The Zoo

Season: Autumn 1994
  (Performed with Trial By Jury)

Dramatis Personæ:

Æsculapius Carboy — A chemist in love with Laetitia:

Ronald S. Herman

Eliza Smith — A perfectly virtuous and highly principled young lady, in charge of the Refreshment Stall:

Pamela Good

Thomas Brown — But really, The Duke of Islington, a nobleman disguised, in search of virtue which he finds in Eliza:

Bill Hammond

Laetitia — Loved by Carboy:

Anne Virgil

Laetitia's sister:

Amanda Lobaugh

Mr. Grinder — Laetitia's father, a grocer:

David Schafer

Chorus — Ladies and Gentlemen of the Great British Public:

Scott Baros, Julia Ferreira Benedict, Terry Benedict, Lynette Blake, Tracy Burdick, Richard Burns, James Caffrey, Eileen D'Esterno, Christine M. Dettman, Peter Scott Dunbar, Nancy A. Galletto, Stephen M. Gullo, Isabel T. Henry, Lindsay Holmes, Cathy Lazaroff, James Loehr, Mary Lyubomirsky, Linda Minier, Patricia A. Montrois, Scot Zaffora-Reeder, Jean Ryon, Bob Weeks, Sarah Zaffora-Reeder

Production Staff:

Director:

Byron Wilmot

Musical Director & accompanist:

Leanne DeVane

Producer:

Bob Weeks

Costumes:

Maryanne Lettis

Lighting Design:

Michele Denber

Props:

Bodie McCaffrey

Stage Manager:

Rob Ciaccia

House Manager:

Jordu Kelly

Program Illustration:

Sarah Freeman

Notes

Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration, Thespis, ran for barely a month in 1872 and then vanished. The two parted company for a time, teaming up again three years later when a one-act operetta was needed to round out a program featuring Offenbach's La Perichole. This musical dessert was Trial By Jury, and it soon proved more popular than the main course. Sullivan and Rowe's The Zoo, written to follow a play by Gilbert, opened at another theatre three months later and was clearly an attempt to capitalize on the success of Trial. It never achieved the same popularity and all but disappeared until 1966, when the musical score surfaced at an auction at Southby's. In both operas, Sullivan's spirited music makes deft allusions to the conventions — and pretensions — of Grand Opera. And, as there is no spoken dialogue in either show, it's an evening of wall-to-wall Sullivan.

Photos by Katherine M. O'Donnell

     

     

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Last updated: 02/19/10