New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players

NYGASP's home theatre, New York City Center

New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players is a professional repertory theatre company, based in New York City that has specialized in the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan (G&S) for over 35 years. It performs an annual season, usually at New York City Center, and tours extensively in North America.

Beginning in New York City in 1974 by performing the Savoy operas with piano accompaniment, the company hired its first orchestra in 1979 for its seasons at Symphony Space theatre in New York. The company was fully professional by the 1980s and began touring, presenting its full-scale productions at such venues as Wolf Trap in Virginia, as well as its New York seasons. In 2002, the company first rented 2,750-seat City Center. It also performs at schools and has smaller touring groups.

History

Early years

Albert Bergeret founded the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players (NYGASP) in 1974, together with his wife, Gail Wofford (they married in 1978), Lucian Russell and a few others. Bergeret, Wofford, Russell and most of the other founders were alumni of the Barnard Gilbert and Sullivan Society, a New York City college theatre group that presented the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan at Columbia University from 1948 to 1991.

Symphony Space, where the company performed from 1978 to 2001

The nascent group's first performance was in Straus Park, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, on July 14, 1974 as part of a street fair. In the early years of the company, singers were drawn from Columbia University and from the semi-pro New York theatre community, including Vincent La Selva's opera workshop, and sang without compensation. Originally called "West Side Gilbert & Sullivan Players", the group originally performed scenes from Gilbert and Sullivan operas with a sound system and a cast of nine people in outdoor performances and in nursing homes and hospitals around New York City, with borrowed costumes, set pieces and an electric piano from the New York Grand Opera, the Bloomingdale School of Music and other supporters. Their first indoor home was at the theatre in the B’nai Jeshurun Community Center. Bergeret designed and built the sets and acted as stage and musical director. In 1975, the company incorporated as a not-for-profit organization under the current name.^[1]

At the beginning of 1976, the company incorporated under its present name and began to offer runs in repertory on Sundays, the only day the theater was available, since the New York School of Opera used the space on other days. After several Sunday performances of H.M.S Pinafore and Trial by Jury, they broadened their audience by premiering a new production of The Pirates of Penzance on Sunday afternoon, February 29, 1976 – the character Frederic's 30th birthday. Bergeret appeared on stage ahead of the performance, made up as the 120-year-old hero, and a substantial cake (and the presence of WQXR Radio's manager, Robert Sherman) was cut and shared with the audience. That autumn, the company had grown sufficiently to permit four shows – Pinafore, Pirates, The Mikado, and Iolanthe – to be presented in rotation. Beginning in fall of 1977, the company was performing full weeks runs of the operas, and the following year moved into the 700-seat Symphony Space theatre in New York, including a production celebrating the centenary of H.M.S. Pinafore. Bergeret traded his services as the first Technical Director of Symphony Space (and Wofford was House Manager) in exchange for office space, storage and theatre dates.^[1]

Bergeret was ambitious, and he wanted his company to grow and become fully professional. In May 1979, NYGASP hired its first 25-piece orchestra and began to pay performance fees to principal singers as the level of professionalism of its cast continued to increase. NYGASP scored a publicity coup on October 28, 1979, when pictures of the cast performing excerpts from Pinafore on the Staten Island Ferry were displayed on the Sunday New York Times and in the New York Daily News. The Company’s audience developed further at Symphony Space as the company celebrated the centennials of the G&S operas there, beginning with The Pirates of Penzance in 1979. NYGASP attracted such loyal fans and supporters as writer Isaac Asimov and began to gain favorable and frequent reviews in the Times and the Daily News, among others.^[2]

The 1980s and 1990s

The company frequently performs The Pirates of Penzance

The 1981 season opened with NYGASP's celebration of the Patience centenary in April 1981 (hosted by Asimov). In the fall of 1981, NYGASP began touring its productions along the U.S. East Coast in addition to its short New York seasons. By the early 1980s, NYGASP paid performance fees not only to principal singers, but also to choristers. The company was able to attract an increased level of contributions, including annual grants from the New York State Council on the Arts. By the mid-1980s, NYGASP had attracted an independent Board of Directors to assist with fund raising and risk management.^[3]

NYGASP has imported various guest stars over the years to appeal to a larger audience. Some of those, like Steve Allen, were criticized for their lack of experience in the genre. In 1984, however, NYGASP hired John Reed, the former principal comedian of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, to join NYGASP for a centennial production of Princess Ida at Symphony Space. He remained as the company's principal comedian for five more of its New York seasons. Reed's performances were a particular treat for Gilbert and Sullivan fans, to whom he was well known. His presence also attracted additional professional singers to NYGASP for the chance to perform with him, and he was able to impart some of his experience to company regulars. At a gala benefit for the company at Symphony Space in 1987, Reed, dressed as the Lord Chancellor from Iolanthe, proposed marriage, on stage, to celebrity guest Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

