The National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company (formerly the Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company) is an English professional repertory company that performs Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. Founded in 1995 to perform at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, the company generally stages three or four productions each summer, giving up to 16 performances in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and also touring.
The company performs full-scale productions of the Gilbert and Sullivan works, with orchestra, using period settings and costumes. Since 2010, in addition to its performances at the festival, the company has generally performed one or more of its productions in an additional venue either before or after the festival. Since 2014, it has toured some of its productions to multiple British cities in repertory, giving up to 42 performances on tour.
Background The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company performed Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy Operas continuously, year-round, for over a century, closing in 1982.Bradley, pp. 49–50; Joseph, p. 358. Between 1988 and 2003, a seasonal company used the name D'Oyly Carte. See Bradley, pp. 54–68Skow, John. 1982 "Music: Final Curtain for D'Oyly Carte". Time magazine, 8 March 1982, accessed 7 July 2010 Until the Gilbert and Sullivan copyrights expired in 1961, no other professional theatre or opera companies were allowed to present the Savoy Operas in Britain, although professional companies performed the operas in North America, Australia and elsewhere, and numerous amateur Gilbert and Sullivan companies performed around the world. After 1961 other professional groups began to perform the operas in Britain.Bradley, chapters four and sixHewett, Ivan. "The Magic of Gilbert and Sullivan". The Telegraph, 2 August 2009, accessed 14 April 2010.
In 1994, the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival was founded by Ian and his son Neil Smith partly to fill the gap left by the closure of D'Oyly Carte, and it has been held every August since then in England (except 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic).Lee, Bernard. "Gilbert and Sullivan are still going strong after a century", Sheffield Telegraph, 1 August 2008Festival history pagesSandham, David. "Buxton Festivals". Buxton Festivals archive, accessed 19 September 2010 On most weeknights, the festival features a competition among amateur companies from all over the world.Beale, Robert. "Blow me down! Gilbert & Sullivan bows out of Buxton", Manchester Evening News, 26 July 2013"Sky arts at the Gilbert and Sullivan Festival". Sky Arts, British Sky Broadcasting, accessed 13 August 2010 On weekends, however, the festival offers professional performances given by companies such as the Carl Rosa Opera Company, Opera della Luna,Bradley, p. 193 the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players,Chalmers, Graham. "Harrogate wins topsy-turvy battle over G&S Festival" , Wetherby News, 5 June 2014; and Hutchinson, Charles. "Gilbert and Sullivan festival in Harrogate, August 2 to 26", The Press, 9 January 2014 Charles Court Opera, and the festival's own National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company.
History and description
Productions at the Gilbert and Sullivan Festival
In 1995, the operators of the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival formed an opera company to provide festivalgoers with professional productions of the Savoy operas.Spencer, Ted. "The Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company (UK)" , GSOpera.com, accessed 8 June 2014 The company was soon called the Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company. It engaged such performers as Richard Suart, Simon Butteriss, Bruce Graham, Gillian Knight, Barry Clark, Michael Rayner, Jill Pert, Gareth Jones, Patricia Leonard, Donald Maxwell, Oliver White, Rebecca Bottone, Ian Belsey and the Opera Babes. John Owen Edwards, David Russell Hulme, David Steadman or Andrew Nicklin, among others, have served as music directors for the company.Cockroft, Robert. "Review: International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival", Yorkshire Post, 14 August 2009 In 2014, the festival registered the company with Companies House as the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company.Company No. 09297497 filed with Companies House on 5 November 2014. See also: Announcement of name change, International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival, 11 November 2014
The company's performances are accompanied by the festival's National Festival Orchestra. It generally presents four productions each year at the festival, and the festival sells videos of most of its productions."Professional Shows from the Festival" , International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, accessed 13 June 2014"Theatre: Gilbert & Sullivan heading to Harrogate and Newcastle", The Northern Echo, 1 June 2017 In 2018, in connection with the 25th anniversary of the International G&S Festival, the company presented six productions in Harrogate, Buxton and on tour.Smith, Ian. "What's On Guide 2018", The International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival, accessed 2 July 2018; and " Feast of G and S is heading your way as festival returns" , Buxton Advertiser, 23 June 2018
