GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OPERAS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 112, 5 February 1941, Page 5

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OPERAS

Season Opens Next Week A brief Wellington season of J. C. Williamson's Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company will open next Wednesday night at the Opera House with an elaborate production of the picturesque opera, “The Gondoliers," which will be staged for five evening performances and a matinee on Saturday, February 15. The second production, on Tuesday aud Wednesday night and Wednesday afternoon, February IS and 19, will be "The Pirates of Penzance.” which will be preceded by “Trial by Jury.” The Savoy operas have a special value just now, and not only because they offer happy escape from hard realities into a world of song where everything is consistently topsy-turvy. To see and hear one of them is almost a patriotic act. for they typify superlatively the heritage of intangible things that the Anglo-Saxon race is defending with all its strength, including the right to indulge its own semi of humour, to make fun of established institutions, and laugh at the great. ' Members of the company who have appeared previously in Wellington are Ivan Menzies, the popular comedian, who will again assume the role of the Duke of Plaza Toro in “The Gondoliers,” Miss Evelyn Gardiner, the brilliant Loudon contralto. Mr. Gregory Stroud, one of England's best baritones, Richard Watson. character comedian, Bernard Manning. comedian, and Vincent McMurray, tenor singer. Of the newcomers there are several who till recently were singing-in grand opera at Covent Garden. These include Miss Viola Wilson, the principal soprano, and Mr. John Fullard. whoS'e singing of “Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes” won all hearts in Auckland, when three encores were demanded at each performance. Other artists who will be making their first appearance in Wellington are Miss Sara Gregory, souhrette, Miss Phrllis Curnow, soprano. Peggy Shea, mezzo, and Maxwell Oldaker, tenor