Lamplighters Music Theatre Sets All-Gilbert & Sullivan 2016-17 Season

Lamplighters Music Theatre has announced an all-Gilbert & Sullivan program for their 2016-17 Season. The season comprises The Mikado and Patience, as well as an original musical, A Song to Sing, O! The Gilbert & Sullivan Story, and a brand new musical comedy Gala performance. Performances will run from August 5, 2016 through May 14, 2017.

This will be the Lamplighters' 22nd production of the comic masterpiece THE MIKADO. Reinvented for the 21st Century, the traditional setting of a fictitious Japanese village will be moved to a re-imagined Renaissance Italy, the home of rapid cultural exchange, scientific advancement, artistic creativity, and commedia dell'arte. The Mikado is an eternally relevant comic satire on the timeless and universal frailties of our shared human nature. Visual changes will reflect the new setting, and a minimal number of necessary edits will be made to the names and dialogue, but the hilarious plot line, memorable characters and gorgeous music will otherwise remain intact. Ellen Brooks stage directs and Baker Peeples conducts such classics as "The Little List Song", "Three Little Maids", and "Tit-willow".

Come November it's time for Lamplighter's zany ANNUAL CHAMPAGNE GALA & AUCTION. An original satire set (mostly) to the music of Sir Arthur Sullivan; a Lamplighters Gala is a unique event - more fun-raiser than fundraiser. Lamplighters will again be presenting the Gala in two venues: Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, and the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. The production is currently in the writing stages, creating a new addition to previous hilarious titles such as Return of the Deadeye, Upside-Downton Abbey, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern's Excellent Adventure, Apocalypse Later, Major General Hospital, and The Phantom of the Operetta.

In February 2017 the Company will revisit Gilbert & Sullivan's comic masterpiece, PATIENCE, in which Gilbert & Sullivan take direct aim at the late 19th Century "Aesthetic Movement" led most famously by Oscar Wilde. Reginald Bunthorne, the aesthete-to-end-all-aesthetes, pursues the winsome and simple milkmaid Patience while simultaneously enjoying the worshipful adoration of his 20 love-sick groupies. Hilarity ensues as a group of jilted Dragoon Guards struggle to become aesthetic initiates in order to win back their old girlfriends, and with the sudden appearance of the handsome rival aesthetic poet Archibald Grosvenor. This production will be stage directed by Artistic Director Emeritus Barbara Heroux and music directed by David Möschler, conductor of the Lamplighters' award-winning H.M.S. Pinafore last year.

Finally, for the Lamplighters special spring show they bring back a popular favorite, A SONG TO SING, O! THE GILBERT & SULLIVAN STORY, which recounts the artistic collaboration of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as told in their own words from their letters and diaries, and includes selections from all 13 of their musical creations. This production - conceived, written and directed by Lamplighters Artistic Director Emeritus, Barbara Heroux, will be conducted by Resident Music Director Baker Peeples, and is a great way to introduce new friends to the world of Gilbert & Sullivan.

Season Tickets are on sale now, single tickets will be on sale in June. For any general enquiries, call the Lamplighters at 415-227-4797 or info@lamplighters.org.

THE MIKADO

Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
Friday, August 5 • 8PM; Saturday, August 6 • 2PM & 8PM; Sunday, August 7 • 2PM
925-943-7469 · lesherartscenter.org

Mountain View Center for Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View
Saturday, August 13 • 2PM & 8PM; Sunday, August 14 • 2PM
650-903-6000 · mvcpa.com

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 700 Howard Street, San Francisco
Thursday, August 18 • 8PM; Friday, August 19 • 8PM; Saturday, August 20 • 2PM & 8PM;
Sunday, August 21 • 2PM
415-978-2787 · ybca.org

Bankhead Theater, 2400 First Street, Livermore
Saturday, August 27 • 8PM; Sunday, August 28 • 2PM
925-373-6800 · bankheadtheater.org

ANNUAL CHAMPAGNE GALA AND AUCTION

Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View
Sunday, November 6 • Silent auction at 3PM, Performance at 4pm
650-903-6000 · mvcpa.com

Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
Sunday, November 13 • Silent auction at 3PM, Performance at 4pm
415-392-4400 · cityboxoffice.com

GILBERT & SULLIVAN'S PATIENCE

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco
Friday, February 3, 2017 • 8PM; Saturday, February 4 • 2PM & 8PM; Sunday, February 5 • 2PM
415-978-2787 · ybca.org

Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
Friday, February 10, 2017 • 8PM; Saturday, February 11 2PM & 8PM; Sunday, February 12 • 2PM
925-943-7469 · lesherartscenter.org

Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View
Saturday, February 18, 2017 • 8PM; Sunday, February 19 • 2PM
650-903-6000 · mvcpa.com

A SONG TO SING, O! The Gilbert & Sullivan Story

Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
Saturday, April 22, 2017 • 8PM; Sunday, April 23 • 2PM
415-392-4400 · cityboxoffice.com

Napa Valley Opera House, 1030 Main Street, Napa
Sunday, April 30, 2017 • 2PM
866-468-3399 · nvoh.org

Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
Thursday, May 4, 2017 • 8PM
925-943-7469 · lesherartscenter.org

Menlo-Atherton Center for the Performing Arts, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton
Sunday, May 14, 2017 • 3PM
415-227-4797 · lamplighters.org

A Brief History and Bio of Lamplighters Music Theatre

Lamplighters Music Theatre was founded in 1952 to produce the comic operas of librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, and is now recognized as one of the world's pre-eminent Gilbert & Sullivan companies. The Lamplighters' repertoire includes all the surviving works of these creative geniuses, as well as a select group of comic operas and classic musicals by other composers that exemplify their artistic vision.

Critically acclaimed artistic successes for the Lamplighters include honors for Best Production and Best Director at the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England and local awards in nearly every performance, direction, and design category, including Outstanding Production of a Musical at the 2015 Annual Theatre Bay Area Awards. The hallmarks of a Lamplighters production are lavish costumes and sets, live orchestra, excellent comic acting, and gorgeous unamplified singing that showcases the beauty and purity of the human voice.

In addition to an active performance schedule, the Lamplighters provide performance and training opportunities in this unique style of classic music theatre to local theatre artists, and seek to promote appreciation for the works of Gilbert & Sullivan through youth programs, school performances and other types of community outreach.

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