Programme 1976 – The Pirates of Penzance

NAPIER OPERATIC
Lessee and Manager   MR. D’OYLY CARTE

EVERY EVENING
The New and Original Melo-Dramatic Opera in Two Acts, entitled

THE
PIRATES OF PENZANCE

By Messrs A. SULLIVAN and W. S. GILBERT

Box Office open daily from 9 to 5

No Fees of Any Kind.

Programmes are provided and Wraps and Umbrellas taken free of charge. Any attendant detected in accepting money from visitors will be instantly dismissed. The Public is therefore requested not to tempt the attendants by offering them gratuities.

THE
PIRATES OF PENZANCE

or, THE SLAVE OF DUTY.

by Messrs W. S. GILBERT
and ARTHUR SULLIVAN

NAPIER OPERATIC SOCIETY
MAY 8th – 22nd, 1976

Dramatis Personae
Major-General Stanley   Mr ALBERT BARKER
The Pirate King   Mr PAUL WARING
Samuel (his lieutenant)   Mr BUDDY COLLINS
Frederic (the pirate apprentice)   Mr MICHAEL KYLE
Sergeant of Police   Mr JOHN DOIG
Mabel   MISS ALISON THOMSON
Edith   Mrs NAOMI BAKER
Kate   Mrs WENDY KYLE
Isabel   Miss JEANETTE MURRAY
Ruth (a pirate maid of all work)   Mrs TESSA BROWN

Chorus of Pirates, Police –  Mr Frank Grotty, Mr Les Deere, Mr Frank Ennor, Mr George French, Mr John Hadfield, Mr David Jensen, Mr Stuart McKie, Mr Bob Millman, Mr Warren Nuttall, Mr Steven Reay, Mr David Reefman, Mr Campbell Souter.

General Stanley’s Daughters –   Mrs Annette Allerby, Miss Isabella Bell, Mrs Avis Blackburn, Miss Carol Bolton, Mrs Pat Bowen, Mrs Diana Domet, Mrs Christine Gale, Miss Anne-Marie Greatrex, Mrs Sara Perry, Miss Beryl Ritchie, Mrs Loretta Stephens, Miss Ruth Turner.

ACT I. – THE COAST OF CORNWALL.
ACT II. – A RUINED CHAPEL BY MOONLIGHT.

Cover picture: From the London production at the Opera Comique in 1880.

MUSICAL NUMBERS

ACT I

1   Pour, oh, Pour the Pirate Sherry   (Pirates, Samuel)
2   When Fred’ric was a Little Lad   (Ruth)
3   I am a Pirate King   (Pirate King, Pirates)
4   Oh! False One, You Have Deceived Me   (Frederic, Ruth)
5   Climbing Over Rocky Mountain   (Chorus of Girls)
6   Stop, Ladies, Pray!   (Frederic, Chorus of Girls)
7   Poor Wandering One   (Mabel, Chorus of Girls)
8   How Beautifully Blue the Sky   (Edith, Kate, Girls)
9   A First-Rate Opportunity   (Pirates, Chorus of Girls)
10   The Very Model of a Modern Major-General   (Major-General, Chorus)
11   Finale Act I   (Assembled Company)

ACT II

1   Oh! Dry the Glistening Tear   (Mabel, Chorus of Girls)
2   When the Foeman Bares His Steel   (Frederic, Mabel, Edith, Sergeant, Police, Girls)
3   A Most Ingenious Paradox   (Ruth, Frederic, King)
4   Away, Away, My Heart’s On Fire   (Ruth, Frederic, King)
5   Your Gallant Crew Await You   (Mabel, Frederic)
6   When a Felon’s Not Engaged in His Employment   (Sergeant, Police)
7   With Cat-Like Tread (Samuel, Pirates)
8   Finale Act II   (Assembled Company)

Princess Ida 1884

ORCHESTRA
Piano   June Clifford
Violins   Enid Dunn
Norma Smith
Charlie Jukes
Winifred Bickerstaff
Sandra Scott
Allison Scott
Viola   Peter Van Drimmelen
Cello   Kate Contos
Bass   Leon Speakman
Flute   Mary Hodgetts
Clarinet   John Reid
Trumpets   Phil Jennings
Alan Laing
Trombone   Cliff Howell
Horn   Michael Winter
Percussion   Graham Harrison

YEOMAN OF THE GUARD (1888), THE MIKADO (1885) AND RUDDIGORE (1887)
THE YEOMEN OF THE SAVOY
SAVOY THEATRE   RUDDYGORE   DO YOU THINK THE TITLE IS A LEETLE – ER – EH?

