Houston, June 3, 2024 – Tickets to Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston’s July production of Ruddigore (or The Witch’s Curse) at Cullen Performance Hall at the University of Houston are now on sale to the public. Two performances are set for Saturday evenings (July 20 and July 27 at 7 p.m.), while two are Sunday matinees (July 21 and July 28 at 2:30 p.m.).
Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston, the city’s longest-running opera company, has presented several Gilbert and Sullivan works over the years, including HMS Pinafore, Princess Ida, The Mikado, The Yeomen of the Guard, and The Pirates of Penzance, with Ruddigore’s last run in 2007.
Serving as stage director for Ruddigore is opera veteran Buck Ross, who is Professor Emeritus and founder and former director of the Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston. Noted conductor Eiki Isomura, who leads Houston’s Opera in the Heights, takes the reins for the second year as music director. Joseph Rawley once again returns as artistic director/chorus master.
Ross and Isomura are certain to bring a unique take on the operetta, which is not as well-known as many of the other Gilbert & Sullivan productions (The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado), but has much to offer to the eyes and ears of audience members. Once again, noted set designer Jodi Bobrovsky will display her creativity as audiences get to see stunning digital scenery, evoking ghosts and a Halloween mood.
“I’m excited to work with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston to acquaint audiences with this rarely produced operetta, which I would characterize as ‘Jane Austen meets Young Frankenstein,’” says Ross. “The gothic elements, infused with a sense of humor, will bring a level of madness in the best possible way. The costumes are Regency era, the score is first class and for the first time the company will experiment with digital scenery. I predict audiences of all ages will be enamored of this fun and spooky period piece. ”
“Ruddigore is an ensemble tour de force with many fun character roles,” continues Ross. “The stage at historic Cullen Performance Hall will come alive with a plethora of large personalities, singing, dancing and acting in this send-up of Victorian melodrama. Projected surtitles will ensure that the audience easily follows the fast pace of the operetta.”
Ross went on to say that he considers his involvement akin to “homecoming week.” “During my UH tenure with Moores, I worked closely with many of the cast members, including Richard Paul Fink (Sir Roderic Murgatroyd), Wes Landry (Robin), Lisa Borik Vickers (Rose), Thomas O ‘Neill (Richard) and Johnny Salvesen (Adam),” says Ross. “We have a wealth of operatic talent in Houston, and Ruddigore is such a great vehicle to showcase that talent with infectious music that allows the singers to exercise their vocal gifts.”
“I have a lot of affection for Ruddigore with its wealth of great roles and a score featuring some of the best showstoppers in all of G&S,” says Isomura. “The spooky music of the ancestors, especially the aria ‘When the night wind howls,’ is powerfully evocative. And of course, G&S is known and loved for rapid-fire patter songs, and Ruddigore features a patter trio ‘My eyes are fully open’ that is like the Major General’s (The Pirates of Penzance) song times three.
“On a personal note, Ruddigore was my first-ever experience with opera in any form,” continues Isomura. “I played one of the ancestor ghosts in a junior production in the sixth grade. It’s just one testament to Gilbert and Sullivan’s gifts that 30 years later, it’s come back to me mostly memorized and feeling every bit as fresh as it did then.”
The Plot
A satirical take on the Victorian melodrama genre, Ruddigore’s zany plot has it all–ghosts, witches, curses, disguises, and reluctantly wicked villains who try to make off with the fair maiden. All of the Baronets of Ruddigore are under a curse enacted by a witch long ago–each of the successive Baronets must commit some kind of a crime every single day, or else they will die in agony.
Robin Oakapple has been living as a farmer for years, working up the courage to ask the beautiful village maiden Rose Maybud for her hand. However, he is keeping a secret–he is actually Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the Baronet of Ruddigore who has been hiding in disguise while his younger brother Despard assumed the title–and the curse.
Betrayed by his foster-brother Richard, Robin is discovered and must now commit a crime every day in order to appease the curse–and the ghosts of all his ancestors’ past, who are unhappy with his attempt to shirk his title. Robin must somehow find a way to lead the honest life he loves–but how? Audiences will find out when they come to see Ruddigore.
The Cast
Cast members include Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd – Wes Landry; Richard Dauntless – Thomas O’Neill; Sir Despard Murgatroyd – Dennis Arrowsmith; Old Adam Goodheart – Johnny Salvesen; Rose Maybud – Lisa Borik Vickers; Mad Margaret – Meaghan Heath; Dame Hannah – Jana Ellsworth; Zorah – Riley Vagis; Ruth – Chloe Owens; and Sir Roderic Murgatroyd – Richard Paul Fink.
The Women’s Chorus members are Justine Ash, Tarryn Ballard, Giselle Bautista, Tiffany Dawkins, Melisa Gultan, Emma Hayden, Lena Lowe, Samantha Taylor and Whitney Wells.
The Men’s Chorus includes Jadon Campos, Zaccai Campos, Gage Campos, Geoff Copper, Trey Fitzgerald, Zachary Frank, Joe Key, Mike McCarver, Benjamin Rorabaugh, Joe White and Martin Wolff.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.hgns.org/tickets. Prices range from $49 to $94, plus handling fees. Be sure and purchase early to get the best seats.
