Musical Premieres In Garden City

A rarely seen theatrical classic will get its New York premiere on October 28 when the Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island presents a staged reading of W.S. Gilbert's musical comedy , "The Princess".

"Gilbert is best known, of course, for the comic operas he wrote with Arthur Sullivan," says Gayden Wren, author of "A Most Ingenious Paradox: The Art of "Gilbert & Sullivan" ( Oxford University Press, 2001) and director of the reading. "But it's important to remember that, just as Sullivan was England's most celebrated composer before he ever sat down to work with Gilbert, so Gilbert, was England's most popular playwright. "The Princess" written in the same year that Gilbert met Sullivan, is one of his first musicals, a transitional stage between his early burlesques and the Savoy operas."

The story of "The Princess," which was later adapted into the Gilbert & Sullivan opera "Princess Ida" parodies Tennyson's epic poem "The Princess." It focuses on a young princess who, to escape an infant marriage to a man she doesn't even know, runs away from home and establishes a women's university, one where men are prohibited to enter under penalty of death. Her husband, Prince Hilarion, and two friends disguise themselves as women to gain entrance to the school, with many comic consequences ensuing.

"Those who know "Princess Ida" will find "The Princess" a very different kettle of fish," Wren says.

"Princess Ida," is a drama with comic relief," he explains. "The Princess' was written in the tradition of burlesque, which emphasized physical humor, bad puns and over-the-top comedy. In addition, most of the male roles were traditionally played by women - a tradition which we'll be respecting - because it was the only way that women could appear onstage in tights."

Also in keeping with the burlesque tradition is the music in "The Princess," which consists of 14 songs written to existing tunes, primarily from the operettas of Offenbach.

"The music is simply lovely, funny and beautiful and everything you'd expect from Offenbach - not to mention Rossini, Auber and Horn," Wren says. "We've got a terrific cast of singers, and the chances are that this will actually sound better than Gilbert's own production, since he wrote for the existing company of the theater at which the play was mounted, and most of them were not cast for their singing talents."

"Those who may have read "The Princess" in Gilbert's "original Plays" will have a surprise in store," he adds.

"In later years Gilbert scoffed at the idea of writing music to existing tunes, and apparently was embarrassed that as a young man he had done so," Wren explains.

"When he edited "The Princess" for the collected edition, he cut out all but four of the songs - presumably the ones he liked so much that he couldn't bear to lose them. Except for a production I directed at Oberlin College in 1996, this is the first time since the original 1870 production that the original form of the play has been seen and these 'lost' Gilbert songs have been heard."

The cast for "The Princess" includes a mix of company veterans and new faces: Will Curtis of Manhattan, seen last year as King Phanor in the company's staged reading of Gilbert's "The Place of Truth" plays the crusty King Gama, with Tania Jimenez of Baldwin as his rebellious daughter Ida. The three women-playing-men-disguised-as-women are Sara Holliday of Queens as Prince Hilarion, Gwendolyn Stern of Merrick as Cyril and Mara Stomber of Manhattan as Florian. Ellen Pikus of Baldwin plays the formidable Lady Blanche, Marianna Dabo of Bohemia is the erudite Lady Psyche and Stephanie Horowitz of Merrick plays Melissa, with Lillian Baum of Long Beach as Sacharissa. Wren, of Garden City plays the belligerent King Hildebrand, with Martin Fuller of Oceanside as the woebegon porter Gobbo and Andrew Schwartz and Barry Mastellone (of Long Beach and Queens respectively) as the First and Second Officers.

Two of the original tunes from The Princess have been unable to be identified as yet. They have been rescored, to Gilbert's lyrics, by music director Stephen O'Leary, who will also accompany on the piano.

Anyone interested in Gilbert & Sullivan or in the history of British theater should be interested in "The Princess," Wren says, but its ultimate appeal is what made it a hit in the first place- beautiful music and over-the-top comedy.

"Gilbert was one of the great humorists in all of England literature," Wren says, and 'The Princess' is one of his funniest plays. Burlesque may have been a lowbrow art form, but it's still very funny. A pie in the face was funny in 1870, and it's still funny in 2006."

"The Palace of Truth" will be presented as a staged reading for one night only on Saturday, October 28, 8 p.m. at the Ethical Humanist Society Hall at 38 Old Country Road in Garden City. Tickets are $15, with all proceeds benefiting the Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island.

For directions, tickets or other information call (516) 670-8789, visit theatermania.com (where tickets can be charged to credit card) or visit the Light Opera Company's Website at www.gilbert-and-sullivan.net.