The humour of the piece consists in the gravity of the music applied to the most ridiculous situations imaginable.
– New York critic, January 1880

THE
PIRATES OF PENZANCE
or
The Slave of Duty

THE FAMOUS pirates of Penzance are discovered in a rocky Cornwall cove with their rather muddle-headed King. They have gathered to say farewell to Frederic, their apprentice, who at midday will be out of his indentures and, because he is leaving, feels justified in telling them that the reason they fail so often in their raids is because word has got about that they never attack smaller vessels than theirs not ones manned by orphans; he also tells them that, once he has left them, it will be his duty as an honest citizen to hunt them ruthlessly and exterminate them. Frederic imagines he must be in love with Ruth, who is the only woman he has ever seen and is, in fact, his nursery-maid who apprenticed him as a child to the pirates instead of to a pilot, but suddenly a crowd of beautiful girls (Major-General Stanley’s daughters) arrive for a picnic with their father, and Frederic instantly loses interest in poor Ruth and his heart to Mabel, the most beautiful of the daughters.

In Act II we see Frederic set on his determined path of exterminating the pirates, assisted by his gallant band of policemen when, unfortunately for him, the Pirate King and Ruth appear with distressing news; apparently he was born in Leap Year on February 29 and was apprenticed, not as he thought, until his twenty-first year, but until his twenty-first birthday which will not be for many a long year — in fact 1940! However, the opera ends on a happy note as the pirates are really not as evil as they seem but are all noblemen who have gone wrong and consequently perfectly suitable as husbands for many of General Stanley’s daughters. It seems as though Ruth will be left alone but happily she and the Police Sergeant discover each other and all is well.

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OPERAS
1871 to 1896

WILLIAM SCHWENK GILBERT was born whimsical – at the age of two he was kidnapped by brigands in Italy and had to be redeemed for £25 (a fact he never forgot). Arthur Seymour Sullivan was born musical – 28 years after his death controversy was still raging over the extent of his genius. His detractors argued that he might have done “great things” had he not frittered away his talents upon “ephemeral rubbish which could not survive”. It so happens that Gilbert’s wit and Sullivan’s music have survived.

Gilbert, author of the witty Bab Ballads, a regular column in which he turned the world topsy-turvy, and produced Sullivan, who became Mendelssohn Scholar at the age of 14, a comic, but now Britain’s forgotten first work, “Thespis; or the Gods Grown Old”, at the Gaiety Theatre in December 1871. The London Evening Standard commented: “Delightful versifier and humourist Mr Gilbert never once intends to be serious throughout the operetta, for he carries his extravagances to the utmost limits allowed a purveyor of absurdities. A clever Mr Arthur Sullivan has been very happy in infusing a certain amount of sentiment which creates an interest little imagined by those who merely peruse the incidents of the plot.”

This almost prophetic analysis of the Gilbert and Sullivan recipe which was to entertain Londoners for 25 years was one of the few favourable reactions to “Thespis”. “Trial by Jury,” which followed, was the triumph which led to the phenomenon now known as the Savoy Operas.

To Gilbert and Sullivan we owe: “Thespis” (1871), “Trial by Jury” (1875), “The Sorcerer” (1877), “HMS Pinafore” (1878), “Pirates of Penzance” (1880), “Patience” (1881), “lolanthe” (1882), “Princess Ida” (1854), “Mikado” (1885), “Ruddigore” (1887), “Yeoman of the Guard” (1888), “The Gondoliers” (1889), “Utopia Ltd” (1893) and “The Grand Duke” (1896).

– JAMES MORGAN

CENTENNIAL YEARS

Fun, as a rule, has a short life. To make fun that lasts for generations – each of them with a different outlook on the world and different tastes and interests even in things artistic – is the mark of a very high talent.
– Robert Lynd in News Chronicle, 1936, marking the centenary of Gilbert’s birth.

‘Once upon a time there were two kings’ – ‘Punch’

NAPIER OPERATIC SOCIETY was formed in the 1880’s as evidenced by programmes of productions of “The Mikado” 1887 and “Madame Fauveniti” 1882, both of which are held in the H.B. Art Gallery and Museum, therefore the Society can claim to be one of the oldest Musical Societies in New Zealand.

Unfortunately our earliest records were destroyed in the 1931 earthquake, but from privately owned photographs and programmes which have been given to us we have been able to establish a consistent run of shows each year from 1908, with the exception of recesses during the two war periods and the depression years.

However, the Society was latterly reformed in 1953-1954 with the production of “Chu Chin Chow” and has gone on since then without a break producing a show each year.

In 1957 the Society purchased its own rehearsal hall and this proved to be very worthwhile as it enabled the Society to build some excellent shows such as “Vagabond King”, “Camelot”, “Sound of Music” and “Pink Champagne” and allowing for storage of stage equipment and costumes as well as becoming a club room and “Little Theatre”.

We are confident that this year’s production of “Pirates of Penzance” will be a further step towards our 100th Birthday.

