Arizona Theater Company to Present H.M.S. Pinafore
Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Received 11/14/00

Arizona Theatre Company presents Gilbert and Sullivan's topsy-turvy musical comedy H.M.S. Pinafore . Their funniest, most glorious musical theatre creation is brilliantly alive with classic characters and exhilarating music. Designed and directed by the creative team from last season's smash hit The Mystery of Irma Vep, this lavish new production of H.M.S. Pinafore previews November 25, opens to the press on December 1 and runs through December 16 at the Temple of Music and Art in downtown Tucson. It will continue its run in Phoenix with a New Year's Eve special performance on December 31 and regular performances January 3-21 at the Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix. Production underwriters are I. Michael & Beth Kasser and Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson and Everett L. King, Rowland Companies and APS in Phoenix.

Fall in love aboard His Majesty's Ship Pinafore, as the crew busily prepares for the arrival of Sir Joseph Porter, the Ruler of the Queen's Navee, who is to be betrothed to the Captain's charming daughter, Josephine. She, however, is in love with a handsome but lowly sailor, Ralph Rackstraw. They make plans to elope, but the plot is overheard by Dick Deadeye, the ugliest sailor in the Royal Navy. Will Dick's evil machinations lay waste to Ralph and Josephine's plans? And what of Little Buttercup, the woman who hides a dark secret? Find out if love conquers all in this lavish and glorious production of a classic tale told with laughter, love and lunacy.

H.M.S. Pinafore was first produced at the Opera Comique in London on May 28, 1878, where it ran for 571 performances- an unheard-of achievement at that time. It met with instant popularity in the United States. "The American stage has never seen another such success," raved H.L. Mencken in 1911. Containing some of W.S. Gilbert's most clever witticisms and some of Sir Arthur Sullivan's most charming melodies, H.M.S. Pinafore remains as popular now as it was at any other time in history.

"H.M.S. Pinafore is one of the liveliest, most enduring and gorgeously melodic masterpieces of musical theatre ever written," says director David Ira Goldstein. "Gilbert and Sullivan were writing what we call musical comedies decades before they were supposedly invented. While there are precious few revivals these days of 19th century British plays other than those of Shaw or Wilde, Gilbert and Sullivan have never been off the world's stages. Their work endures and continues to delight us because they were not only outrageously adept entertainers, but great social observers and critics. It's really a treat to bring ATC's first Gilbert and Sullivan production to the stage and to approach it with fresh 21st-century eyes and ears."

SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN AND W.S. GILBERT The names "Gilbert and Sullivan" are permanently entwined, yet long before joining forces, both men were leaders of their respective fields. In fact, neither Gilbert nor Sullivan regarded the Savoy Operas as his greatest artistic achievement or greatest contribution to Victorian culture. By age twenty-one, William Schwenck Gilbert was a successful professional humorist, contributing light verses to the periodical Fun, which were subsequently collected and published as the Bab Ballads. (Many of the characters from H.M.S. Pinafore are based on those originally created for the Bab Ballads.) In addition, he wrote comic sketches, short stories, dramatic criticism, plays and rhymed theatrical pieces of all kinds. He died from a heart attack in 1911, four years after being knighted. Before collaborating with Gilbert, Arthur Seymour Sullivan was widely praised as the most promising young musician in England during the 1860s. In his early years, he composed symphonic music, songs for recital, church compositions, oratorios and full-bodied operas. In 1867, Sullivan composed his first score for a "light opera," Cox and Box. From then on, he flourished as a composer of comic opera, writing countless lighthearted melodies while suffering from painful kidney stones, which plagued him until his death in 1900. Together, Gilbert and Sullivan produced fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896: Thespis; Trial by Jury; The Sorcerer; H.M.S. Pinafore; The Pirates of Penzance; Patience; Iolanthe; Princess Ida; The Mikado; Ruddigore; The Yeomen of the Guard; The Gondoliers; Utopia, Limited and The Grand Duke.

AMY JO ARRINGTON (Josephine) played Christine Daae in the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera. She is a native of Mesa, Arizona and has been a guest soloist with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and was recently a Concert of Soloists winner at Arizona State University.

DAVID BEDELLA (Bob Beckett) was part of the original company of Smokey Joe's Cafe for four of its five years on Broadway and toured with Diahann Carroll in Almost Like Being In
Love.

GARY BRIGGLE (Sir Joseph Porter) was a member of ATC's resident
ensemble from 1986 to 1990, where he appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream,
Amadeus, Arms and the Man, Great Expectations, The Tempest, Candide, My
Fair Lady, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Under Milk Wood, You Can't Take It With
You and Dreamers of the Day. Mr. Briggle is the former artistic director
of Cleveland Lyric Opera and has worked with regional theatres nationwide
and in Europe.

