NY Gilbert & Sullivan's New MIKADO Opens with Family Friendly Events and Gala New Year's Eve!

The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, America's preeminent professional Gilbert & Sullivan repertory company, continues its 42nd season with the time-honored classic The Mikado! The brand new production will play December 28-31, 2016 and January 5-8, 2017 at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (East 68th Street between Park & Lexington Avenues).

As is the G&S tradition, every season offers exciting extras for the whole family! Special pre and post-show events are as follows:

Bring Your Grandparents Day (December 29): Respect your Favorite elders with a pre-show family overture (1:45pm in the theater) and a backstage tour featuring the character of your choice following the performance!

Family Overture (December 31, 12:45pm & January 7, 12:45pm): Musical introduction and plot summary made entertaining for the entire family. (Your matinee admission is your ticket to Family Overture.)

New Year's Eve (December 31, 7:30pm): A New York tradition since 1978! Join the NYGASP Company for a rousing toast to the New Year - including Auld Lang Syne with the audience, cast, and orchestra - following the performance!

In NYGASP's new production of The Mikado, the location is an imaginary town full of colorful characters - 3 little maids from school, a wandering minstrel, a hilariously corrupt public official, and a Lord High Executioner who may have a list of potential victims but is too tenderhearted to actually perform his duties. At the heart of this tale is a love story: a beautiful school girl loves the romantic wandering minstrel, but she is engaged to the executioner. This romantic triangle takes the usual course of thwarted romance, until the arrival first of the fearsome fiancé claiming the minstrel as her "perjured lover," and later of the emperor, or Mikado, himself - with his own list of punishments specially tailored to fit every crime. In order to resolve the ensuing complications, the inept executioner must use his wits to convince the most unappealing minstrel's fiancé to marry him instead - in record time.

In director David Auxier's new production of The Mikado, elements of Victorian England and Japanese culture have been carefully curated and combined with fantasy to enhance the production. The production will feature original choreography and direction by NYGASP Associate Stage Director David Auxier with Assistant Director Kelvin Moon Loh. Aaron Gandy will serve as music director and conduct the 25-piece orchestra. The production will showcase a new production design including scenery designed by Anshuman Bhatia, costumes designed by Quinto Ott and lighting designed by Benjamin Weill.

NYGASP Executive Director and Producer David Wannen has announced that all principal roles in The Mikado will be double cast. The Mikado will be played by the imposing Cole Grissom and Christopher White. Company veterans Angela Christine Smith and Cáitlín Burke return as Katisha opposite two patter comedians, Adam Shapiro and David Macaluso as the nervous and tender hearted Ko-Ko. Tenors Daniel Greenwood and Jesse Pimpenella are cast as the romantic Nanki-Poo, who will do anything for the beautiful and subtly crafty Yum-Yum, played by sweet voiced sopranos Sarah Caldwell Smith and Quynh-My Luu. Matthew Wages and Andy Herr are cast as the infamous Pooh-Bah, Lord High Everything Else. The three little maids include Jessica Rose Futran and Amy Maude Helfer as the sassy Pitti-Sing, and Lauren Frankovich and Alexandra Haines play a pretty Peep-Bo. New company members Chris Vaughan and Joshua Miller play the stately and aristocratic Pish-Tush.

Under the dynamic leadership of Artistic Director Albert Bergeret, The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players has been hailed as "the leading custodian of the G&S classics" by New York Magazine and has created its own special niche in the cultural mosaic of New York City and the nation. Since its founding in 1974, the company has presented over 2,000 performances of the G&S masterpieces throughout the United States, Canada and England, captivating audiences of all ages.

The NYGASP 2016-17 season is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State's 62 counties. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

For more information and tickets for the NYGASP season which includes The Mikado (December 28-31, 2016 and January 5-8, 2017) as well as Patience (April 29-30, 2017) at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (East 68th Street between Park & Lexington Avenues) log onto www.nygasp.org or by phone (212) 769-1000.