In the beginning--twenty-five years before the opera starts--the fairy Iolanthe married a mortal, a capital crime under fairy law. However, the Fairy Queen commuted Iolanthe's death sentence into banishment for life, provided she leave her husband without explanation and never see him again. Iolanthe's son Strephon (half fairy and half mortal) has grown up as a shepherd and fallen in love with Phyllis, a shepherdess and ward in chancery. She returns his love and is unaware of his unusual genetic heritage.

Our curtain rises to find the Fairies pleading with their Queen to recall Iolanthe from exile. The Queen does, and Strephon joins the glad reunion, telling of his intention to marry Phyllis despite her guardian's opposition. In token of her approval, the Queen plans to influence voters to elect Strephon to Parliament.

Love for Phyllis has also captured the hearts of the entire House of Lords, and they appeal to the Lord Chancellor to give her to whichever peer she may select. Even the Lord Chancellor is smitten but, as Phyllis's guardian, he is wary of conflict of interest. Phyllis rejects the Peers and tells the Lord Chancellor of her love for Strephon, who attempts to plead his case again, but in vain.

Abject after his failure, Strephon is consoled by Iolanthe. Phyllis and the Peers oversee the conversation and, since Iolanthe, like all fairies, looks like a girl of seventeen, they misinterpret what they see. They ridicule Strephon's claim that Iolanthe is his mother, and Phyllis declares she will marry either Lord Tolloller or Lord Mountararat.

Not amused, the Queen and the other Fairies take revenge by not only sending Strephon to Parliament but influencing both Houses to pass any bill he introduces -- even one which will throw the peerage open to competitive examination. The Peers see doom approaching and appeal to the Fairies to desist. The Fairies have fallen in love with the Peers and would like to oblige, but Strephon has gone too far to stop.

Tolloller and Mountararat discover a deadly family tradition will be invoked if either of them marries Phyllis, so they renounce her in the name of friendship. But the Lord Chancellor has managed to convince himself he is legally permitted to marry Phyllis. Strephon, meanwhile, has made Phyllis understand his mother is a fairy, and they are reconciled. They persuade Iolanthe to plead their case with the Lord Chancellor.

Her appeal can only be effective, however, if Iolanthe reveals her long-kept secret and incurs the death penalty again. When the rest of the Fairies inform the Queen they all share Iolanthe's guilt and deserve the same sentence, we find ourselves teetering on the edge of certain doom.

Equal to the situation, the Lord Chancellor applies Gilbertean logic to save everyone's life -- and bring us all to the obligatory happy ending.

-- Kurtiss Gordon (from the 2000 program)

Act One Musical Numbers ACT I SETTING An Arcadian Landscape

Overture

1.	"Tripping hither, tripping thither"	Celia, Leila, Fairies
2.	Invocation: "Iolanthe! From thy dark exile"	Queen, Iolanthe, Celia, Leila, Fairies
3.	"Good morrow, good mother"	Strephon and Fairies
4.	"Fare thee well"	Queen and Fairies
4a.	"Good morrow, good lover"	Phyllis and Strephon
5.	"None shall part us"	Phyllis and Strephon
6.	Entrance and march of the Peers: "Loudly let the trumpets bray"	Peers
7.	"The law is the true embodiment"	Lord Chancellor and Peers
8.	"My well-loved lord and guardian dear"	Phyllis, Lord Tolloller, Lord Mountararat, and Peers
9.	"Nay, tempt me not"	Phyllis and Peers
10.	"Spurn not the nobly born"	Tolloller and Peers
11.	"My lords, it may not be"	Phyllis, Lord Tolloller, Lord Mountararat, Strephon, Lord Chancellor, and Peers
12.	"When I went to the bar as a very young man"	Lord Chancellor
13.	"When darkly looms the day" (Finale of Act I)	Ensemble

INTERMISSION (15 minutes) Act Two Musical Numbers ACT II SETTING Palace Yard, Westminster

14.	"When all night long a chap remains"	Private Willis
15.	"Strephon's a member of Parliament"	Fairies and Peers
16.	"When Britain really ruled the waves"	Lord Mountararat, Fairies and Peers
17.	"In vain to us you plead"	Leila, Celia, Fairies, Lord Tolloller, Lord Mountararat
18.	"Oh, foolish fay"	Queen and Fairies
19.	"Tho' p'rhaps I may incur your blame"	Phyllis, Lord Tolloller, Lord Mountararat, Private Willis
20.	"Love, unrequited, robs me of my rest"	Lord Chancellor
21.	"He who shies at such a prize"	Lord Tolloller, Lord Mountararat, Lord Chancellor
22.	"If we're weak enough to tarry"	Phyllis and Strephon
23.	"My lord, a suppliant at your feet I kneel"	Iolanthe
24.	"It may not be"	Iolanthe, Queen, Lord Chancellor, Fairies
25.	"Soon as we may, off and away"	Ensemble

