Hillsboro Artists' Regional Theatre Presents: 

Light Opera of Portland's Iolanthe by W.S. Gilbert, 

Music by Arthur Sullivan. Directed by Laurence Cox. 

July 19th, 2024 through August 4th, 2024
HART Theater
185 SE Washington St. 
Hillsboro, OR 97123
(503) 693-7815
www.hart-theatre.org

Summary

Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri, opened at the Savoy Theatre on November 25, 1882, three nights after the final performance of Patience at the same theatre, and ran for 398 performances.

Gilbert had taken pot shots at the aristocracy before, but in this "fairy opera," the House of Lords is lampooned as a bastion of the ineffective, privileged and dim-witted. The political party system and other institutions also come in for a dose of satire. Yet, both author and composer managed to couch the criticism among such bouncy, amiable absurdities that it is all received as good fun.

Both Gilbert and Sullivan were at the height of their creative powers in 1882, and many people feel that Iolanthe, their seventh work together, is the most perfect of their collaborations.

Strephon, an Arcadian shepherd, wants to marry Phyllis, a Ward of Chancery. Phyllis does not know that Strephon is half fairy (his upper half — his legs are mortal!) and when she sees Strephon kissing a seemingly young woman, she assumes the worst. But her "rival" turns out to be none other than Strephon's own mother, Iolanthe, a fairy — fairies never grow old.

But Phyllis’s guardian, the Lord Chancellor, and half the peers in the House of Lords, are sighing after her. Soon the peers and the fairies are virtually at war, and long friendships are nearly torn asunder. But all is happily sorted out, thanks to the “subtleties of the legal mind.” (G & S Archive)

CREW:

Director 
Laurence Cox

Musical Director
Reece Sauve

Producer 
Sara Rivara

Stage Manager
TBA

Costumes
Nan Dahlquist

CAST

The Lord Chancellor
Laurence Cox

Earl of Mountararat
Casey LeBold

Earl Tolloller
Tom Harper

Private Willis (of the Grenadier Guards)
Mike Mendyke

Strephon (an Arcadian Shepherd)
Carl Dahlquist

Queen of the Fairies
Morena Colombetti

Iolanthe (a Fairy, Strephon’s Mother)
Phoebe Gildea

Celia (a Fairy)
Rebecca Raccanelli

Leila (a Fairy)
Sheryl Wood

Fleta (a Fairy)
Dominique Garrison

Phyllis (an Arcadian Shepherdess and Ward of Chancery) 
Ireland McNeill

CHORUS OF FAIRIES
Nan Dahlquist, Jack Wattier, Aurea Taylor, Cathrine Huard, Jani VanPelt, Shirley Liu

CHORUS OF PEERS
Chase Reinhold, Maren Symonds, Riven Dederian, Henry Coates, Todd Fisher, Alex Hemsath, Rawdon Taylor

SWINGS
Lindsay Lefler, Mila Ortiz, Alex Hemsath, Henry Coates