NYGASP averaged four productions a year at Symphony Space during the 1980s and 1990s, each playing for about a week. In 1985, the orchestra was unionized, and in 1989 the company entered into an agreement with the Actors' Equity union. The company's repertoire expanded throughout the 1980s, and it gradually produced all of the extant G&S Savoy operas. There was also a short-lived attempt in 1989 to broaden the company's repertory beyond G&S, when it presented Gershwin's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Of Thee I Sing. But the experiment proved too expensive for the company, and since then, NYGASP has stayed with G&S (and a few presentations of Sullivan collaborations with other librettists). NYGASP recovered from a financially difficult 1990 with the help of supporter contributions and a willingness of its audiences to pay higher ticket prices, and the company survived (after one dark season), and continued to grow, through the 1990s, outliving the other professional light opera companies in New York City, notably the year-round Light Opera of Manhattan. In 1997 the company hired a professional touring management company.

Recent years

Bergeret still serves as NYGASP's Artistic Director and General Manager, and Wofford continues to create the costumes and helps to run the company, along with one or two of the original Barnard alumni and a few more recent additions to the NYGASP team, including Assistant Music Director Andrea Stryker-Rodda (since 1983); Managing Director David Wannen (since 2006);^[4] and Assistant Director David Auxier (since 2008).^[5]

In 2001, NYGASP had to find a new venue because Symphony Space closed for renovations. NYGASP decided to rent City Center, a 2,750 seat theatre in midtown Manhattan, for its January 2002 season. During a three-week run of Pirates, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Mikado, the company enjoyed excellent box office results and continued to perform at City Center annually thereafter. Moving to this large house further increased NYGASP's level of recognition and made it an organization with an annual budget of nearly 1.5 million dollars.

NYGASP also keeps The Mikado in repertory.

For their recent New York seasons, NYGASP has generally programmed two or three G&S operas, at least one of which is one of the "Big Three" (Pinafore, Pirates or Mikado) and one of which is one of the less often seen Savoy operas. In January 2007, NYGASP presented, as part of its City Center season, one performance of The Rose of Persia, a comic opera by Sullivan and Basil Hood that had not been performed by a professional company for over seventy years.^[6] NYGASP continues to present broadly traditional productions of Gilbert and Sullivan, usually with a number of topical references thrown in. In their Pirates production, for instance, at one point the company performs a kick-line parody of A Chorus Line.^[7] But mostly they stay close to Gilbert's libretti.^[8]

NYGASP uses a number of different directors and conductors from time to time, but most of the productions are still directed and/or conducted by Bergeret. Notable singers who have recently performed with the company include soprano Kimilee Bryant (2008), Hal Linden (2005), and tenors Keith Jameson (ENO; NYCO) and Brandon Jovanovich (San Francisco Opera; NYCO), who have gone on to substantial opera careers. In reviewing the company's Pinafore in 2008, The New York Times wrote, "From a staging perspective, there is nothing remotely subtle about Mr. Bergeret’s approach. Spoken dialogue is emphatically underlined with endless mugging and exaggerated gestures.... Still, all hands treat the music with style and respect. Mr. Bergeret drew playing of bouncy refinement from the orchestra. The principals were uniformly good."^[9] In a 2010 review of Ruddigore, the Financial Times praised the company's "roster of principals, mostly youthful, who treat the music with lilting grace, rhythmic bravado and patter virtuosity, as needed".^[10]

NYGASP continues to tour up and down the East Coast, in the Midwest and in other parts of the U.S. several times each year, performing regularly at Wolf Trap's Filene Center in Vienna, Virginia; Van Wezel Hall in Sarasota, Florida; the Mann Center outside Philadelphia; McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey; the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut; and in Saratoga, New York among other venues, often earning warm reviews.^[11][12] In 2004, the company presented two G&S productions in Buxton, England, at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. It also presented two full-scale productions (Pinafore and Pirates) and its cabaret-style revue, "I've got a little twist", at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as part of the U.S. leg of the 17th International G&S Festival. The Epoch Times noted, "The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players filled the Majestic Theater with color, panache, fine voices, and playfulness."^[13]

NYGASP also presents a few special events each year, usually at Symphony Space, often featuring pastiches or lesser-known Sullivan music or company members' favorite songs in concert, and there is often a segment where spontaneous audience requests are played, with orchestra, and with singers chosen on the spot by the conductor. It also offers small groups of singers for concerts, private and corporate events and outdoor performances, under the name "Wand’ring Minstrels" and a cabaret show combining and comparing Gilbert and Sullivan with musical theatre, called I've Got a Little Twist, written and directed by David Auxier.^[14][15] The piece won a Back Stage Bistro Award in 2010.^[16] In addition, NYGASP groups have often performed on the "listening room" program on WQXR radio in New York City and have been seen on the local broadcast of The Today Show on Saturday morning on NBC. In 2002, it produced a Gilbert and Sullivan potpourri CD, entitled Oh Joy! Oh, Rapture!.