COSTUMES -- Sandra Burgess, Laura Green, Phyllis Jordan, Diane Kelton, and Elaine Walker, co-heads;

Kathy Blaisdell, Elizabeth Brabec, Esta Busi, Elizabeth Chilton, Kimaya Diggs, Carl Erikson, Beverly Fuller, Kate Green, Donna Griffin, Jacqueline Haney, Abby Helzer, Virginia Holmes, Marese Hutchinson, Betty Jacobson, Marcia Kennick, Wendy Larson, Mark Leibold, Louise MacDonald, Libby Maxey, Marcy Melcher, Nancy Nesheim, Lee Pershyn, Nina Pollard, Anni Reffsin, Lucy Robinson, Carolyn Samonds, Ken Samonds, Tina Swift, Judy Whightman

HAIR STYLING

Ann Steinhauser, Stylists from Salon Divine, Amherst

MILLINERS

Jacqueline Haney, Mark Leibold, Carolyn Samonds, Ken Samonds

SET CONSTRUCTION and PAINTING -- Frank Disco, Bob Graham, and Lew Jordan, construction co-heads; Linda Bartis and Chris Riddle, painting co-heads;

Steve Atkinson, Richard Wade Atkinson, Linda Bartis, Laura Borash, George Cannon, Al Cohen, John Diggs, Kimaya Diggs, Mary Jane Disco, Jonathan Evans, John Foster, Martha Hanner, John Healy, Jordan Helzer, John Martin, Steve Morgan, David Mullins, Judi Pierce, Nina Pollard, Chris Riddle, Joe Sabol, Rachael Sabol, Anju Soparkar Diggs, Dick Stromgren, Michael Sugerman, Bill Tobey, Jim Walker

BANNER PAINTING -- Judi Pierce, head;

Linda Bartis, Bob Graham, Martha Hanner

LIGHTING -- Frank Croke, head; Tim Bennett and Mary Jane Disco, Lighting Board operators;

Steve Morgan, Artemis Roehrig, Laurel Turk

PROPERTIES--Marese Dolan Hutchinson, head;

Linda Bartis, Emmett Chilton-Sugerman, Frank Disco, Mary Jane Disco, John Foster, Jacqueline Haney, Mark Leibold, Ken Samonds, Carolyn Samonds, Linda Stark, Elaine Walker, Jim Walker

House Manager -- Janet Williams

Box Office Liaison -- Virginia Holmes

Ushers -- Deborah Campbell, Coordinator;

Kate Atkinson, Celia Bales, Ann Burton, Catherine Butterfield, Michelle Chaikin, Emmett Chilton-Sugerman, Caitlynn Devine, John Diggs, Kimaya Diggs, Makeda Diggs, Savita Diggs, Jay Frost, Marie Lauterdale, John Loos, Avery Low, Maud Low, Nancy Nesheim, Gabriel Ro-driguez, Ruth Rootberg, Mary Ellen Sailer, Rob Sailer, Gaelan Schildbach, Nathanael Schildbach, Anju Soparkar Diggs, Michael Sugerman, Cathy Tracy, Steve Tracy, Eleanor Warnock (and others whose names reached us too late to be included in the program)

Gift Shop

Catharine Butterfield, Nancy Reffsin, Anni Reffsin

Tickets -- Town of Amherst Leisure Services staff

Performance Refreshments -- Amherst Regional High School Theater Company

Bart Bales -- Lord Mountararat -- has performed in light opera, musical theater, grand opera, and two feature-length movies. His favorite roles, along with his current character, are the war-story telling Major in Titanic -- The Musical and patter-man Brown in Sullivan’s The Zoo, among others. Past VLO shows have included The Pirates of Penzance (twice), Thespis, and The Yeomen of the Guard. Bart lives in Gill and works as an energy engineering consultant.

