The Gondoliers (2008)

Print

Large

Introduction to this years specific performance

  The Gondoliers  or The King of Barataria

Musical Director - Steve Aylmer             Stage Director - John Lamb

DRAMATIS PERSONAE


THE DUKE OF PLAZA-TORO (a Grandee of Spain)
PAUL ANDERSON
LUIZ (his attendant)
BEN PIEPER
DON ALHAMBRA DEL BOLERO (the Grand Inquisitor)
STEVE AYLMER
THE DUCHESS OF PLAZA-TORO
ELAINE MOORE
CASILDA (her Daughter)
CAROLINE MOORE
 
 
Venetian Gondoliers
 
MARCO PALMIERI
ANDY COLLINSON
GIUSEPPE PALMIERI
PHILIP KING
ANTONIO
MICHAEL WALTHAM
FRANCESCO
GORDON SMETHURST
GIORGIO
RUSS FALLON
ANNIBALE
JOHN LAMB
 
 
Contadine
 
GIANETTA
ROZ SHALLCROSS
TESSA
JANE BRADLEY
FIAMETTA
LAURINE KAY
VITTORIA
ALICE GIBLIN
GIULIA
HELENE O’MULLANE
 
 
INEZ (the King's Foster-mother)       PATRICIA LEE-ROBINS AND ELAINE FOSTER
 
   Chorus of Gondoliers:
           Mike Austin
Andrew Sapcote
Ian Start
           David Fry
 Gordon Smethurst
 
           Keith Lawton
 Terry Smith
 
 
    Chorus of Contadine:
       Penny Aylmer
Margarat Mann
Sally Sawyers
       Corinne Aylmer
Diana Moore
Susan Smethurst
       Joanne Blanchard
Jade Newall
Anne Storey
       Wendy Buxton
Marlene Pinchbeck
Wendy Thomas
       Pat Jones
Anya Rawlings
 
       Elvira Johnson
Karen Rumsey
 
 
Prompts:
Zona Brown & Joyce Cook
Call Boy:
Maurice Moore


The Story of the Opera

Act 1

All the girls in Venice are besotted by Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri, two of the gondoliers, and reject all other offers of love until the brothers are no longer available. Marco and Giuseppe announce that they will pick their brides through a game of blind-man's-buff, and after some crafty play catch Gianetta and Tessa - just the girls they wanted! Amid general rejoicing the couples go off to get married.

The impoverished Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro, with their daughter Casilda and their 'suite', Luiz, now arrive in Venice, having made the journey from Spain to seek the husband whom Casilda married in infancy, the son of the King of Barataria. The child was taken from the court by Don Alhambra del Bolero, the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, and brought up as a gondolier, ignorant of his true identity. Now it is time for him to ascend the throne with Casilda at his side. The difficulty is that he is known to be either Marco or Giuseppe, but no one knows which, except the woman who nursed the young Prince, who just happens to be Luiz' mother. The news that Casilda is married sends her and Luiz into despair, for they are secretly in love, but they have to conceal their anguish, and Luiz is despatched to fetch his mother to Barataria.

Don Alhambra reveals to the newly married Marco and Giuseppe that one of them is a King, and that they are both to be taken to Barataria immediately. Though they are both Republicans, they manage to overcome their political scruples and promise to give their friends places at court.

After a fond farewell to the girls - for Don Alhambra craftily tells them that ladies are not allowed in court - the men sail off to Barataria.

Act 2

In Act II we see that the gondoliers have quickly set up a relaxed 'Republican Monarchy' where the only pleasure missing is the company of their wives. This is soon remedied by the arrival of all the contadine, but the situation soon gets complicated when Don Alhambra reveals to Marco and Giuseppe that one of them is a bigamist, having been married to Casilda as a baby. This throws everyone into a state of anxiety, except for the Duke and Duchess, who have found a range of money-making methods. Finally Tessa and Gianetta encounter Casilda.

Only the arrival of Inez, the former nurse can throw light on the problem and reveal to all the rightful King of Barataria - will it be Marco or Giuseppe?




THE DUKE OF PLAZA-TORO (a Grandee of Spain)
PAUL ANDERSON
LUIZ (his attendant)
BEN PIEPER
DON ALHAMBRA DEL BOLERO (the Grand Inquisitor)
STEVE AYLMER
THE DUCHESS OF PLAZA-TORO
ELAINE MOORE
CASILDA (her Daughter)
 
 
 
Venetian Gondoliers
 
MARCO PALMIERI
ANDY COLLINSON
GIUSEPPE PALMIERI
PHILIP KING
ANTONIO
MICHAEL WALTHAM
FRANCESCO
GORDON SMETHURST
GIORGIO
RUSS FALLON
ANNIBALE
JOHN LAMB
 
 
Contadine
 
GIANETTA
ROZ SHALLCROSS
TESSA
JANE BRADLEY
FIAMETTA
LAURINE KAY
VITTORIA
ALICE GIBLIN
GIULIA
HELENE O’MULLANE
 
 
INEZ (the King's Foster-mother)       PATRICIA LEE-ROBINS AND ELAINE FOSTER
 
   Chorus of Gondoliers:
           Mike Austin
Andrew Sapcote
Ian Start
           David Fry
 Gordon Smethurst
 
           Keith Lawton
 Terry Smith
 
 
    Chorus of Contadine:
          Penny Aylmer
Margarat Mann
Sally Sawyers
          Corinne Aylmer
Diana Moore
Susan Smethurst
          Joanne Blanchard
Jade Newall
Anne Storey
          Wendy Buxton
Marlene Pinchbeck
Wendy Thomas
          Pat Jones
Anya Rawlings
 
          Elvira Johnson
Karen Rumsey
 
 
Prompts:
Zona Brown & Joyce Cook
Call Boy:
Maurice Moore