PBGS Christmas Dinner at The Fox

Last night PBGS descended on the Fox in Pirton for our annual Christmas Dinner. We all had a great time as you can see, especially with the party tooters! Top tooter prize goes to Tim with his imaginative use of two green ones to recreate Shrek. Margaret led everyone in their own version of The Twelve Days of Christmas where the Drummers Drumming got into a priority dispute with the Pipers Piping, and we also wished everyone a 'Merry Christmas' (very loudly) to herald in the Figgy Pudding.

Many thanks to Paul for organising it, and to The Fox for putting up with us and feeding us extremely well. To those PBGS'ers who couldn't make it, we missed you, wish you a very Merry Christmas and we'll see you on Tuesday 3rd for music revision with Margaret (perhaps we should include the 12 Days of Christmas ;-).

All photo © Sue Wookey

World Carols in Hitchin

If you are looking for something to get you into the festive spirit, North Herts Guild of Singers are holding a 'World Carols' concert at St Mary's Church, Hitchin on Saturday 17th December at 7.30pm. Tickets are £10 with £8 for concessions and a bargain £3 for under 16's. Tickets are available around Hitchin, and from the Guild's Ticket Manager on 01462 433393. See here for more details.

This promises to be an interesting concert with some unfamiliar carols from around the world, along with those we know well.

Final Patience Cast

After Tuesday's final auditions we now have a complete cast for our Spring 2012 production of Patience:

Patience - Paula Fraser
Lady Jane - Sue Wookey
Lady Angela - Margaret Snape
Lady Saphir - Alice Bridges
Lady Ella - Eve Rapley
Bunthorne - Tim Sell
Grosvenor - Richard Fraser

Duke - Graham Gibbs 

Colonel - Peter Davis 

Major - Richard Dean

Congratulations to Graham and Peter and welcome to the cast!

The PBGS Christmas Meal 

It won't be pizza....

This year's Christmas Meal will be on Tuesday 13th December at The Fox pub in Pirton. Don't miss a chance to round off our celebratory year with the appropriate trimmings ;-). Any member who would like to attend can download a PDF of the menu selection here. Please confirm you are coming and give your selection to Paula as soon as possible!

Photo © XMO4 PHOTOS

AGM News

A big thanks to everyone who came to last night’s AGM, which was very well attended. All business was, amazingly, concluded by 9pm ready for our second set of Patience auditions. For those of you who missed the AGM there will be minutes available, so keep an eye on the Society noticeboard.

The AGM was a fitting end to our celebratory 40th Anniversary year, with a review of just how much we had done: Ruddigore, The G&S Sketch Show performed at Henlow, Buxton International G&S Festival and at Hitchin, and a string of concerts with acapella singing waiters, G&S at Ampthill and warbling in the open air at Letchworth Hall Hotel’s Proms in the Park. Quite an astonishing year, and one for which everyone in the Society is to be congratulated. The AGM wound up with a plethora of presents. Certificates were handed out by our Chairman to members who had been with the Society for 40, 30, 20 and 10 years, to mark and celebrate the extraordinary commitment made by many members to the Society. The fact that there was a big pile of them shows that PBGS is a ‘keeper’ for so many people who have joined over the years. Special mention should be made of our two 40 year members, Roy Bride and Clive Wheeler, who were with the Society at the very beginning in 1971, and are still valued members in 2011.

Two members were elected as Honorary Life Members: Paul Kerswill and Sue Wookey, both of whom have chalked up 30 years and over of performing, committee membership and assorted other essential tasks for PBGS, along with spreading a little mayhem along the way. Congratulations to Paul and… um… me.

Here’s to another 40 years and even more of those certificates : -).

New Life Members Sue and Paul express their astonishment...

Photos © XMO4 PHOTOS

AGM Reminder and Auditions

Don't forget that our AGM will be this Tuesday (29th November) at 8pm, Streatley Village Hall, Streatley. This has been a wonderful year for PBGS, and a good attendance at the AGM will round it off nicely!

Auditions for the Duke of Dunstable and Colonel Calverley will be after the AGM at 9pm. If you have ambitions to be a Heavy Dragoon, now's your chance :-)
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PBGS AGM

The PBGS AGM will be on Tuesday, 29th November 8pm at Streatley Village Hall, Streatley. To keep PBGS a dynamic Society and take us forward into our next 40 years, it's vital all members come along and have their say!

Photo © XMO4 PHOTOS

Yeomen of the Guard at Stewartby

  ©Stewartby Operatic and Dramatic Society

Next week Stewartby Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society will be performing The Yeomen of the Guard at Stewartby Village Hall, with our own Alison Gibbs taking the part of Phoebe. The production forms part of Stewartby's Diamond Anniversary celebrations as they celebrate their 60th year.