– E. G. COLLIER, Patron

SULLIVAN – CARTE – GILBERT
The greatest collaborators in the history of entertainment, as seen by the Victorian cartoonists Ape and Spy.

RICHARD D’OYLY CARTE was a Napoleonic figure who, as a theatrical agent, had long cherished the idea of a Gilbert and Sullivan combination. With untiring energy he brought together the author and composer for the “Trial by Jury” experiment – a goldmine both artistically and financially.

All of the successive Gilbert and Sullivan operettas were mounted under his management, every minute detail submitted for his decision. Carte was the businessman; Gilbert was the author and director; Sullivan was the composer – and the conductor at all of the first nights. The triumvirate succeeded. From his share of the proceeds Carte built the Savoy theatre and later the Savoy Hotel from which grew the company which is still one of London’s major hotel and restaurant-owning chains. Gilbert and Sullivan each enjoyed an income of more than £10,000 a year — twice as much as Prime Minister Gladstone. Sullivan, the ex-choirboy and composer of sacred music and “The Lost Chord”, spent freely on entertaining, racehorses, the casino, travel. Gilbert had an architect build him a mansion in Harrington Gardens, Kensington, equipped with such unusual amenities in the 1880s as central heating, telephone and four bathrooms.

MODERN-DAY COLLABORATORS

“We knew your taste for curious quips, For cranks and contradictions queer …”
– Pirate King

“Curses! Curses on ye both!”

JAMES MORGAN:   Since 1968 when James Morgan produced his first “musical” for our Society – “Sound of Music”, we have grown from strength to strength until today we find ourselves staging two major productions in the Municipal Theatre, with our restaurant theatre opening planned for the very near future. To a large extent we owe the [our] thanks to the drive of James Morgan for this. He has continually produced the first grade shows the public have come to expect from us. The successful combination of James and Cecil Fitzwater in the production of “Camelot”, “Pink Champagne”, “South Pacific”, “Oliver”, “Fiddler on the Roof”, and “Man of La Mancha”, will long be remembered by local theatre patrons. You can be sure that his current efforts with Gilbert and Sullivan will again have a stamp of quality.
– FRED TWYFORD

… A TEN-YEAR PARTNERSHIP

“His heroic sacrifice to his sense of duty has endeared him to me tenfold.” – Mabel

“I may, perchance, yet be in time.”

CECIL FITZWATER:   I suppose if one were asked to name a few of the musical personalities in the district, the name of Ces Fitzwater would appear high up on any list.

An accomplished Brass instrumentalist, Violinist, Teacher and Conductor, Ces, in the last 10 years or so, has given the local amateur operatic societies many hours of his time. Apart from the Napier Operatic Society, Ces has been musical director for the Hastings Light Opera Company and the Napier Frivolity Minstrels.

His knowledge is wide, his energy boundless and is the only person I know who, at the preliminary Orchestral rehearsals for the shows, can sing all the vocal parts whilst he is conducting, be it Soprano, Alto, Tenor Bass or the Full Chorus.

Now retired from full time employment with the N.Z.B.C., Ces can still be heard giving Cricket Commentaries and we hope, will still be seen for many seasons to come in the capacity you see him today as Musical Director of our Show.

– MICHAEL WINTER

“Agony! agony! agony!”

DAWN UNSWORTH needs no introduction to Hawke’s Bay concert and theatre goers as she has been entertaining us for many years. Her musical activities cover a wide range including musical comedy, opera, broadcasting, recital work, and she is in much demand as a soloist for choral societies in many centres. Her pleasant personality and her willingness to give of her time has made her a popular entertainer at many social and civic functions. As a respected teacher of singing Dawn has helped and encouraged many young singers achieve considerable success and we look forward to seeing her influence in this sphere for a long time to come. As chorus mistress for this production we see Dawn in a new role and feel per [her] personal high standards will leave their mark.

– ADRIENNE NORRIS

NAMES WE PRIDE . . .
EVA MOORE – Producer Supreme. Born in a Theatre, she is now Vice Patron of The Federation of N.Z. Operatic Societies. She produced for this Society eight shows with each successive show surpassing the previous one. She still returns to see us all.

CEDRIC WHITE – Musical Director for countless years. His was the “Hey Day” of Chorus and Orchestra, the builder of good music.

ROBERT HOUSTON – Ten times a leading man in every way. King Arthur with the Midas touch in all his roles.

NYREE DAWN PORTER – Azuri in the Desert Song – went on to a career without peer in theatre and T.V.

HAZEL COLLIER – Life Member Wardrobe mistress – Membership builder unequalled. Nothing was too much trouble to her if it was for the good of this Society.

TED COLLIER – Patron of this Society. Need any more be said?

GRACE TOUGH – Twice a leading lady – left these shores and then came back to do one more grand show for Operatic – “Vagabond King”.