Kathryn Blaisdell -- Fleta -- was Inez in the last VLO Gondoliers and Katisha in The Mikado. She has performed widely in the region, in the Lancaster (Massachusetts) Opera Company's Tenderland and in H.M.S. Pinafore, Brigadoon, and The Marriage of Figaro for Opera North (Lebanon, NH). Off-stage, she has spent a term (2006-2009) on the VLO board. Kathy is director of student financial services at Mount Holyoke College, and lives in South Hadley with her husband, Ted, and daughters Emma and Phoebe.

Elizabeth Chilton -- Celia -- is making her third appearance with the VLO, having performed in the 2009 Pirates of Penzance and the 2003 H.M.S. Pinafore. An archaeologist and department chair of anthropology at UMass Amherst, she lives in Pelham with her husband and son and has performed as a soprano and soloist in numerous a cappella ensembles, most recently with Pioneer Valley Cappella (of which she also serves as president).

Heather Davies -- Leila -- has a long connection with the VLO, having seen the 1984 Pinafore at age seven. Since then she has performed five times on the VLO stage, as Pitti Sing in The Mikado and in The Pirates of Penzance, among other operas. She directed the music for the ALSCT Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, has been on stage with them twice, and will be there again, as Glinda in their up-coming Wizard of Oz. By day, she is a legal assistant in Northampton and a church organist in Cummington.

Jonathan Evans -- Lord Tolloller -- has been in all of VLO's Gilbert and Sullivan productions since the 2002 Yeomen of the Guard. He played Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore -- a favorite show in which his then ten-year-old daughter, Schuyler, played the Midshipmite -- as well as in the VLO Ruddigore and Princess Ida. He also appeared in the ALSCT 2008 The Music Man, as a member of the barbershop quartet. Jonathan is a financial writer.

Alan Harris -- Private Willis -- sang in the chorus of The Mikado in ninth grade. Involved with VLO since the 1990 Yeomen of the Guard, as Sergeant Merrill, he also sang Sir Roderick in the last Ruddigore. Alan studied acting and directing at Carnegie Tech in the 1960s and worked with Jerome Savary's Grand Magic Circus in Paris. His loves include singing, writing, photography, sailing -- and, of course, cooking, as "The Singing Chef" and owner of Noble Feast Catering.

John Healy -- Strephon -- last appeared on the VLO stage as Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance. Other VLO roles have included Florian in Princess Ida and Luiz in The Gondoliers. Elsewhere, he has been Harold Hill in The Music Man (ALSCT), Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro (Worcester Opera Works), Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls (Commonwealth Opera), and William Butler Yeats and Robert Emmet in Wilde Irish Women. He also sings with Da Camera, a choral ensemble with a diverse classical repertoire.

Libby Maxey -- Phyllis -- debuted with the VLO as Yum-Yum in the 2007 Mikado and appeared as a daughter in last year's Pirates of Penzance. Now a member of the board, she has appeared in a variety of VLO performances in the community during the past year. Audiences may also have seen her singing for Amherst College thesis projects, at Grace Episcopal Church, or in Music Together class with her two pre-school boys. She lives in Conway.

Steve Morgan -- Lord Chancellor -- is retired from a three-career life of outdoor education, house building, and theater production work. He lives in Leverett with his very understanding wife, two golden retrievers, and an occasional college senior. In the last three years he has directed Princess Ida for VLO and Blue Straw Hat for playwright Corinne Demas and has appeared onstage as the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance. Steve has been associated with VLO since 1977, in many more than two capacities.

Courtney Sylvain -- Queen of the Fairies -- is delighted to be returning for her second year with the VLO, having appeared as Ruth in the 2009 Pirates of Penzance. Off the VLO stage, she works as cantor and soloist for both the Cathedral of St. Michael in Springfield and St. Mary's Parish in Longmeadow. When not performing, she can be found working for a commercial property management firm in Hartford.

Lisa Woods -- Iolanthe -- was recently Prince Orlovsky in Worcester Opera Works Die Fledermaus, Suzuki in Commonwealth Opera's Madama Butterfly, and Molly in their Threepenny Opera. A featured soloist with Berkshire Lyric Theater, Berkshire Concert Choir, and Commonwealth Opera in their 2009 Gala Concert, she was the alto soloist for the Friends of Music of Guilford in their thirty-ninth annual Messiah. Lisa is a veteran of numerous recitals here in the Pioneer Valley.

Susanne Anderson -- Assistant Music Director -- has been in the VLO family since the first Pinafore, having directed, accompanied, and sung with VLO and other groups. Susanne began piano at age five. In the summer she accompanies dance at Jacob's Pillow.