MARC CARDIFF (Dick Deadeye) has appeared frequently on the
London stage where his roles included Boyet in Love's Labours Lost,
Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest and Bottom in A Midsummer
Night's Dream. Past credits include Earnest at Los Angeles Theatre Center,
My Fair Lady at Santa Barbara Repertory and Johnny Johnson at Odyssey
Theatre Ensemble.

JOHN DEWAR (Bill Bobstay) played Gus the Theatre Cat in
the final Broadway company of Cats. Other New York credits include the
original Broadway companies of Les Miserables and Aspects of Love; and the
off-Broadway productions of The Taming of the Shrew, The Importance of
Being Earnest and The Molly Maguires.

NORMAN LARGE (Captain Corcoran)
appeared on Broadway in Les Miserables (original cast), A Doll's Life and
Silverlake. He has appeared in touring productions of Man of La Mancha, The
King and I and the international tour of West Side Story. Mr. Large has
been a principal artist with New York City Opera for four years. WENDY LEHR
(Hebe) was a company member at Arizona Theatre Company from 1986 to 1990.
Favorite roles include Bananas in The House Of Blue Leaves, Ariel in The
Tempest, The Old Lady in Candide, Miss Havisham in Great Expectations and
Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest.

PEDRO PORRO (Ralph
Rackstraw) appeared as Tony in the world premiere of Terrence McNally's
Master Class and as Anthony in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd at Signature
Theatre. He has appeared in works such as The Merchant of Venice at The
Shakespeare Theatre and Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe and Tosca at The
Washington Opera. He has sung extensively with The Washington Opera at The
Kennedy Center, The Wolftrap Opera and the Metropolitan Repertory Company.

REBECCA SPENCER (Buttercup) most recently appeared in Broadway's Jekyll and
Hyde. She toured nationally in Man of La Mancha and has played over 40
roles from off-Broadway to regional theatres across the country. She has
been a principle guest artist with the Minnesota, Omaha, Kansas City and
Connecticut Opera Companies and Syracuse, Detroit, Indianapolis and Naples
Symphonies.

Sailors aboard the H.M.S. Pinafore are Benjamin Bryant, Joey Gyondla and
Branch Woodman. Sir Joseph Porter's female relations are played by Lynette
Knapp, Robbi Marchion, Tamara Reynolds and Kristi Smith.

DAVID IRA GOLDSTEIN (Director) is in his ninth season as Artistic Director
of Arizona Theatre Company. Previous ATC credits include Art, Side Man, The
Mystery of Irma Vep, How I Learned to Drive, Scapin, The Two Gentlemen of
Verona, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Little Shop of Horrors, Dreams From A
Summer House (co-director), as well as the world premieres of Rocket Man,
Private Eyes and Dracula by Steven Dietz, and One Crazy Day or The Marriage
of Figaro by Roger Downey. He has directed at theatres all across the
country including Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Empty Space Theatre, The
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Alaska Repertory Theatre, Mixed Blood
Theatre Company, The Children's Theatre Company, Illusion Theatre, Portland
Repertory Theatre and Tacoma Actors Guild.

PATRICIA WILCOX (Choreographer)
returns to ATC where she previously directed and choreographed Blues in the
Night and choreographed Little Shop of Horrors and Scapin, for which she
won an ariZoni Award. She most recently conceived, directed and
choreographed the national tour of Hit Me With a Hot Note and A Swell Party
at The Kennedy Center. Other credits include Beehive for Stage West, Die
Fledermaus for Arkansas Opera, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the
Forum for both ArtPark and the prestigious Moscow Arts Center, Falco- A
Cyber Show for Ronacher Theatre in Vienna and Oedipus Private Eye for
Musical Theatre Works. Her work has also been seen at Old Globe Theatre,
New York Shakespeare Festival, The Pasadena Playhouse, Seattle Repertory
Theatre, Thames Television in London and Canale 5 in Italy.

MICHAEL KOERNER
(Musical Director) is a composer, music director and musician. In a
21-year association with Theater de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis, he has
composed the music and musical directed Cyrano; Yang Zen Froggs; The
Hunchback of Notre Dame; The Kitchen; Circus; August, August, August and
many others. While at The Children's Theatre Company, he composed the
score and musical directed the productions of Oliver Twist, The Canterville
Ghost, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Treasure Island and others.

DREW
BOUGHTON (Scenic Designer) received ariZoni Awards for both Scapin and The
Mystery of Irma Vep, which he designed for Arizona Theatre Company. His
work has been seen at many regional theatres including Seattle Repertory
Theatre and Mark Taper Forum. He served as an art director on the films
Seven Girlfriends and One Hell of a Guy. He was the Production Designer of
the film The Last Best Sunday.

DAVID KAY MICKELSEN (Costume Designer) is
designing his 33rd production at ATC, his first being Journey's End in the
1982-83 season, and most recently, The Mystery of Irma Vep. In the past
seven seasons, he has designed 22 productions for Denver Center Theatre
Company. He has also worked for the Oregon, Colorado and Illinois
Shakespeare Festivals, San Diego, New Mexico and Tennessee Repertory
Theatres, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Cleveland Play House, Geva
Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, and many others.

