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All
roles are open for casting, including ten
principal roles of various sizes and a chorus
of twelve men and twelve women. There is
also a small non-speaking, non-singing role
for a male to be cast.
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A
memorized aria or art song (English language
preferred) is required. An accompanist will be
provided, although singers may bring their own
pianist if they wish. Please note that unaccompanied
(a cappella) auditions are not permitted, nor
are self-accompanied auditions.
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A
completed Audition
Form is required, and a résumé and
headshot are requested if available.
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Read
Ralph MacPhail, Jr.'s Audition
Notes which contain information about Patience, about each role being
cast, and about the audition procedure. Also these notes include important information regarding rehearsals
and the rehearsal schedule.
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Auditions
will be held at Genesis Presbyterian Church, 1507
Wilshire Blvd. - MAP
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A
small honorarium will be paid to all performers.
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To
receive timely audition information, please confirm
that we have your contact information by joining
our mailing list. Also,
you can receive audition notifications via Facebook.
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 The
Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin is proud to
present its Summer 2012 Grand Production of Patience;
or, Bunthorne's Bride. Patience is
the sixth operatic collaboration of fourteen by W. S.
Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. It was first performed
in London in 1881, and was an immediate hit with
audiences. Our last performance of this wonderful classic
was in 1999.
Patience,
a hilarious and touching comic opera, satirizes the "aesthetic
craze" of the 1870's and '80s, when the output of
poets, composers, painters and designers of all kinds was
indeed prolific but whose followers and admirers, some
argued, were empty and self-indulgent.
 Patience has
some of Gilbert’s finest comedy
and Sullivan’s most captivating tunes, adding up
to a masterwork fully equal to their very best. It has
wit,
charm, poetry . . . and a delightfully complicated love
triangle - surely a perfect evening of musical entertainment
for the whole family!
Ralph
MacPhail, Jr. and Jeffrey
Jones-Ragona return as artistic and musical directors,
respectively. Bill Hatcher returns as production manager. |
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9
Performances
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| Thursday |
June
7th
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8pm
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Preview |
| Friday |
June
8th
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8pm
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Opening
Night
Free Gala Follows Performance |
| Saturday |
June
9th
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8pm
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Evening
Performance |
| Sunday |
June
10th
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3pm
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Matinee |
| Thursday |
June
14th
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8pm
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Evening
Performance |
| Friday |
June
15th
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8pm
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Evening
Performance |
| Saturday |
June
16th
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3pm
8pm
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Matinee
Evening Performance |
| Sunday |
June
17th
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3pm
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Matinee
Closing Performance |
All
performances will be supertitled
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DRAMATIS
PERSONAE
REGINALD BUNTHORNE (A Fleshly Poet)
ARCHIBALD GROSVENOR (An Idyllic Poet)
PATIENCE (A Dairy Maid)
Officers of Dragoon Guards
COLONEL CALVERLEY
MAJOR MURGATROYD
LIEUT. THE DUKE OF DUNSTABLE
Rapturous Maidens
THE LADY ANGELA
THE LADY SAPHIR
THE LADY ELLA
THE LADY JANE
CHORUS
of RAPTUROUS MAIDENS
and OFFICERS
OF DRAGOON GUARDS
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SYNOPIS
ACT I:
 The
opening scene is set near "Castle Bunthorne," where
twenty love-sick
maidens reflect on the mysteries and hopelessness of their
love for Bunthorne, an aesthetic poet. He
loves Patience, they declare, and to them he remains indifferent.
Patience,
a simple dairy-maid, has never loved anyone except an aunt,
and learns from one of the maidens that true love must be "utterly
unselfish." Enter a dozen officers of
Dragoon Guards, whose colonel introduces himself and his men
with a rollicking,
boastful song. The Dragoons had been much beloved by the
twenty maidens, but now they are accorded a different welcome.
Bunthorne
has "idealized
them" and "their eyes are opened." When alone,
Bunthorne admits being "an aesthetic sham" who only feigns
aestheticism to gain admiration.
 Patience
remembers a boy who was her childhood friend, and
when Archibald Grosvenor appears she discovers it is he.
They
love each other, but Patience, in the belief that true love
is "utterly unselfish," thinks she cannot marry
one so perfect.
Bunthorne, returning, has decided, since Patience does not
love him, to put himself up to be raffled for, and just as
the lot is to
be
drawn, Patience
in
her "utter unselfishness" says that she will marry
him because "she detests him so."
The disappointed
maidens then return to the Dragoons, but when they see Archibald
Grosvenor, immediately transfer their
affections to him because "he is aesthetic!" As the
act ends, Bunthorne is jealous, and the Dragoons are disgusted.
ACT II:
 The
second act is set in a glade near Castle Bunthorne. The middle-aged
Jane bewails her lot: she is growing older staunchly loving
Bunthorne, and she sings of the ravages time is wreaking
on her physical beauty.
Grosvenor is now adored by
all the maidens. He is annoyed by
their attentions for they have followed him about for days. He
pleads for "the usual half holiday on Saturday." Patience,
meanwhile, muses upon love. Bunthorne, deserted and consumed
by jealousy, has still one faithful admirer - the portly
Lady Jane, whose charms decrease as her size increases. She
implores
him not to wait too long, but Bunthorne is determined to beat
Grosvenor on his own ground.
At last the rival poets meet. Bunthorne
threatens to "curse" Archibald
unless he consents to cut his hair and become quite commonplace.
Grosvenor outwardly appalled, but secretly relieved, consents
to become an "every day young man".
 Now
that Bunthorne is happy, Patience, in her "utter
unselfishness," breaks her engagement. Upon Archibald
Grosvenor's return, in a tweed suit and bowler hat, she realizes
that since he is now a commonplace young man, she can marry
him.
Bunthorne
finds that the twenty love-sick maidens have returned to their
soldier-lovers. He decides to console himself
with the middle-aged Lady Jane. But the Duke of Dunstable announces
that to balance out one of life's inequities, he will marry
and honor a plain woman, and chooses Lady Jane, so Bunthorne
is left without a bride. |
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