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Austin Gilbert & Sullivan audiences were thrilled by the magical Summer 2010 Grand Production of The Yeomen of the Guard - with nine performances by a sparkling cast and orchestra, June 10-20.

Produced by the Society only once before in its history in 1997, this richly textured show captivated all with its magnificent score, rousing choruses, colorful pageantry, and topsy-turvy humor.

Artistic Director Ralph MacPhail, Jr. and Musical Director Jeffrey Jones-Ragona presented an unforgettable Gilbert & Sullivan classic, with an ever-changing emotional balance of joy and despair, humor and pathos.

Performances were held at the Travis High School Performing Arts Center.

The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin thanks all the performers, the Gillman Light Opera Orchestra, sponsors, volunteers, Society members, and enthusiastic audiences for making this year's show such a joy.

Both Gilbert & Sullivan considered The Yeomen of the Guard to be their favorite collaboration.

The Yeomen opened October 3, 1888, at the Savoy Theatre and ran for 423 performances. Possibly the most daring of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, Yeomen ends with at least two reluctant engagements, rather than the usual armful of marriages.

 
 
 
SYNOPSIS
The setting of Yeomen is laid in the Tower of London in Shakespearean times. The plot concerns Colonel Fairfax, a gentleman, soldier and scientist, who has been sentenced to be beheaded in an hour on a false charge of sorcery. To avoid leaving his estate to his accuser (a cousin), and with the help of the Lieutenant of the Tower, Fairfax secretly marries Elsie Maynard, a strolling singer.

The bride agrees to be blindfolded during the ceremony and expects to be a well-paid widow in an hour. With the help of the Meryll family, Fairfax escapes, throwing the Tower into confusion and the astonished Elsie (and her mentor, the jester Jack Point, who loves her) into despair. But Fairfax, disguised as Leonard Meryll, woos Elsie, and after a number of plot complications are worked out, she falls in love with Fairfax and leaves Jack Point broken-hearted.

 
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The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin
PO Box 684542 / Austin, Texas / 78768-4542 / 512.472.4772 / info@gilbertsullivan.org