PAUL A. BLACK (Lighting
Designer) resides in Phoenix where his work can be seen onstage for Actors
Theatre of Phoenix, Childsplay, Phoenix Theatre, Phoenix Symphony, Ballet
Etudes and Center Dance. Mr. Black is also the Artistic Associate for
Actors Theatre of Phoenix. Mr. Black is the recipient of seven ariZoni
Theatre Awards of Excellence for Professional Lighting Design.

ABE JACOB
(Sound Designer) pioneered and introduced the field of sound design in the
Broadway theatre. His original designs for musical theatre include Hair,
Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin, Chicago, Sgt. Pepper, The Rocky Horror
Picture Show, A Chorus Line, Gilda Radner Live, Dancin', Beatlemania,
Evita, Cats, Big Deal, Black and Blue, and at ATC, Five Guys Named Moe and
The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm. A native of Tucson, his initial
contribution to the performing arts was the creation of the concert sound
for such legendary artists as Jimi Hendrix, The Mamas and the Papas, Peter,
Paul and Mary and the historic rock celebration, The Monterey Pop Festival.
Mr. Jacob is the resident designer at New York City Opera.

KENNETH LAFAVE
(Orchestrator) previously composed the scores for ATC's productions of
Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Death of a Salesman. Mr. LaFave has composed
music for orchestra, voice, the stage and chamber ensembles. Mr. LaFave is
also an arts journalist, with credits in Stagebill, Dance Magazine and many
other publications. He is currently classical music and dance critic for
The Arizona Republic.

Production Stage Manager for H.M.S. Pinafore is Glenn Bruner. Assistant to
the Stage Manager is Suzie Haufle. Dialect Coach is Dianne J. Winslow.

Tickets range in price from $28 to $41 and are available at the ATC Box Office with discounts for seniors, students and the military. Half-price Rush tickets are available for all performances one hour prior to curtain at the ATC Box Office (subject to availability). For more information or to charge tickets, call ATC at (520) 622-2823. For group discounts, call (520) 884-8210.

ATC will offer a Pay What You Can performance on Tuesday, November 28 at 7:30 p.m. A limited number of tickets will go on sale at the Temple of Music and Art at 10 a.m. on the day of the performance and are limited to two tickets per order with a suggested donation of $5.

ATC offers audio described performances for patrons with visual impairments Thursday, December 7 at 7:30 PM and Wednesday, December 13 at 2 PM. Each performance will include a tactile tour one hour prior to curtain. Braille and large-print playbills are available upon request from the House Manager. American Sign Language interpreted performances are offered Thursday, December 7 at 7:30 PM and Saturday, December 9 at 8 PM. Patrons with hearing impairments will receive a biography of the interpreters, a description of the play and name signs of each character. Tickets for the audio described and ASL interpreted performances are available through the ATC Box Office at (520) 622-2823. Patrons with hearing impairments may access the box office via Arizona Relay at (800) 367-8939 (TTY/ASCII)

H.M.S. Pinafore continues its run January 3 through 21 at the Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe in Phoenix, with a special New Year's Eve performance on December 31. Tickets are available at the ATC Box Office. For more information, call the ATC Box Office at (602) 256-6995.

Arizona Theatre Company Contact: Sarah Horton (520) 884-8210 x8202

FACT SHEET BELOW:

DIRECTION AND DESIGN:
Director David Ira Goldstein
Choreographer Patricia Wilcox
Musical Director Michael Koerner
Scenic Designer Drew Boughton
Costume Designer David Kay Mickelsen
Lighting Designer Paul A. Black
Sound Designer Abe Jacob
Orchestrations Kenneth LaFave
Dialect Coach Dianne J. Winslow
Production Stage Manager Glenn Bruner
Asst. to the Stage Manager Suzie Haufle

COMPANY: (in order of appearance)
Bill Bobstay, the Boatswain's Mate John Dewar
Bob Becket, the Carpenter's Mate David Bedella
Ben Barnacle, a sailor Benjamin Bryant
Frederick Foremast, a sailor Joey Gyondla
Rupert Rudder, a sailor Branch Woodman
Little Buttercup, a bumboat woman Rebecca Spencer
Dick Deadeye, able seaman Marc Cardiff
Ralph Rackstraw, able seaman Pedro Porro
Captain Corcoran, Commander of H.M.S. Pinafore Norman Large
Josephine, the Captain's daughter Amy Jo Arrington
Angela, a female relation Lynette Knapp
Penelope, a female relation Robbi Marchion
Hannah, a female relation Tamara Reynolds
Julia, a female relation Kristi Smith
Hebe, Sir Joseph's cousin Wendy Lehr
Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B Gary Briggle

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