Link to photos here
Link to cast headshots here
Photo credit: Pin Lim
About Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston
Founded in 1952, the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston is a non-profit theater company dedicated to preserving and sharing the delightful legacy of Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic operas. The primary and constant goal of the Society is to provide affordable, high quality live-theater productions, in the spirit of family entertainment.
The Society has long been widely recognized as a pre-eminent community-based theater company, receiving an Emmy-nomination for its 1974 PBS televised production of Princess Ida and six “Best of Festival” awards, including International Champions at the 2004 International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England. The nominations and awards received by the Society over its three successful trips to the Festival in Buxton make it the most honored American Society ever to attend the event. It showcases talent ranging in age from 18 to 71.
The Society caters to youth in the industry and has awarded over 100 scholarships to vocal performance and theater tech students and often provides a bank of tickets to children in the Houston area. The Society participated in the inaugural seasons of both Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in 1966 and Wortham Theater Center in 1987 and has established itself as the oldest continuously operating opera company in Houston.
About Buck Ross
Buck Ross, Professor Emeritus at the University of Houston, was the founder and director of the Moores Opera Center there from 1985-2022 where he produced and directed over 140 operas. Under him the program grew to be one of the largest university opera production programs in the country, producing four mainstage operas annually. The Center became a noted producer of contemporary opera starting with its landmark production of The Ghosts of Versailles in 1998. In addition, starting in 2009, the Center produced the Daniel Catán Project in which all of the late Mexican American composer’s operas were produced in the space of eight years. He is the librettist for A Room with a View and The School for Scandal, both for composer Robert Nelson. He is also the author of several singing translations of operas. His version of Orpheus in the Underworld has been performed frequently nationwide. Mr. Ross has directed for many professional regional opera companies as well, including Nevada Opera, Kentucky Opera, El Paso Opera, Utah Opera, Sacramento Opera, and Sarasota Opera. Known as an acting teacher for singers, for many years he directed the apprentice program for the Des Moines Metro Opera and was director of dramatic studies for the Houston Grand Opera Studio.
About Eiki Isomura
Now in his second year with Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston is noted Houston-based conductor Eiki Isomura, who will serve as music director. He is the artistic director and principal conductor of Opera in the Heights (OH) in Houston, where he has led more than 100 performances of over 25 operas, drawing consistent praise for elevating the company’s performance standard.
Recent and upcoming engagements include Toshio Hosokawa’s The Raven at Opera Philadelphia, Jack Perla/Jessica Murphy Moo’s An American Dream at Opera Santa Barbara, the world premiere of Laura Schwendinger/Ginger Strand’s Cabaret of Shadows, Trevor Weston’s Stars, Marcus Maroney’s Velvet, and Rob Smith’s Sprint, and Pierre Jalbert’s All is Now with MUSIQA, Tosca at Opera Orlando, Albert Herring at the Harrower Workshop at Georgia State University, Pirates of Penzance with Houston Gilbert & Sullivan Society, the world premieres Mark Buller’s Drives, Shih-Hui Chen Stillness, and J.E. Hernandez’s Helah, Meilina Tsui/Melisa Tien’s The Big Swim with Houston Grand Opera.
A devoted advocate for new music, Isomura has formed partnerships between numerous organizations and his home company, OH, to co-commission and co-produce new operas including the world premieres of Anthony Brandt/Neena Beber’s Kassandra and Karim Al-Zand/Ionesco’s The Leader. His recordings of both works were praised as “critic’s choices” by Opera News. Isomura holds his doctorate in orchestral conducting from the University of Michigan.
About Joseph Rawley
Rounding out the creative team is bass baritone Joseph Rawley as artistic director/chorus master, who enjoys an active musical career, including opera performances, recitals, and choral works. He has appeared with Opera in the Heights, Seattle Opera, Portland (OR) Opera and also performs locally with various churches and other artistic outlets as a chorus member and soloist. He is the Christian Education Director and Children’s Choir Director at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Houston.
About Gilbert and Sullivan
The names Gilbert and Sullivan refer to the Victorian era partnership of librettist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900). Together, they wrote 14 comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado are among the best known.
Gilbert, who wrote the words, created fanciful topsy-turvy worlds for these operas, where each absurdity is taken to its logical conclusion—fairies rub elbows with British lords, flirting is a capital offense, gondoliers ascend to the monarchy, and pirates turn out to be noblemen who have gone wrong. Sullivan, seven years younger than Gilbert, composed the music, contributing memorable melodies that could convey both humor and pathos.
Producer Richard D’Oyly Carte brought Gilbert and Sullivan together and nurtured their collaboration. He built the Savoy Theatre in 1881, to present their joint works—which came to be known as the Savoy Operas—and he founded the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, which performed and promoted their works for over a century.
The Gilbert and Sullivan operas have enjoyed broad and enduring international success and are still performed frequently throughout the English-speaking world. The collaboration introduced innovations in content and form that directly influenced the development of musical theater through the twentieth century. The operas have also influenced political discourse, literature, film, and television and have been widely parodied and imitated by humorists.