Uniquely among professional companies in Britain, other than D'Oyly Carte, the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company has presented all 13 of the extant Savoy Operas. The company first performed Utopia, Limited in 2011, an opera that has rarely been given a professional staging in Britain over the past century.Christiansen, Rupert. "Utopia Ltd, Opera House", The Telegraph, 22 August 2011, accessed 17 February 2012 In 2012 the company mounted the first full-scale professional production of The Grand Duke in Britain since the 19th century,"G&S Co take Festival Lead" , Buxton Advertiser, 21 July 2012 which was one of its four productions that year."2012 G&S Opera Company Boxed Set" , International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, accessed 13 June 2014 Since 2013, the company has given up to 16 performances over the course of the festival at its new home in Harrogate, England.Dreyer, Martin. "Review: National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company in The Sorcerer and The Yeomen of the Guard, Royal Hall, Harrogate, August 12 and 13", The Press, 17 August 2016; and "Theatre: Gilbert & Sullivan heading to Harrogate and Newcastle", The Northern Echo, 1 June 2017Wilkinson, Sue. "Facts and figures of Harrogate’s G&S Festival" , Harrogate Advertiser, 26 March 2018 In 2018, the company presented the first professional, fully staged production of Haddon Hall since the 19th century.Walker, Ramond J. "Haddon Hall is a Grundy and Sullivan Rarity", Seen and Heard International, 4 August 2018; and Hall, George. "Haddon Hall review at Royal Hall, Harrogate – 'rare resuscitation of Arthur Sullivan's pedestrian work'", The Stage, 21 August 2018 The company revived Utopia, Limited in 2022, directed by Jeff Clarke and conducted by John Andrews.Bratby, Richard. "Utopia, Limited, National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company review – bounded rapture", The Arts Desk, 8 August 2022
Performances outside the festival In August and September 2010, the G&S Opera Company presented its first production outside of the festival, The Yeomen of the Guard, at Oxford Castle.Lisle, Nicola. "Yeomen of the Guard: Oxford Castle" . The Oxford Times, 19 August 2010, accessed 13 June 2014Christiansen, Rupert. "The Yeoman of the Guard, Oxford Castle, review". The Telegraph, 2 September 2010 Two of its 2012 productions were repeated in Harrogate late in August,"ClassicFest, Royal Hall, Harrogate, August 21 to 27", The Press, 20 July 2012 and all three of its 2013 productions transferred there in late August."ClassicFest, Royal Hall and Harrogate Theatre, August 18 to 31", The Press, 1 August 2013 The company toured three of its 2014 productions in repertory from June to August 2014, giving seven performances in each of six cities.Smith, Ian. "G&S Opera Co on Tour" , The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, accessed 8 June 2014 Since 2015, besides Harrogate, the company has toured its productions to several cities and towns in the UK,Bratby, Richard. "HMS Pinafore, National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company", The Arts Desk, 10 August 2015; Bratby, Richard. "The Yeomen of the Guard, National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company", TheArtsDesk.com, 2 August 2016; and Bratby, Richard. "Princess Ida, National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company review – sparkling comedy, wobbly sets", TheArtsDesk.com, 1 September 2017"2017 Tour Dates" , International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, accessed 15 May 2017 including the Festival's previous home, Buxton.Beale, Robert. "The Gondoliers at Buxton Opera House review", Manchester Evening News, 7 August 2015 After postponing touring during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company resumed touring in 2022.Fradgley, Emma. "Gilbert and Sullivan classics will be on stage at Malvern", Malvern Gazette, 20 August 2022
Reception
Sky Arts called the Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company's performers "some of the UK's finest exponents of musical theatre". A review of the company's 2010 production of Iolanthe, noted, "The music was up to [the festival's] usual high standard, with the orchestra ... giving a superb and sprightly reading of the Overture and score throughout.""2010 G&S Opera Company Boxed Set" , International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, accessed 13 June 2014 Another reviewer of that production commented: With a reputation for strong casts [and] energetic delivery, traditionally fresh interpretations are brought to [the] roles. ... Care is always taken with the staging and lighting of these ... productions and, as with Princess Ida last year, they can match a West End show. ... Throughout, the chorus was outstanding.Walker, Raymond J. "Buxton International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival 2010 – Iolanthe". Seen and Heard International, MusicWeb International, accessed 6 August 2010 The Daily Telegraph "thoroughly enjoyed [the company's] spirited production" of Utopia, Limited in 2011. A reviewer said of their 2013 production of Princess Ida, "the performance sparkled; singing, acting, costumes, dramatic flow and orchestral playing were all splendid".King, Andrew H. "Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan Festival's remarkable Princess Ida", Bachtrack.com, 22 August 2013, accessed 28 June 2014