VLO News

Annual Meeting Edition

January, 2001

CALL TO ANNUAL MEETING

The Twenty-sixth Annual Meeting of the Valley Light Opera, Inc., will be held on Tuesday, March 6, in the auditorium of the Amherst Regional Middle School, Chestnut Street, Amherst, Massachusetts at 7:45 p.m.

The agenda for the meeting will include announcements and action on reports from officers of the corporation and from committees. The Board does not anticipate any other business, but questions and suggestions from members of the VLO are always in order.

The Board of Directors
Mzamo Mangaliso, President

But read on . . .

One of the things that make our Annual Meetings different is that they are usually very short. This leaves time for entertainment. The program at this year's meeting will be special. As we often do, we'll try to give a musical glimpse of the upcoming fall production. Since this fall's production will be Gilbert & Sullivan's rarely performed The Grand Duke, you'll have a chance to hear some music and listen to some lyrics you probably haven't heard before!

The Grand Duke next fall
Next, look for the Audition Edition of the VLO News in March, which will contain information about auditions for next fall's production, The Grand Duke. It will be our twenty-seventh fall show. In addition to singing, though, there are lots of jobs in the VLO, and we're looking for volunteers, folks who have interest, time and energy and want to learn more about how a community theater really works. Can you work with sets, sew costumes, do make-up or publicity? Organize the ushers or sell souvenirs? Just let us know what you'd like to do. For most jobs experience is not required and you decide how much time you are able to give!

What's so special about The Grand Duke?

Gilbert & Sullivan's last collaboration was hastily and unsatisfactorily finished, perhaps because of the difficult working relationship between librettist and composer at this late stage in their careers. As a result it is rarely performed, but both the plot and the music are full of the delightful elements for which our favorite duo are so justly renowned. Now, Jim Ellis has honed the libretto into a sparkling bit of theatrical absurdity, with advice and encouragement from Jonathan Strong. Jonathan, who created the version of Thespis which VLO performed in 1991, as well as the shortened version of The Grand Duke we presented in the spring of 1988, has taught numerous courses on Gilbert and Sullivan. Jim Ellis is well known to VLO audiences as a performer and a director. Both Jim and Jonathan will be at the annual meeting to tell us what they find so special about this last work in the G&S canon.

Would you like to be part of it?

If you would like to sing along with The Grand Duke choruses at the annual meeting, join us for rehearsals on Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m., at the Amherst Regional Middle School on Chestnut St., starting January 22. No auditions needed! Get to know the VLO better and, perhaps, you may decide you want to be part of the fall production, too.

The Valley Light Opera is on the World Wide Web!

The VLO now has a Web site! Michael D. Bathrick, President of BerkshireNet, donates space on internet service provider BerkshireNet. Kurt Gordon is our WebMaster. Check us out at www.vlo.org! You will find information about the VLO and, in addition, links to other G&S Web sites throughout the nation.

SavoyNet
-- Another note about the Internet and Gilbert and Sullivan --
Here's another G&S resource. SavoyNet is the international Gilbert and Sullivan Bulletin Board. It offers a chance to communicate with G&S lovers all over the world. To subscribe, without obligation, send an e-mail message to list-serv@bridgewater.edu (leaving the "Subject" line blank) that says only subscribe savoynet [your full name] and instructions will follow.

Membership Renewal Time!

Finally--it's Membership Time. If you haven't become a member of the VLO before, why not consider it now? Membership provides valuable support for the Valley Light Opera, which gets all of its income from members, friends and patrons. None comes from advertising! Almost everyone in the VLO is a volunteer. At $10 for individuals and $15 for families, annual dues for the Valley Light Opera are among the best deals in town. Membership puts you in a special category of VLO supporters. We send you advance notification by first class mail of ticket sales for the annual fall production and you get a vote at the Annual Meeting. Just fill in the form below and mail it with your check (or bring them to the Annual Meeting). That's all there is to it!

Cut off and mail to:

Valley Light Opera, Inc.
P. O. Box 2143
Amherst, MA 01004-2143

Individual membership: $10 _____
Family membership: $15 _____

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Phone: ________________ Email: ________________________________________________

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You may wish to return to the VLO Home Page.

Send Questions/Comments to: info@vlo.org
Jan. 13, 2001.

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