Lamplighters to Mark G&S Sesquicentennial

A poster showing scenes from (top to bottom) The Sorcerer, H.M.S. Pinafore (with the name “Kendrick” printed in the lower left-hand corner), and “Trial by Jury” (from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Late in 1871 the British producer John Hollingshead wanted to present a Christmas entertainment. He wanted this to be a farce about what would happen if the gods in the classical Greek pantheon would trade places with a troupe of present-day actors. He was familiar with W. S. Gilbert through sources such as the latter’s book of illustrated poems Bab Ballads. For music, he knew about Arthur Sullivan, probably through his one-act comic opera “Cox and Box.” Hollingshead decided that Sullivan’s approach to music would be a good match for the wit in Gilbert’s texts, and he recruited them to create his Christmas farce.

The result was Thespis, whose text survived but whose music was lost except for the five numbers of a ballet divertissement, a recording of which was reissued by Naxos roughly a year ago. There was also a “Climbing over rocky mountain” chorus that subsequently found its way into The Pirates of Penzance. If most of the music for Thespis was lost to history, the partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan had been launched, resulting in fourteen comic operas produced between 1871 and 1896, the remaining thirteen of which have survived more robustly than could possibly have been imagined.

In that context the 2021–2022 season marks the sesquicentennial of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership. Next month Lamplighters Music Theatre will celebrate this occasion with a survey of the complete canon of those comic operas. The program will be staged by Nicholas Aliaga Garcia with a blending of both familiar and the seldom heard selections. Sixteen of the Lamplighters performers will participate in the production accompanied by the 21-member Lamplighter Orchestra conducted by David Drummond.

This production will be given two performances in San Francisco, both at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 19, and Sunday, February 20. Sunday’s performance will also be given a live-streamed simulcast. The performances will take place in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Blue Shield of California Theater, which is located at 700 Howard Street on the northwest corner of Third Street. A single City Box Office Web page has been created for purchasing tickets to both of these performances with a third option for livestream viewing on Sunday afternoon. Ticket for seats in the theater are being sold for $70 and $80. Seniors aged 62 can purchase tickets for $65 and $75. Groups of ten or more are entitled to a discounted per-ticket price of $60 or $70. Tickets will be sold to students for $31. The fee for access to the livestream will be $50.