Linda Stark Bartis -- Co-Set Designer -- recently married, changed her name, and is moving to South Carolina! Her long connection with VLO ends with Iolanthe. Producer, set designer, painter, make-up artist, and more, she will be very much missed.

Ted Blaisdell -- Diction Coach -- is in his seventh VLO season. A Savoyard since childhood, Ted's first G&S stint was as Ralph in a Dartmouth production of Pinafore. Ted teaches eighth grade science at the Michael E. Smith Middle School in South Hadley.

Connie Cappelli -- Coordinating Producer -- was a fairy in the VLO 2000 Iolanthe. A performer in the ALSCT Wilde Irish Women and elsewhere, she has stage-managed and been on the VLO board. She works in the Guidance Office at ARHS.

Li Ciaglo -- Choreographer -- has directed and choreographed for theatre, dance, and opera companies throughout the Northeast. Director of performing arts at Bay Path College and recipient of two awards for excellence at the Irish International Theatre Festival, she has earned The Advocate's "Best in the Valley" award.

Frank Croke -- Lighting Designer -- ("Dr. Frank") comes to us fresh from Exit7Players, where he designed the lighting for Jekyll and Hyde and Titanic. He also designs lighting for Holyoke Catholic High School productions. Frank is a physician in Holyoke.

Frank Disco -- Technical Director and Video Set Designer -- has been the VLO videographer since 2006. Professional practitioner of video set design, he has long done simulcasts for Main Stage acts at the Big E. Frank's work has been seen at Exit7Players productions of Nuncrackers, George M!, Titanic, and Jekyll and Hyde.

Mary Jane Schulze Disco -- Stage Director -- retired in June from twenty-eight years of teaching elementary music in Ludlow. She has sung many contralto roles with VLO, directed the 2006 Gondoliers, and loves the idea of directing a show she has neither seen nor been in. She lives in Feeding Hills with her husband, Frank.

Carl Erikson -- Stage Manager -- returns for a third show with VLO. He has years of experience behind the scenes, locally and in Vermont, and a few brief "butler" moments on stage. Now retired, Carl is a textile artist and a freelance writer of novels and plays.

Michael Greenebaum -- Music Director and Conductor -- staged the first VLO Iolanthe in 1976, followed by four other operas. He has twice been music director and conductor for The Mikado, Princess Ida, and Pinafore. Michael was for many years principal of Mark’s Meadow School and professor of education at UMass.

Phil Helzer -- Assistant Music Director -- has been in the last three VLO productions. Phil has an Oberlin degree in cello performance and also studied voice. The VLO returned him to singing and conducting -- a nice complement to playing and teaching the cello.

Marese Dolan Hutchinson -- Properties Manager -- hails from Ireland, where she was a harpist and singer at the Bunratty Castle medieval banquets. She has been involved in the VLO since 1986, on stage and as board member and president. Marese teaches at the Common School. She dedicates this show to Kevin's memory.

Chris Riddle -- Co-Set Designer -- designed sets for the 2000 Iolanthe and has finally achieved a second mounting of a VLO show. He also designed sets for VLO productions of The Grand Duke and Pirates and for five ALSCT shows. A long-time architect, as of last May he is experiencing the dubious benefits of retirement.

Lucy Robinson -- Producer, Fairy -- has produced and sung in many VLO shows, and also acts in films, TV commercials, and voice-overs, the most exciting being a voice-over for an exhibit of Childe Hassam paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ken Samonds -- Co-Costume Designer, King George -- made his VLO debut in 1984 as the baritone in the rigging of H.M.S. Pinafore. Turning to technical theater, he designed sets for seven VLO shows, later crafting jewelry and period headgear. This year Ken co-designed costumes, notably fairy wings and peers' coronets.

Elaine Walker -- Co-Costume Designer and Producer -- has been involved in VLO productions since 1980, notably as costumer and producer, lately turning to costume design and construction supervision. Since retiring from the Hampshire College Theatre Program she has had more time for her family and six grandchildren.

Jim Walker -- Producer -- played third trombone in VLO's 1980 Gondoliers. After many years on stage in the chorus, he continues as treasurer (since 1996). He retired in 2003 after a long career at UMass, as a faculty member in physics, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Advising, and Acting Dean of the Graduate School.

