New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players Announce 2018-19 Season

The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, America's preeminent professional Gilbert & Sullivan repertory company, announces its exciting upcoming Fall 2018-19 Season featuring The Yeomen of the Guard, The Pirates of Penzance, New Year's with NYGASP and Ages Ago/Mr. Jericho. The company will open its 44th season with The Yeomen of the Guard on October 27th-28th at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (East 68th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues). The season will proceed with performances of The Pirates of Penzance on December 27th - 30th (Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College) which will be followed by NYGASP's 40 year tradition of New Year's with NYGASP on December 31st at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space. The season concludes with Ages Ago/Mr. Jericho on March 1st through 3rd, 2019 at Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre at West Side YMCA.

Under the dynamic leadership of Artistic Director Albert Bergeret, who has been hailed as "the leading custodian of the G&S classics" by New York Magazine, NYGASP 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 2000 performances of the G&S masterpieces throughout the United States, Canada, and the U.K. captivating audiences of all ages. NYGASP's productions are charged with engaging contemporary entertainment values while retaining respect for the famous duo's comedic and musical genius.

The Yeomen of the Guard is historically intriguing, musically thrilling and the only G&S piece set in a realistic time and place. The Yeomen of the Guard tells the story of a falsely accused prisoner in the Tower of London, the two girls who loved him, and an out of work itinerant jester in grand and colorful fashion - with humor and a touch of pathos. The New York Times raves " A merry romp...wry, sly and stylish."

Everyone has pretended to be a pirate at some point. The classic comedy, The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty boasts one of the most famous patter songs in musical theatre history, the often parodied "I am the very model of a modern Major-General." On the coast of Cornwall, a band of tenderhearted pirates celebrates the coming of age of Frederic, who was mistakenly apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday. Now, Frederic has vowed to devote his life to the extermination of piracy - until a ludicrous leap year snag threatens to keep him apprenticed to the pirates for life! Throw in a bevy of beauties, a brash Pirate King, the delightfully stuffy Major-General Stanley and you've got what the New York Times calls "An endearing production with high musical standards and spirited performances."

For New Year's with NYGASP, New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players will offer an intimate and engaging version of their merry annual celebration at Symphony Space's

160 seat Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater and adjacent Bar Thalia. The best of NYGASP will perform their personal G&S favorites followed by the Company's signature tour-de- force challenge - audience requests from the G&S repertoire performed impromptu. The evening is topped off with a champagne toast to the New Year and a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne!

In the companion pieces Ages Ago/Mr. Jericho, the audience gets a double dose of classic operettas where both pieces have charms that have not been explored by a professional company in New York since the late 19th century. Ages Ago, with libretto by W.S. Gilbert, foreshadows his Ruddigore in its use of a portrait gallery coming to life, in Brigadoon like manner, once every 100 years. The score, by Sullivan contemporary Frederic Clay, contains many of the same qualities found in the works of his more renowned colleague. "Brilliant...sparking operetta full of ingenious fun" - London's Penny Illustrated Paper (1869)

Mr. Jericho is an early example of advertising hype. Mr. Jericho's phenomenal sales of Jericho's Jams enable him to claim his long lost love, widow Lady Bushey, while re- establishing the fortune of a bankrupt nobleman and his handsome son, who happens to have gained the affections of the widow's status seeking daughter.

The NYGASP 2018-19 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.

The Fall Season of NYGASP will kick off with The Yeomen of the Guard on October 27th-28th, 2018 and The Pirates of Penzance on December 27th - 30th, 2018 at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (East 68th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues). New Year's with NYGASP on December 31st will be at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street). The season closes with Ages Ago/Mr. Jericho on March 1st through 3rd, 2019 at Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre at West Side YMCA (10 W. 64th Street Between Central Park West & Broadway).

For ticket information on all shows please visit www.nygasp.org

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