Any number of arts organizations in Baltimore have come and gone over the decades, while the Young Victorian Theatre Company keeps chugging along, to the appreciation of Gilbert and Sullivan fans throughout the area.
The troupe's 39th season opens this weekend with The Pirates of Penzance, which gently skewers social class distinctions, inept and blustery military and police, and slavish devotion to duty. The libretto finds Gilbert in particularly witty form. Sullivan's score is full of charm and sophistication, reaching a height of cleverness in an Act 1 number that combines a waltz for the operetta's love couple with a different tune and meter for lady choristers chattering away in counterpoint.
With H.M.S. Pinafore and The Mikado, Penzance remains one of the most popular pieces in the G&S canon. That it enjoyed a new life as a Broadway show in the early 1980s says a lot about its staying power.
The Young Vic production will introduce the company's new music director, Phillip Collister, an accomplished baritone and Towson University faculty member. The stage director is James Harp.
The cast includes Nicholas Houhoulis as Frederic, Jimi James as the Pirate King, Troy Clark as Major-General Stanley, Brendan Cooke as the Sergeant of Police and Jennifer Blades as Ruth. Joy Greene sings the role of Mabel, except on July 18, when Natalie Conte will have the assignment.
Performances are at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, as well as 8 p.m. July 16-18 and 3 p.m. July 19, at Bryn Mawr School, 109 W. Melrose Ave. Tickets are $36. Call 410 323-3077 or go to yvtc.org.
New head of Hippodrome
Jeff Daniel, who helped spur the restoration of Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre in the late 1990s, has returned in the newly created position of vice president of venues for Key Brand Entertainment.
In this post, equivalent to CEO, he will be responsible for programming and management of the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, the umbrella organization for the Hippodrome and Broadway Across America-Baltimore. He will also oversee Key Brand Entertainment venues in Boston and Minneapolis.
"What I think I can do is make the Hippodrome act like an arts center," Daniel says, "and broaden the programming." He envisions expanding considerably beyond the touring Broadway shows that have been the mainstay of the Hippodrome.
Marks Chowning served until last year as executive director of the restored Hippodrome, which opened in February 2004.
