Previous Productions
HRG&SP's repertoire is drawn mainly from 12 of the 14 G&S operas, from Trial By Jury to Utopia, Ltd. Only in four instances has HRG&SP performed works not written by Gilbert or Sullivan; the most recent was George and Ira Gershwins' Of Thee I Sing in the spring of 1999.
The first known G&S-related performance at Harvard was a concert version (in Sanders Theater) of The Pirates of Penzance in the spring of 1896, 19 years after the opera was composed. The concert was "very successful" according to the university catalogue. (Elliott Forbes: A History of Music at Harvard to 1972)
For a full history of the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert & Sullivan Players, visit our history page.
Browse our Archive
We are currently in the process of redoing the past productions pages— with over fifty years of information, this is going to take a while. Until the redesign is complete, we invite you to browse the old past productions page. We apologize for how it looks; it was state of the art in 1996, we swear!
Meanwhile...
Read up on interesting facts compiled by Webmaster Emeritus Filbert Hong '94 (to whom I owe so much for keeping this site so organized):
Interesting things noted while archiving these programs - FHH
Gondoliers '57 - summer production. Performed at Sanders Theater.
First orchestra was used in Pirates '60?. Prior to that there was piano accompaniment in performance. Patience '61 didn't use orchestra. Yeomen '62 did, though.
Gondoliers '63, Utopia '64, Gondoliers '79, Pinafore '79 were on the Mainstage
Utopia '64: John Lithgow as Paramount. Daniel A. Goodenough '66 as Scaphio. Goodenough is now Takeda Professor of Cell Biology at HMS, and Master of the Holmes Society (New Pathway).
Alan was around fall '65-spring '69; reappears fall '72-spring '76; back again either spring '83 or fall '83, onwards. -2000 (33-34 shows)
Note presidency of John Lithgow, mid-1960's (see boards of Yore)
Ruddigore '68 had 33 cast members. Pinafore '69 had 35 cast members. Mikado '70 had 31 cast members. This is with orchestra; at the Agassiz!!!
Fledermaus '69 - Board division there; half of them took off and went to MITG&SP.
Fledermaus '69, Mikado '70 had Dick Gross as a viola (HRO), who is now a full Professor of Mathematics at Harvard FAS and taught my Math25 class when I was a freshman (1990-1).
Pirates '70 - producer was "Leokadja Begbick" - which is the name of a character from the Bertold Brecht/Kurt Weill opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny!!! (i.e., did they even have a producer?) Pusey Library HTC has a review of Pirates '70 - spoke of it very poorly.
Best Board President's name "Treadwell Ruml II" - in the early 70's.
Sorcerer '71 had a modified ending - one devised by Isaac Asimov, from his short story "The Up To Date Sorcerer" - and used with his permission.
Yeomen '72 - Danius Turek (Colonel Fairfax) also played Fairfax in Yeomen '67
Iolanthe '75 had some very famous people in the orchestra. Lynn Chang '75 on violin (Paganini Competition winner) now at MIT music faculty. Yo-Yo Ma '76 also played all the shows for that production, apparently.
Ruddigore '78 had an 11-show, 3-week run. First weekend: Thurs, Fri, Sat eve, Sun mat; Second weekend: Thurs, Fri, Sat eve, Sun mat; Third weekend: Thurs, Fri, Sat.
Pinafore '78 was a joint HRGSP-HRDC production. A ton of people were involved.
Late '70's had Gary I. Yellen as a chorus member and a Board member. He's now Professor of Neurobiology at HMS. (and is chairman of my Thesis Advisory Committee!!!!)
Pirates '81 production was an 11-show run. First weekend: Thurs/Fri/Sat mat/Sat eve/Sun mat. Second weekend: Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat mat/Sat eve.
30th anniversary (Pirates '86) - president was Nicholas Ivor Martin. His father was one of the founders? His mother is Judith Martin, aka "Miss Manners". There was another Martin child, class of '92ish, also involved in theater at Harvard.
Iolanthe '88 had a male fairy (like in a Pudding show).
Mikado '88 - the Mikado was lowered from the ceiling at his entrance.
Sorcerer '91 restored some dialogue and added a scene - Ahrimanes had some lines.
TBJ/Sorcerer '91, Pirates '91, and Mikado '92 had Christina E. Gilbert (Kendrick) '94 in the chorus. She is great-great-granddaughter of WS Gilbert, apparently.
Utopia '92 was set in the Prohibition 20's, Chicago-ish. The Wise Men became "Wise Guys" and Scaphio affected a Godfather accent.
Mid-'90s has Terry Martin playing trumpet/horn. He's a Professor of Law and Head Librarian at Langdell.
Ruddigore '94 restored some numbers including much of the ghost scene, and had a hybrid/semi-restored Act II Finale. This also had a poor hack night, so all of 1995's productions (Patience, Yeomen, TBJ) had no hack nights.
Patience '95 had a running fountain on stage.
TBJ '95 was done pre-season. Closing night had two performances in the same night.
Princess Ida '96 had updated costumes - the three brothers were in WWI gear. Some of Act II's songs were cut (such as "Merrily Ring the Luncheon Bell" and the Quintet), and the ending was changed per the director's vision. Hack night restored.
Pirates '96-Sorcerer '97 was 40th anniversary. The HTC curator Fredric Woodbridge Wilson (former curator of the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive) wrote an extensive program note for Sorcerer. These were 10-show runs.
Pirates '96: Most ingenious hack night: "virgin" replaced the word "orphan" and "booty" replaced the word "duty" throughout the entire evening. A Peter Miller '84 set design.
Mikado '97 was set in modern-day Japan: men in business suits with cell phones etc., wards dressed as anime characters. The office had a glass revolving door. The Mikado wore Texas whites and had a ten-gallon hat. There was a drawbridge to introduce the Mikado. Ko-Ko's "little list" song was very altered.
Gondoliers '98 had a Peter Miller set design. Gondoliers '98 also had Kaela Wasnich a former Master of Dunster House (playing cello).
Iolanthe '98 restored one of Strephon's songs in the second act. The set was "urbanized".
OTIS '99 had the orchestra on stage behind the actors, with a closed-circuit television mounted on the balcony for the music director to direct the actors. Balance from the audience's point-of-view was much improved, but it was nearly impossible for the music director to hear the singers above the orchestra.
Did Peter Sellars really come see Pinafore '99???
Ruddigore 2000: original lighting directions (Gilbert) were used: full-black for a few moments for the ghost scene. Act II Finale hybridized like Ruddigore '94. No extra ghost music, no second verses, no Away, Remorse. Robin descended from the trap for his Act II entrance.
Francis Crick '03 - grandson of the Nobel laureate, as Dick Dauntless. His sister, Camberley '00-'01, sang in the chorus of Sorcerer '97.
Pirates 2000: Edward Gorey ('50) expressed interest in TD'ing (set designing?) this fall show. However, he passed away 4/15/00.