School and outreach programs

H.M.S. Pinafore is another mainstay of the company

Each season, NYGASP offers a few full-scale performances of its main stage productions to NYC public school groups free of charge (paid for by corporate sponsors). It also presents its "Family Overtures" series of pre-show introductions for multi-generational audiences.^[17] In addition, Bergeret and small groups of performers from NYGASP travel to private schools in New York City to give concert-classes about the music and satire of Gilbert and Sullivan and other aspects of presenting G&S. The company also presents nearly full-scale or shortened versions of the shows at various schools throughout the school year, and sometimes invites school groups to see their shows for free or at reduced prices.^[18]

NYGASP has an arrangement with the school district in Syosset, New York, in which, each spring, a shortened version of one of a G&S opera is presented at a school, with piano accompaniment, using NYGASP principals, and giving an opportunity to 40-60 6th grade students to act as the chorus.^[17] The music teachers teach the students their vocal parts, and then Bergeret and a NYGASP accompanist teach the students the staging and choreography of the show and refine the choral music. The children rehearse for a full day with the NYGASP principals and have the opportunity to ask any questions that may occur to them. Two performances are given by the students at their school. In addition, introductory programs are given in advance to each of the 5th and 6th grade classes in the school district, to acquaint the students with some of the material and any special concepts they may need to understand (such as "apprenticeship" in The Pirates of Penzance or the British class structure in H.M.S. Pinafore). Sometimes the children also travel to New York City to see a full-scale NYGASP production.

See also

• Light Opera of Manhattan
• American Savoyards

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} NYGASP Theatre Program, "Prime Time G&S: 20th Anniversary Celebration", April 24, 1994, Symphony Space, New York City
2. ^ Recent and archived reviews of the company's performances
3. ^ Current members of the NYGASP Board of Directors
4. ^ Wannen has also acted with the company since 2003
5. ^ Auxier has also acted with the company since 1992
6. ^ Dale, Michael. "The Rose of Persia: Sullivan Without Gilbert", BroadwayWorld.com, 14 January 2007
7. ^ Ciletti, Elena. "Pirates at The Smith was effervescent". Finger Lakes Times, April 11, 2011
8. ^ Review of NYGASP's Mikado. The New York Times, 2007
9. ^ Smith, Steve. "All Hands on Deck for Absurd Relevance", The New York Times, June 9, 2008
10. ^ Bernheimer, Martin. "Ruddigore, New York G&S Players", Financial Times, January 18 2010
11. ^ Peña, Susan L. "Pirates of Penzance judged perfect, perfect, perfect", Reading Eagle, March 2, 2009
12. ^ Sobelsohn, David. "H.M.S. Pinafore - W.S. Gilbert/Arthur Sullivan", CultureVulture.net, June 11, 2005
13. ^ Fine, John Christopher. "Gilbert & Sullivan Fare Is Alive and Well". The Epoch Times, 13 July 2010
14. ^ Moore, Oscar E. "Gilbert & Sullivan with a twist at the Triad", TalkEntertainment.com, January 12, 2009, accessed September 29, 2011
15. ^ Kelley, Daniel. "I've Got a Little Twist", nytheatre.com, January 8, 2009, accessed September 29, 2011
16. ^ "Bistro Award Hall of Fame" (2010), Bistroawards.com, accessed September 29, 2010
17. ^ ^{a b} Hochswender, Woody. "City Center: G & S Fest 2008", PlayBillArts.com, June 8, 2008
18. ^ Hochswender, Woody. "High Standards and Hijinks". Playbillarts.com, November 30, 2007, accessed 4 August 2010

References

• Smith, Dinitia (December 31, 2005). "Decades of Polishing Up the Handle". New York Times: p. 9, Section B, Col. 3. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/31/theater/newsandfeatures/31play.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. 
• Profile of the company by Theatremania.com
• New York Times Review and Profile of the company (2004)
• Review of Pinafore discussing NYGASP's new home at City Center (2002)

External links

• NYGASP website
• Broadwayworld.com review of NYGASP's Pirates from January 18, 2005
• Article about the local 802 musician's union negotiations with NYGASP
• NY Times review of NYGASP's Mikado, January 8, 2007
• NY Post review of NYGASP's Yeomen, January 8, 2007
• NY Magazine feature, January 23, 2006 issue
• Review of NYGASP's Iolanthe at City Center (2004)
• NY Times review mentioning John Reed (1988)
• NY Times review mentioning Steve Allen (1995)
• Profile of the company and review of Princess Ida starring Frank Gorshin (2000)
• Review of the company's Mikado (2006)
• Description of the company's annual New Year's Eve Gala
• Collection of profiles of Al Bergeret and NYGASP