Event Details
Iolanthe: Light Opera Works Presents Gilbert and Sullivan's Operetta
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Members Who Went Said:
Excellent production but a little hard to follow the Gilbert & Sullivan words. Great costumes and acting.
Deb Pekin Light Opera Works always does a fine job. Great voices - funny funny stuff!
Nick Marvelous. |
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More Details About This Event: It's a band of woodland fairies versus Britain's House of Lords...and the government is never the same! Justly hailed as the Gilbert & Sullivan connoisseur's favorite, this magical operetta mixes romance, satire and fantasy in a joyous romp that will charm you with its own special brand of mid-summer madness! It's the funniest and most melodic of all the team's shows- and boasts their most fiendishly difficult show-stopping patter number, The Nightmare Song. Iolanthe will be directed by Kurt Johns. In 2007, he directed Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill for Light Opera Works. Kurt directed the critically acclaimed Iron, Tale of the Allergist's Wife, and Vincent in Brixton (After Dark Award) and The Mistress Cycle at Apple Tree Theatre. He directed The Water Coolers (Jeff nominated) at the Lakeshore Theatre. Kurt appeared in the Broadway productions of Aspects of Love and Chess. He portrayed Enjolras in the First National Tour of Les Miserables and starred Off-Broadway in Sharon! directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald. At the Goodman Theatre, Kurt appeared in Sunday in the Park with George and She Always Said, Pablo. He played Hildy in Windy City (Jeff nominated), Baron Felix in Grand Hotel, Che in Evita and Harold Hill in The Music Man at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. Kurt received a Jeff Award for A Grand Night for Singing at the Drury Lane Theatre.
Light Opera Works artistic director Rudy Hogenmiller will choreograph Iolanthe. Hogenmiller has directed and choreographed many productions for the company including Kiss Me Kate, South Pacific, The Mikado, The Merry Widow, and The Sound of Music. He has been recognized with six Joseph Jefferson Awards and 16 nominations for best direction and choreography in Chicago. Hogenmiller has been a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers for more than 25 years. Light Opera Works Music Director Roger L. Bingaman will conduct the 27-piece orchestra. Bingaman made his first appearance on the Light Opera Works podium in 1997, conducting The Merry Widow. Since then he has conducted many Light Opera Works productions. Bingaman has been director of the apprentice program and chorus master for the Sarasota Opera since 1998. Casting for Iolanthe includes Jessye Wright (Iolanthe), James Harms (Lord Chancellor), Alicia Berneche (Phyllis), Colm Fitzmaurice (Strephon), Veronica McHale (Queen of the Fairies), Frank DeVincentis (Private Willis), Alex Honzen (Lord Montararat), Bill Chamberlain (Lord Tolloller).
About Light Opera Works: Light Opera Works is a resident professional not-for-profit theater in Evanston, Illinois, founded in 1980. The company's mission is to produce music theater from a variety of world traditions. Works include American, British, Viennese and French operettas such as Sweethearts, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Die Fledermaus, The Merry Widow and Beautiful Helen of Troy (La Belle), classic American musical theater, such as Candide, Fiddler on the Roof and Camelot, and new works such as Ragtime, Soup du Jour and No Way to Treat a Lady.
About Cahn Auditorium: Cahn Auditorium (1940) is the largest performance space on campus, with more than 1,000 seats and an orchestra pit. One of the country's most famous college productions, the annual Waa-Mu Show (begun in 1929), is staged here, as are many other productions each year. The auditorium was named for civic leader Bertram Cahn, donor, trustee, alumnus (class of 1899), and chairman of the clothier B. Kuppenheimer and Company. |
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Michele Bresler
Evanstonian