Lamplighters to Take on British Politics

One of the fairies in the poster design for the coming performance of Iolanthe

Last year Lamplighters Music Theatre concluded its 2024–25 season in August. Presumably, this means that this coming July will mark the end of the 2025–26 season. Last year H.M.S. Pinafore was set aboard a British naval vessel (hence the title). This year the scene will shift to a forest populated by a plethora of fairies, enough to take full command of the opening chorus! Those readers familiar with canon will probably assume (correctly) that the operetta to be performed is Iolanthe.

As usual, Arthur Sullivan provided music for a topsy-turvy narrative by W. S. Gilbert. This culminates in a confrontation between all those fairies and the members of the House of Lords of the British Parliament. I have to confess that this is my favorite operetta in the canon, because so many jokes are fired off fast and furious. Indeed, the text for the song known as “The Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare” (to be performed by Chris Uzelac) is so abundant with those jokes that laughing at one may mask hearing the one immediately following!

This production will be given only two evening performances, at 7 p.m. on Fridays July 10 and July 17. The remaining performances will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, Sunday, July 12, Saturday, July 18, and Sunday, July 19. Staging will be by Ted Zoldan, and Jennifer Ashworth will conduct. The venue will be located at the ODC Theatre in the Mission at 3153 17th Street on the southwest corner of Shotwell Street. Ticket prices are $95, $85, $75, and $35. All tickets may be purchased through a single ODC Web page with hyperlinks for each of the performances. The Box Office can also be reached through electronic mail at boxoffice@odc.dance, and the telephone number is 415-549-8534.