Next Year’s Season

Written by Ned Sanger

Yeomen of the Guard closed over two weeks ago. What’s next on the docket for HRG&SP?

In the fall of this year, we’ll put on Patience; or, Bunthorne’s Bride. For those who aren’t yet familiar with the plot: the eponymous Patience is a humble milkmaid who catches the eye of two ardent poets, Reginald Bunthorne and Archibald Grosvenor. This creates a thorny love triangle which demands, in order to secure its resolution, a full-length operetta filled with jabs at the vain aestheticism, overwrought poetry, pretentious Victorian personalities and wailing romanticism that Londonites had to endure as they waited for the 20th century to hurry up and arrive. The libretto might be the funniest Gilbert ever wrote. The show will be produced by Arianna Paz ’19, Sabrina Richert ’20, Sunny Levine ’20, and Yours Truly ’19.

Once Patience has ended and spring hath sprung, we’ll put on The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria. Gilbert set the show in Italy, presumably so that he could maintain some plausible deniability as he mocked the aristocracy and monarchy of his own native country. The impetus of the plot is a case of confused identity: Giuseppe and Marco, two charming gondoliers, are informed that one of them is certainly the heir to Barataria—but due to a drunken mishap, it’s not clear which of the two it is. The show was one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s final collaborations, and remains one of their strongest.

So that’s next year’s season. Enjoy!