
Elsie Maynard, a Strolling Singer - Linda Kirk (February 7, 8, 9),  Jennifer Robertson (February 14, 15, 16)
Phoebe Meryll, Sergeant Meryll's Daughter - Diana Fortuna
Dame Carruthers, Housekeeper to the Tower - Linda Lynch
Kate, her Niece - Lynn Loskamp

Yeomen - Peter Beach, Don Benson, Kevin Caughlan, David Doheny, Ron Lloyd, Tom Morris, Charles Sens, Kent Woods

Townspeople - Stephanie Brigham, Lynne Claflin, Erin Dahlberg,
Fran Fleming, Joy Foust, Gaye Freese, Tom Fuchs, Virginia Garber, Leta Hall, Janet Horwitz, Jim Hummel, Donna Jaffe, Louisa Kwan,
Edith Livingstone, Malinda Lloyd, Brii-anna Mason, Barbara Naleszkiewicz, Gina Nowacki, Victor Hugo Porras, Rusty Suter, Georgia Townsend

Townschildren - Alexandra Alper, Joanna Foucheux, Meredith Kinner, Bobby Lawniczak, Max Nelson, Morgan Nelson, Lauren Wagner

Orchestra

Violin - Bonnie Barrows*, Carolyn Larson, Susan Berkery, Alice Laban
Viola - Amanda Laudwein, Otto Willim, Lynn Allen
Cello - Andy Rice, Liz Luck, Virginia Gardner
Bass - Dave Ross, Paul Hettich
Oboe - Carl Gardner
Flute - Pauline Summers, Louise Hill
Clarinet - Gene Sober, Susan Braun
Bassoon - Donald Vogler
French Horn - Don Hunter, Lorin Krusberg
Trumpet - Bernie Rappaport, Tom Gleason, Les Elkins, Glenn Snyder
Trombone - Earl Zastrow, Don Allen
Percussion - Tom Christy, Bonny Hilditch

Production Staff

Producer - Lyle Jaffe
Artistic Director/Associate Director - Rosalie Santilhano
Choreographer/Associate Director -  Dee Hoffman
Assistant Musical Director - Elizabeth Greene
Stage Manager - Pamela Hodges
Set Design - Fred Hetzel
Lighting Design - Lew Dronenburg
Costume Design - Edith Livingstone
Technical Director (Rockville Civic Center) - Lew Dronenburg
Technical Crew - Jason Grove, Leta M. Hall, Debbie Hansen, Melissa Lillie, Scott Lord, Ken Lovingood, Gilly Powers, Buffy Warren
Rehearsal Pianists - Jenny Bland, Nancy Ferguson, Judy Gardner, Louisa Kwan
Make-up - Pat Sexton, Ed Wiot
Properties - Gaye Freese, Jamie Zavitz
Publicity - Tim Briceland-Betts, Diana Fortuna, Barry Grinnell, Lyle & Donna Jaffe
Tickets - Caroline Hummel
Program - Pamela Hodges, Leta M. Hall
House Manager - Hannah Lieberman
Assistant House Manager - Jackie Sanders
Set Construction - Tim Briceland-Betts, Gordon Brigham, Fred Hetzel, Warren Houghteling, Erik Kreil, Eric Trueblood
Set Painting - Gaye Freese, Tom Fuchs, Debbie Hansen, Donna Jaffe, Lyle Jaffe, Judith Rubinstein
Costume Construction - Edith Livingstone
Videotaping - Fairfax Cable Television, Syril Kline
Photography - Tom Fuchs
Refreshments -The Wooden Shoe Pastry Shoppe
Reception Committee - Barry Grinnell
Costume Storage - Donna & Lyle Jaffe
Set Storage - Harry Leet, Rockville Civic Center

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Program Notes

For their eleventh collaboration, Gilbert & Sullivan turned to a more serious subject than they had used before. Gilbert sought to get away from the established formula that made his partnership with Sullivan so popular. When he hit on the setting of the Tower of London for his next opera, he found something that Sullivan liked very much. Here was a chance for Sullivan to write music verging on grand opera, and a chance for Gilbert to explore less whimsically drawn characters, against a somber background.

Though The Yeomen of the Guard is a serious work, its characters derive from the sense of absurdity and topsy-turveydom that had motivated Gilbert in the earlier operas. Sergeant Meryll and Dame Carruthers make a pair of lovers not too far removed from Ko-Ko and Katisha. The blase Colonel Fairfax greets death with the heroic respect that only an operetta tenor can, but once free he behaves like a real scoundrel, playing a game of deception with the naive Elsie (while quietly ignoring the heartbreak of Jack Point)

In the character of Jack Point, Gilbert's work rose to the level of true drama. Point avoids sentimentality precisely because he must attempt humor throughout the opera -humor which nearly always fails. In the rare moments when he reveals his true feelings, they have real poignancy because they are so concisely expressed.