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Gilbert And Sullivan Society Of Austin Offer Patience

Updated: Monday, June 4 2012, 01:28 PM CDT
By Rob Faubion, AustinOnStage.com

The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin will stage Patience; or, Bunthorne’s Bride - the sixth operatic collaboration of 14 written by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan - as the 2012 Summer Grand Production.  Performances will run June 7th through 17th as the first production to appear on the stage of the new Brentwood Christian School Performing Arts Center.
    
First performed in London in 1881, and last performed in Austin in 1999, the comic opera satirizes the “aesthetic craze” of the 1870s and 1880s - when the output of poets, composers, painters and designers was prolific but whose followers and admirers were empty and self-indulgent.  Patience contains Gilbert's most trenchant satire on a contemporary fad, and he wrote it so well that it completely transcends his original target to become a universal comedy capable of delighting audiences who know nothing of Victorian aestheticism.
     
Artistic Director Ralph MacPhail, Jr., returns for his 12th summer with the Society, along with Jeffrey Jones-Ragona in his 16th season as Music Director.  The cast includes Holton Johnson, Meredith Ruduski, Russell Gregory, Janette Jones, Arthur DiBianca, Patricia Combs, Robert L. Schneider, Daytha Hulion, Donald Bayne, Kate Clark, Wayne Davis, and a Chorus of Maidens and Dragoon Guards.  All performances will have supertitles.
      
Performances will run Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m.  Matinees will be offered June 10, 16 and 17 at 3 p.m., with special children’s activities on June 10 at 2 p.m.  Tickets for adults are $20 advance and $25 at door; tickets for students over 18 years old are $15 in advance and $20 at door; and youth tickets are $7 in advance and $10 at door.  A free Opening Night Gala with refreshments follows the Friday, June 8, performance.
    
The Brentwood Christian School Performing Arts Center is located at 11908 N. Lamar Blvd.  For advance tickets and more information call (512) 474-5664 or visit www.GilbertSullivan.org.
 
(From left: Donald Bayne, Meredith Ruduski and Arthur DiBianca; photo by Brenda Ladd)
Gilbert And Sullivan Society Of Austin Offer Patience