Another Summer Goes LOCOS

Early May:  Light Opera Company of Salisbury’s Monday night rehearsals have begun for another rousing year — our tenth — of Gilbert and Sullivan hijinks. This time around, we’re doing “Iolanthe,†one of the funniest of the bunch.  It’s about useless peers (the House of Lords) and the dainty fairies who love them.  Also about Iolanthe, a fairy in exile because she broke the “fairy laws†and married a mortal, producing from the union a half-fairy (“from the waist downâ€), the shepherd Strephon who loves a simple shepherdess, Phyllis.  Of course the usual complications ensue.  Like all G&S, “Iolanthe†is a rich stew: a silly poke at British politics and morals, a send-up of “serious†opera. Wagner really takes it on the chin in this one!  

Mid-May:  We meet our “perfect†Strephon — the flame-haired Lance Olds, new to our cast this year, with a wonderfully clear voice and appropriately lively demeanor.  He’ll be paired with the raven-haired, silky-voiced Katy DeFiglio, who plays Phyllis. Paul Tomasko, our co-director and traditional leading man, has the tenor role (Lord Tolloller), while Harriet Tomasko, our other co-director, as always is the mezzo femme fatale, this year the “Fairy Queen.† The musically adept Roberta Roll is our Iolanthe.

 

June:  For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on channeling Steve Quint, which is similar to trying to hit like Barry Bonds. Steve is one of our professionals from the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players and is the comic lead, the Lord Chancellor.  He and Keith Jurosko (Private Willis) can only make the occasional rehearsal, so I’ve been tapped to understudy Quint’s part most Monday nights.  I’m glad there are no mirrors in the church hall to see my pathetic attempts at hammy humor!

 

Early July:  Friends can be forgiven for thinking I’ve gone off the deep end.  They may have observed me walking up and down the aisles of Trotta’s making deep, nasal booming noises like some new species of frog.  Christine Gevert, our chorus master, has been trying to get us to project our low notes, which are really, really low!  It turns out the best way to do this is by trying to sing them through your nose, hence: boing, croak, honk.

 

Mid-July:  Chaperoning my girls back and forth from camp to camp all week, I keep my Iolanthe CD permanently loaded in the car, which also comes in handy for my 45-minute commute (each way) to and from work.  By now we’ve all listened to it, oh, I don’t know, maybe 10,000 times, so often, in fact, that my girls know the music and lyrics at least as well as I do (except when they render a funny, not-quite-English version).  They’ve even picked out their own solos. They ask for “Iolanthe†so much, I’m beginning to get physically ill, so I’ve surreptitiously inserted a new CD of Middle Eastern music!

 

Early August:  The Tomaskos decided to let our girls, Abby and Ella, be in the show, as “little green forest fairies.† Their school friends Eliza and Rafaela will be joining in. They come flitting in and out at various strategic moments.    

Mid-August:  We’re coming down the homestretch, and the show is starting to fall into place.  We men have some nice scooting about in our lordly capes, while the women have gotten down their dance moves pretty well. All these months of rehearsal have paid off. And wait until the show’s finale, when all us lords turn into, well, I musn’t give too much away.

   

The Light Opera Company of Salisbury (LOCOS)production of “Iolanthe†will be at The Hotchkiss School, on Friday, Aug. 31 at 8 pm; Saturday, Sept. 1 at 8 pm; and Sunday, Sept. 2 at 2 pm.  For tickets and information, call 860-435-9458 or e-mail locostix@yahoo.com.

 

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