GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OPERAS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21600, 22 March 1932, Page 3

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OPERAS

"THE GONDOLIERS” This morning at 9 o’clock the box plans will be opened at the Bristol Piano Company for the first four operas of the J. C. Williamson, Ltd., Gilbert and Sullivan Comic Opera season, which will be commenced at His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday afternoon next by a brilliant production of “ The Gondoliers,” which is undoubtedly one of the best and most popular of the series. Anticipating a large demand for scats, the management will have a staff at the box office from an early hour. “The Gondoliers” will be staged for two nights and two matinees. The whimsical comic opera “ The Mikado ” will be staged next, to be followed by “ lolanthe,” “The Yeoman of the Guard," and “The Pirates of Penzance.” Following these “ H.M.S. Pinafore ” and “ Patience" will be staged. It was a fortunate day for the world of wit and humour when the English manager, Richard D’Oyley Carte, trusting to his intuitions, brought about the association of Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert. Who could have imagined that this pair was destined to re-write the history of English operetta and to set a standard that still remains unsurpassed. It has been acclaimed in Australia and also Wellington and Christchurch that the J. C. Williamson new Gilbert and Sullivan Company comprises the best and strongest aggregation of comic opera artists that has ever appeared in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas in Sydney and Melbourne and also in the Dominion, and it this is correct —and the record business which followed the efforts of the company everywhere goes to prove it—the playgoers of Dunedin may look forward to a very rich theatrical treat.