 | The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival is held every summer at the Opera House in Buxton, Derbyshire. The Festival attracts thousands of visitors, including performers, supporters, and G&S enthusiasts from all around the world. It was established in 1994 by Ian Smith and his son Neil to enhance the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. It also has a goal of reinstating G&S and the performing arts in schools in Britain. Each summer, beginning with the last weekend in July, the Festival includes over three weeks of nightly G&S operas and daytime fringe activities. |
| In addition to the amateur productions that are presented and compete at the Festival each year, there are weekend professional performances given by companies such as the Carl Rosa Opera Company, Opera della Luna, the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, and the G&S Opera Company, starring such well-known G&S performers as Richard Suart, Simon Butteriss, Bruce Graham, Gillian Knight, Michael Rayner, Patricia Leonard, Donald Maxwell, Jill Pert, Janet Cowley, Gareth Jones, the Opera Babes and Eric Roberts. The G&S Opera Company will present three new productions in the 2008 Festival. Andrew Nicklin (Director) and Richard Balcomb (Musical Director) will present The Mikado (see photo) on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th August. This will be followed by The Gondoliers on Friday 15th and Saturday 16th August; and Iolanthe on Friday 22nd August and Saturday 23rd August which will be directed by Alan Spencer with John Owen Edwards as Musical Director. The Mikado, or The Town of Titipu, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. It opened on March 14, 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, which was the second longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time. Before the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera. The Mikado remains the most frequently performed Savoy Opera, and it is especially popular with amateur and school productions. The work has been translated into numerous languages and is one of the most frequently played musical theatre pieces in history. Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 film that tells the background story of the creation of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado in 1884-1885. | |
| "Three Little Maids from School Are We" 1999 film "Topsy Turvy" | |
Event: International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival Date: August 2 (Saturday) – 23 (Saturday), 2008 Location: Buxton, Derbyshire England, UK | |
| SOURCE: International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival |
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