CEDRIC WRIGHT – Has been through it all. A truly professional lighting man and stage manager.

JEAN BALLANTYNE – A dedicated choreographer.

HAZEL LUTMAN – A real soprano – who will forget the applause for “Climb Every Mountain”.

JOHN COLLIER – Since the age of sixteen there has hardly been a department of stagecraft in which he has not been involved – his great skill is in scene design.

LEIGH JONES – Ballet mistress, dancer, choreographer.

WINIFRED QUARRIE – Rehearsal pianist – orchestra pianist. “If you want me anytime – I’ll be there.”

GWYN ACE – Artist in lights – works well in the early morning hours.

JUNE KAUTER – Wardrobe mistress and committee member.

JOHN FAIRCLOUGH – A friend of this Society whom we will sadly miss.

– H. N. UNSWORTH

Mrs Tessa Brown
Mr Paul Waring
Mr Albert Barker
Mr Michael Kyle and Miss Alison Thomson
Mr Buddy Collins
Mr John Doig
Mrs Naomi Baker
Mrs Wendy Kyle

PHOTOGRAPHY
JAMES WHITE

COME ALIVE! Join Napier Operatic – Three-year subscriptions are only $20. For this you get two seats at all Municipal Theatre productions by the society, plus preferential booking. You will also be entitled to a 20% reduction for shows in the society’s restaurant-theatre – to open soon. Send your cheque now to Mr Fred Twyford, 18 Lincoln Road, Napier.
Phone 56 694.

COMING September: “The Wizard of Oz”, being staged jointly with the Hastings Musical Comedy Company. Don’t miss it!

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE
How am I to get through this year’s work? Do they think me a barrel organ? They turn a handle and I disgorge music of any mood to order?
– SULLIVAN’S DIARY

JAMES MORGAN
CECIL FITZWATER
DAWN UNSWORTH

CREDITS
Mr D’oyle [D’Oyly] Carte
H. N. Unsworth

Producer
James Morgan

Musical Director
Cecil Fitzwater

Stage Manager
Peter Dixon

Asst. Stage Manager
Mike Hyde

Lighting Designer
Gwyn Ace

Sound Technician
Robert Lockyer

Wardrobe Mistress
Evelyn Webb-Pullman

Rehearsal Pianists
Eric Thorpe
June Clifford
Kath Chapman
Digby Edgecumbe

Prompts
Audrey London
Sue London

Wardrobe Team
Audrey London
Sue London
Sheryl Greaves
Lee Lockyer
Lindsay Browne
Shona Dryden
Doreen Ritchie
Veronica Stickland
Dianna Stewart
Barbara Leonard
Dianne Hurley
[handwritten – SYBIL REAY]

Publicity and Programme
Digby Edgecombe
James Morgan
Fred Twyford
H. N. Unsworth
Bill Beckett

Librarian
Digby Edgecombe

Photographer
James White Studio

Front of House Manager
H. N. Unsworth

Set and Properties Construction
Peter Dixon
Mike Hyde
Paula Jepson
John Brown
Robert Lockyer
Brent Redding
Don Hurley
Maxine Gillies
Doreen Hawkeswood
Kathy Singleton
Dave Winyard
Rodger Wagner
Jan Hill
Robin Johnson
Jenny Reddish
Rose Curry
Sonya Hyde
Jim Baker
Therese Nuttall

Stage Crew
Mike Hyde
John Brown
Paula Jepson
Robert Wagner
Brent Redding

Lighting Crew
Robert Lockyer
Robin Johnson
Peter Eade
Bill Shirras

Properties Team
Don Hurley
Kathy Singleton
Doreen Hawkeswood
Maxine Gillies
Sonya Hyde
Jan Hill
Jenny Reddish
Rose Curry

Make-up Team
Dawn McCowatt
Marie Millman
Minnie Wright
Lynette McCowatt
Barbara Hodgson

Front of House
H. N. Unsworth
F. Twyford
W. Beckett
B. Parker
I. McLean
G. Bowes
A. Jones
I. Reid
N. Tolhurst
N. Hatton
F. Murray
M. Bewley
W. Tolhurst
L. Morgan
J. MacFarand
J. Williams
D. Reid
Plus Friends and Members of the Society

Officers 1976

Officers of the Society
Patron:   E. Collier
President:   W. O. Beckett
Vice-President:   B. Parker
Chairman of Committee:   D. Hurley
Hon. Solicitor:   J. Mathews
Hon. Auditor:   L. Robertson
Secretary-Treasurer:   F. Twyford

Committee Members
Mrs T. Brown   Mr R. Johnson
Mrs L. Browne   Mr H. N. Unsworth
Mrs A. London   Mr P. Dixon
Mr D. Edgecombe   Mr M. Hyde
Mr G. Brown   Mr A. Jones
Mr R. Lockyer

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