FULL The Grand Duke (Gilbert & Sullivan) Minneapolis 2003 Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company GSVLOC

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: The Grand Duke or The Statutory Duel   
• Composer: Arthur Sullivan  
• Libretto: W. S. Gilbert    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company GSVLOC  
• Recorded: March 2003
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Eric Mellum, Waldyn Benbenek, Ethan Edwards, Amanda Broge, Hazen B. Markoe, Kathryn Larsen, Randy Lebsock, Sara Gustafson
• Conductor: James Straka  
• Orchestra:
• Stage Director: Randy Winkler  
• Stage Designer: Kate Sutton-Johnson  
• Costume Designer: Lynn Farrington  
• Lighting Designer: Michael Hoover  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Co.  
• Date Published: 2023  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  PROGRAM LEAFLET 

  The Grand Duke was the final collaboration of Gilbert and Sullivan, and met with less than favorable reviews when it opened on March 7, 1896. Gilbert and Sullivan usually “fine-tuned” their operas after their first performance, dropping numbers, tightening dialogue, sometimes rewriting sections. This did not happen with The Grand Duke. The D’Oyly Carte company never revived the show, and it was seldom performed. When our company produced it in 1991, we decided to make some revisions, as the creators might have done, had they been on speaking terms. This time, we have also incorporated an extra song in Act II, borrowed from Utopia, Limited (another late Gilbert and Sullivan opera) showing the Notary, Ernest, and Rudolph planning a counter-revolution.

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