This fabulous story unfolds between the magical land of the fairies and the realistic houses of Parliament. I chose two designers to represent these very different places. Linda Bartis and I speak the same language of imagination and fantasy. Chris Riddle, grounded in an architect's reality, succeeded fully in deciphering it. The blending of these two styles brings the audience the best of both worlds. Elaine Walker's and Ken Samonds' costumes enchant us as we travel between these worlds. Li Ciaglo has graced us with magnificent choreography. I am very pleased to welcome Dr. Frank Croke, our lighting designer, and his artistic touch. Michael Greenebaum has been a joy to work with and a true partner in this enterprise. I am especially pleased to have collaborated with my husband, Frank, whose expertise has added a new dimension to set design. I am so proud of our presentation.

This show has been a labor of love by all who volunteered time and talent, and I am humbled to be working with the cr&ace;me de la cr&ace;me of artists. I hesitate to name any more names for fear of leaving someone out, but it goes without saying that the cadre of people who tirelessly devoted their energies to bringing my vision to fruition are many. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Now it is time to suspend reality and travel to a beautiful, complex world -- graced by fairies who would love mortals and mortals who dream of loving fairies. . . . But this is Gilbert and Sullivan, and all, mortals and fairies alike, will live, happily ever after!

-- Mary Jane Disco

But it contains more -- it contains fairies. Fairies cast their spell on Iolanthe and connect it to the immemorial folklore, art, and literature of the British Isles. Their spell is enchanting, mischievous, and even a little threatening, not only to the characters but to audiences as well. Fairies represent our fears and our yearnings as well as our delights. Britain in 1882 was fiercely urbanized and industrialized. Iolanthe could take advantage of the new, electrified Savoy Theatre for marvelous stage effects (which we hope will seem marvelous and still new in 2010). But industrialization came at a price, psychological and social. There is a lot of yearning underlying this opera -- for nature, for youth, for love; the fairies embody these yearnings as well as the terrors that accompany them. There are many laughs in Iolanthe, but not always easy ones.

By introducing fairies, Gilbert placed the opera in a centuries-old tradition. At the same time, Sullivan attached Iolanthe to a wide European musical tradition, and struck new ground. The overture to Iolanthe (the first Sullivan actually wrote himself for the extant operas) is really a tone poem rather than a potpourri of opera tunes. Indeed, two major themes in it appear nowhere in the show; one alludes to Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream fairy music, and the other, stentorian and highly punctuated, may symbolize the human sphere. Contrapuntal to both, Sullivan introduces the Fairy Queen's great song of yearning for what she cannot have: the love of a mortal. This music tells a story.

The other great London musical opening in 1882 was the first British presentation of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen. Sullivan was not immune to the Wagner craze that swept Britain. For the first time he introduces motifs into his comic operas. As in The Ring, Sullivan's motifs comment on the characters they signify. Their reappearances in the course of Iolanthe give it a satisfying aesthetic coherence.

  The three Ps will always be beloved and always be performed. But Iolanthe is the great work that enriches and deepens Gilbert and Sullivan's art.

-- Michael Greenebaum

Valley Light Opera expresses thanks to the following for helping to make this production possible: the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools' staff, especially the Performance Dept. faculty, and the custodial staff for their good nature and flexibility; the Maple Ridge Church and Community Center, especially Sanjoy Mazumdar for the trusting and generous use of their facility for rehearsals and set and costume construction; the Town of Amherst Department of Public Works for hanging the banner; Sunraise for help with publicity and other printing; and Sally and Bill Venman for caring for the VLO year-round and always being there when we sought advice.

Valley Light Opera is on the World Wide Web at http://www.vlo.org/. We express our gratitude and appreciation to BerkshireNet for hosting our site. BerkshireNet (http://www.berkshire.net/) provides Internet service to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Valley Light Opera, Inc., is a nonprofit Massachusetts corporation founded in 1975 by a group of Gilbert and Sullivan devotees. Over the years, VLO has been guided by two principles -- to promote broad community participation and to produce fine entertainment. The company has produced all fourteen of the G&S operas as well as Cox and Box, The Zoo, The Rose of Persia, The Chieftain, The Emerald Isle, The Beauty Stone, and Sullivan's oratorio The Prodigal Son.

The affairs of VLO are in the hands of a Board of Directors elected by the membership at the Annual Meeting in February or March. Officers of the Board this year are Matthew Roehrig (President), Glen Gordon (Past President), Heather Davies (Clerk), and Jim Walker (Treasurer). Members of the Board are Ted Blaisdell, Barbara Freed, Fran Goodwin, John Healy, Phil Helzer, Lew Jordan, Libby Maxey, Nancy Nesheim, Anju Soparkar Diggs, and Laurel Turk.

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