Gilbert and Sullivan: Players Celebrate Golden Anniversary

Never will the Harvard community see men and women decked out in top hats and hoop skirts around campus these days.

“What, never?”

“Well, hardly ever!” as goes a popular exchange from “H.M.S. Pinafore.” Indeed, perhaps the only opportunity Harvard students and alums nowadays will have to experience Victorian England will come next weekend, as 200 alumni and family members of the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players (HRG&SP) waltz into Cambridge for the organization’s 50th anniversary celebration.

When a few students first conceived of starting such a group, in the spring of 1956, they had few resources other than their love for the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, with the first patron letter requesting a modest five dollar donation. Since then, HRG&SP has grown into an organization that has involved over 5000 people throughout the years, and produces one of the most popular, best funded performances each semester.

Though HRG&SP is less widely known than some other theater groups on campus, such as the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, it has a steady following of devoted members.

According to President of HRG&SP Casey M. Lurtz ’07, “[HRG&SP is] well known among the community who like this kind of theater and operettas.”

“Some of our earlier alums hadn’t expected people to still care about Gilbert and Sullivan. Their shows are particular to a time period, and so they thought they would have less appeal to modern audiences. However, this love for Gilbert and Sullivan has managed to be kept alive at Harvard,” she continues.

In fact, HRG&SP possesses half of a century of rich tradition and boasts such distinguished alumni as actor John A. Lithgow ’67, who served as the group’s president, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma ’76, who played in its orchestra.

MAKING WAVES

The centerpiece of the 50th anniversary events is HRG&SP’s production of “H.M.S. Pinafore.” The fourth collaboration between librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, “H.M.S. Pinafore,” which opened on May 25, 1878, was their first runaway success and remains one of the most popular of their comic operas to this day. HRG&SP Treasurer Charlie I. Miller ’08, who is directing “H.M.S. Pinafore,” says that he thinks the operetta is particularly appropriate for the organization’s 50th anniversary.

“‘H.M.S. Pinafore’ is not only a wonderful operetta with a brilliant score and hilarious plot, but it is also a historically important piece in the creative relationship of Gilbert and Sullivan and the development of musical theatre as we know it,” he writes in a press release promoting the show.

Last presented by HRG&SP in the fall of 1999, “H.M.S. Pinafore” follows the Captain’s daughter, Josephine, who, though engaged to a man of upper-class ranking, falls in love with a common sailor. With a nonsensical twist at the end, “H.M.S. Pinafore” proves that love transcends social class—at least in some cases.

Along with “H.M.S. Pinafore,” HRG&SP will present “Trial by Jury.” Oftentimes recognized as the launch of the duo’s successful partnership, “Trial by Jury” is the only Gilbert and Sullivan one act and is performed with no spoken dialogue. Last performed by HRG&SP in the fall of 1995, the comic opera parodies the legal system, and, as with “H.M.S. Pinafore” and many of the duo’s other works, ends with a silly resolution.

“I hope [the audience] will share with us in our love for Gilbert and Sullivan and the joy that comes from taking part in a Gilbert and Sullivan production,” Miller says.

“I think there’s some unparalleled sense of excitement that can come from a rousing production of ‘H.M.S. Pinafore,’ and with our large cast and extravagant production this year, I hope we will achieve that and bring that out in the audience,” he says.

ENCORE FOR ALUMS

HRG&SP members and alumni have been planning to put together an event-filled weekend since December of last year. The festivities were scheduled to begin yesterday with greeting remarks from one of HRG&SP’s founding fathers, Wayne C. Paton ’56, and faculty advisor and alum, Dean Benedict H. Gross ’71. It will also offer film screenings, interactive events like a sing-along and orchestra play along, various workshops, a “Founders’ Story Session” to hear founding members set the record straight about the organization’s past, and a Victorian ball.

Many alumni were enthusiastic to hear about the organization’s 50th anniversary festivities and will not only be enjoying a weekend of performances, but will also be in the spotlight themselves.

In fact, the Alumni Talent Show, which is one of the most anticipated events, will showcase at least 20 alumni performing a variety of solos, duets, and trios from nine of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas. Jess G. Peritz ’06, one of last year’s leads, will be singing “Alone and Yet Alive” from “The Mikado”; father and son Steve W. Morris ’75 and Ben T. Morris ’09 will perform the duet “So Go to Him and Say to Him” from “Patience”; and D. Steve Garlick ’60, Jay L. Banks ’75, and Margery A. Hellmold Stone ’83 will put on a multi-generational performance of “Temptation Trio” from the “The Yeomen of the Guard.”

ENDOWING A LEGACY

Emma B. Katz ’06, coordinator of the anniversary events, says that the celebrations are intended to get alumni involved with HRG&SP again as well as to awaken excitement about the group’s performances among current students.

“We wanted to bring our alumni back and show them how successful we are, to get people on campus excited about our organization, and to celebrate the fact that we’ve been around for so long,” says Katz.

“We hope that alumni will be really happy to see that what they started or what they were a part of is still continuing today, that the ones in the area will remember that we are still around and will continue to come to performances, and that students will see how great our productions are and how many people are involved, and will want to be a part of them.”

In fact, in order to allow as many alumni as possible to attend, and to make the 50th anniversary memorable, HRG&SP members acknowledged that the organization, though it has been saving up for the weekend for years past, expects to lose money on the event, spending more than they will make on ticket sales. Nevertheless, the organization is starting an endowment through the Harvard College Fund during its 50th anniversary.

“We’re less concerned with making money in the short run because we know that the endowment will ensure us in the long run,” says Miller. Indeed, members hope the endowment will give HRG&SP long-term financial stability and, as Miller says, allow the organization “to continue tradition and expand.”

“This is a celebration of Gilbert and Sullivan, of us, and of our alumni,” says Lurtz. “And we hope to be around for another fifty years.”