The show opens on Tuesday 15th November and runs until Saturday 19th November, with tickets available for every night apart from Friday, which is now sold out. Performances start at 7.30pm.

Congratulations to Stewartby for 60 years of performing!

Patience cast

We now have a cast for Patience, after some very funny and rapturous performances from everyone who auditioned:

Patience - Paula Fraser
Lady Angela - Margaret Snape
Lady Saphir - Alice Bridges
Lady Ella - Eve Rapley
Lady Jane - Sue Wookey
Bunthorne - Tim Sell
Grosvenor - Richard Fraser
Duke of Dunstable - uncast
Major Murgatroyd - Richard Dean
Colonel Calverley - uncast

We are looking for a Duke and a Colonel Calverley, which is a classic G&S patter part, so if you fancy yourself as a Heavy Dragoon, contact us!

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 'You hold yourself like this...'

From the first production

A reminder that our Patience Auditions are this coming Tuesday (8th Nov), 7.45pm at Streatley Village Hall. If you are a member and still toying with giving it a go (go on, be brave!) then you will find downloadable PDFs of Lib, Music and Character audition details on our Notices Page. If you don't have a lib but would still like to give it a go, then a full Patience libretto can be found at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive.

PBGS auditions are held in the open, so any member can come and watch and cheer us on, and they always turn out to be great fun!

Ruddigore at the Barbican

 © Opera North

Opera North will be performing Ruddigore at the Barbican from the 23rd - 26th November 2011.

"A reluctant villain, a modest maiden, Gothic ghosts. Gilbert and Sullivan make merry at the expense of Victorian melodrama in one of their most inventive confections, infused here with a wonderful freshness by Opera North’s critically acclaimed adaptation."

"...this is operetta bliss. A must for all G&S fans.’ The Daily Telegraph "

You will find full booking details on the Barbican Website. And there is more information about the production on the Opera North Website.

Some reviews of the original 2010 production:
Daily Telegraph review.
The Guardian review.
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Looking forward to Patience

Our display of past shows and posters

Well - we've finished off our 40th Anniversary celebrations in grand style this week! Thank you to everyone who made the Sketch Show so enjoyable, all those whose efforts got us onto the Queen Mother stage, and everyone who came to support us. It really did feel like a party with old friends returning, good food and an atmosphere of fun. I'm already looking forward to the 50th!

Enjoying our after show celebrations

We are already planning our next show, Patience, which will be at The Queen Mother Theatre in Hitchin on 2nd - 5th May 2012. 

We have details of the audition pieces for those eager to start practising their aesthetics, and you will find them as downloadable PDFs on our Notices Page.

If you enjoyed the Sketch Show and would like to join us for Patience then we would love to meet you. You can find details about where we rehearse and how to contact us here. Patience will be a lot of fun and you can be assured of a warm welcome!

 Our Chairman does his own version of 'Eagle high'.

Photos © Sue Wookey

40th Anniversary Souvenir Programme

As this is a special anniversary for PBGS we have a special treat - our 40th Anniversary Souvenir Programme, which will take the form of an A5 booklet packed with information and photos covering the history of the Society and its achievements since its beginning in 1971. If you are unable to come to a performance of the show at the Queen Mother Theatre next week, and would still like a copy of the anniversary programme to keep, then let us know by ringing 07946 264886. There are also details of other ways to contact us here.
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40 Years of PBGS Celebrated with Sketch Show

© Teresa Newham

We are fast approaching our last performances of the G&S Sketch Show for the year - on the 6th October we will be taking the show to the Queen Mother Theatre in Hitchin for a three day run. Not only will there be some fantastic G&S singing, but a light supper will be served in a cabaret setting. Tickets can be booked direct from the Theatre on 01462 455166 (lunchtimes and evenings only), or through the company on 07946 264886. You can also book online. You will find full details on our Next Show Page. This is 'Reduced Shakespeare Company' meets Gilbert and Sullivan, and is a fun, fast paced evening with plenty of humour. Our Buxton audience loved it!

The performances in Hitchin mark the last part of our 40th Anniversary Year Celebrations. The Society was founded in 1971 by Peter Jenkyns and June Pickard and has gone from strength to strength, adding non G&S shows into the Gilbert and Sullivan mix and taking in several theatre homes along the way. All amateur societies have been facing difficult times over the last few years - with financial challenges and changing audiences - and looking back over our long list of productions, we have a lot to celebrate at PBGS.

