The G&S Years 1972-1979
I come from school choirs, G&S operettas, West End shows
As a child I sang, as many of us did, in the school choir. Leaving school I looked to find another music related activity. My parents had taken me to the theatre from the age of eight so I grew up with a love of musicals. The audition for the Cambridge Amateur Operatic Society (CAOS) was an uncomfortable experience. I was only 16 but I stood in front of the row of the great and the good of this august group of people, the chairman, the Music Director, the Répétiteur and about three other members of the committee. I sang an unaccompanied piece by Steeleye Span, hoping that if I sang off key they wouldn’t notice. Fortunately that worked and I was accepted into the chorus as their youngest ever member. My first show was Ruddigore in 1971 where I was cast as one of the bridesmaids, something I continued to be assigned to until 1979 when I left to go to Edinburgh.
 A copy of the music score for Ruddigore from 1887 owned by my grandmother, Violet Crawley
Trial by Jury
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Ruddigore, first show 1971
HMS Pinafore
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Notes and words, costumes and hair pieces, green room smoking. The world of the chorus. Starters to stage, five minutes. Dressing room mirror decorated with Break a Leg and Have a Great Show. Bright mirror lights, bad hair day, bad skin day, great acting day. Small bottle of gin, tonic to share, marmite sandwiches – the dinner of champions. Driving home followed by the memories of the night. Late night conversations with my sister – love and miss you my darling.
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History
The partnership of W S Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan began in 1871; Sullivan writing the music and Gilbert providing the libretti, a partnership that lasted in some animosity for more than 25 years, producing eleven comic operettas. The partnership developed further when they teamed up with Richard D’Oyly Carte in 1875. This most advantageous arrangement led to the building of the Savoy Theatre in 1881 and the founding of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Considered by some to be old-fashioned, easy to sing and ‘trite’, there is much to be appreciated in the way Sullivan managed to marry the music to Gilbert’s words. It’s possible to find the chorus singing in offbeat triplet quavers while the six principals sing over the top, for example in Trial by Jury, ‘A nice dilemma’.
Considered by some to be old-fashioned, easy to sing and ‘trite’, there is much to be appreciated in the way Sullivan managed to marry the music to Gilbert’s words. It’s possible to find the chorus singing in offbeat triplet quavers while the six principals sing over the top, for example in Trial by Jury, ‘A nice dilemma’.
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