Head Home Page Head

About 2008's Yeomen       Audition Info       Scholarship Info       Newest CD Release       2007 Ruddygore Review

Jack Point and Elsie Maynard perform at the tower

The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston is pleased to announce our 2008 production:

The Yeomen of the Guard, or the Merry Man and His Maid

by Sir Arthur Sullivan - Book by Sir William Gilbert

Alistair Donkin, Director, and starring Alistair as Jack Point
Brian Runnels, Music Director

Long considered by many critics to be the finest and most mature of all G & S operettas, The Yeomen of the Guard (or The Merryman and His Maid) is set, not in Topsyturvyland, but in a very explicit time and place, the Tower of London in Shakespearean England. The plot revolves around the courageous and honorable Colonel Fairfax, a man of science, who is unjustly doomed to be executed for sorcery. Phoebe Meryll, daughter of the sergeant who leads the Tower guards, is secretly in love with the dashing colonel but is pursued by the odious head jailer, Wilfred Shadbolt.

Into this tangle wander a strolling jester, Jack Point, and his companion (and the object of his affections), the charming singer Elsie Maynard. Elsie is convinced to marry Colonel Fairfax an hour before his execution so that the evil cousin who has plotted his execution will not inherit his estate.

After the wedding ceremony, during which Elsie is blindfolded, Colonel Fairfax escapes and then—of course (this is Gilbert and Sullivan!)--returns in disguise to try to win the heart of his new bride.

In the end, some lovers are happily mated, some are less happily mated, and one is brokenhearted…but through it all are the thrilling strains of some of the most wonderful music Sullivan ever wrote.

This is the same Yeomen (with some new faces) that was runner-up at the 1998 International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England. Some of the new faces performed in the our 2007 performances of Ruddygore which received high praise by the Houston Chronicle's performing arts critic.

Show dates:

Mark your calendars now. Tickets go on sale on this website Sunday, June 1, 2008.
Email us now or call us at the number below if you're new to our productions of Gilbert and Sulivan and would like to receive a ticket order form in early June.

Check this website regularly for updates

Auditions scheduled for February 23 and 24
click here for additional information

Check this site regularly for further announcements.

Scholarships

We will be accepting applications for Voice and Technical Intern scholarships during January through March of 2008.

click here for additional information and application forms

Release of our third CD - Trial by Jury and HMS Pinafore

The Houston Gilbert and Sullivan Society is very proud to announce the release of its latest CD recording — H.M.S. Pinafore and Trial by Jury. This 2-CD set celebrates Alistiar Donkin's Silver Anniversary in July 2006, with his masterful renditions of Pinafore's K.C.B and Trial's Learned Judge. Like our Sorcerer and Pirates of Penzance CDs, this recording is complete with music and dialogue. Listen to excerpts from all of our CDs

Get a copy today for all of your "sisters, and your cousins and your aunts".

The Houston Chronicle's Charles Ward wrote of 2007's RUDDYGORE:

The G&S Society brought [staging theatrics] off flawlessly on Friday. It was typical of the smooth, accomplished professionalism audiences can expect every summer from the society. [read more]

Read the Houston Chronicle's preview of Ruddygore and interview with Alistair Donkin

return to top