Our founder and first MD Peter Jenkyns

©Luton News

Over the years we have also seen many changes in our membership, different MDs, Producers, Chairmen and Committees. But the priority of quality musicianship and - well - fun, has never changed. There have also been members who have stayed with the Society over long periods, giving us continuity and a sense of where the Society began. As Gilbert wrote for The Yeomen of the Guard we still 'have a song to sing-o':

PBGS Yeomen of the Guard 1981

PBGS Yeomen of the Guard 1989

PBGS Yeomen of the Guard 1996

 

PBGS Yeomen of the Guard 2005

PBGS Yeomen of the Guard 2010

You will find our full Society history here.

- SW
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Ruddigore in Peterborough

Peterborough Gilbert and Sullivan players are presenting Ruddigore this week at the Key Theatre, Peterborough, with several faces familiar to us at PBGS. From the Vivacity Website (where you can also book your tickets online!):

There are some very strange happenings in the pretty Cornish fishing village of Rederring! A bad baronet (well 2 actually) carrying out horrendous crimes every day. A mad girl crazed out of her mind by unrequited love. A corps of bridesmaids desperate to officiate at a wedding – anyone’s wedding. And up in Ruddigore Castle more ghosts than you would ever want to meet. Throw in a witches curse, a sailor from a ferry who thinks he’s in Nelson’s navy, the most frustratingly timid young lovers since Hugo Horton and Alice Springs, a manservant they’d never employ in Downton Abbey, the dastardly kidnapping of a defenceless old woman and you have it.

Peterborough G&S Players next production is sure to be a hit!

Ruddigore is on from 14th - 17th September. Theatre Map here.
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A Touch of Poetry

 
Just a reminder that this Thursday 15th Sept at 1.15pm is the free National Portrait Gallery talk W.S.Gilbert: A Touch of Poetry:

'W.S. Gilbert, the librettist of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, was a man of contradictions, a hard-headed businessman who invented whimsical fantasy worlds. Andrew Crowther discusses the continuing appeal of his work.'

More details of the event here.

Thanks to Richard D for sending this Youtube link. It appears that even Family Guy can't resist Gilbert and Sullivan! All together now....

Through the Trees

Trial by Jury and Dido and Aeneas in Bedford

Richard D has been to the New Bedford Youth Opera's Dido and Aeneas and Trial by Jury:

I really recommend the double bill...

It was flawlessly presented, with a six piece string and harpsichord band. The singing was rich and sweet and the settings imaginative. Gordon played the defendant in his usual inimitable way, but then became a serious, powerful Aeneas. The sorcerer was terrifying and Belinda wept real tears during the lament.

It was superb evening.

It's not to late to catch the last performances - full details here on The Place Website.

Proms in the Park extra

Click here or on the poster above for an even larger version

We now have a poster for the Proms in the Park event on 4th September. Not only will PBGS be singing a selection from our successful Sketch Show, but one of our members, soprano Laura Abella, will be presenting a solo programme as part of the Prom. Laura has a glorious voice - yet another reason to come and enjoy this event!

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PBGS at Letchworth Proms in the Park

 Letchworth Hall Hotel

We are performing at the Proms in the Park on 4th September 2011 at Letchworth Hall Hotel, Letchworth lane, Letchworth Garden City, Herts. SG6 3NP.

Doors open at 12pm, with performances from 1pm and PBGS scheduled to perform extracts from the G&S Sketch Show from 3.30pm onwards, just before the main act.

Tickets are £25 per person including picnic or £12.50 per child including picnic.

Performers include classical guitarist, italian vocalist, solo violinst and classical piano. This looks as though it will be a fantastic afternoon out for everyone who loves classical music, with - of course - all the added humour you'd expect from Gilbert and Sullivan thrown into the mix.

You can find more information on the venue on the Letchworth Hall Hotel Website.

Iamge © Letchworth Hall Hotel
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Utopia Ltd Review

 Rutland Barrington as King Paramount

in the original production

Interesting to see Rupert Christiansen from The Telegraph reviewing the professional production of Utopia Ltd at Buxton:

'...the first fully staged professional production of G and S' penultimate collaboration Utopia Ltd in Britain since 1975, and apparently only the third such in over a century....'

'The choruses are as good if not better than any in the canon, and other highlights include a duet of almost Verdian beauty for tenor and soprano, a show-stopping patter septet, a deliciously camp number for the stomping Life Guards, and a wittily Betjemanesque hymn to English girls of five foot ten and eleven stone two.'

Almost (but not quite) makes me want to be in it again. You can read the full review here.

- SW
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