Portsmouth harbor provides the setting for our opera, where H.M.S. Pinafore lies at anchor. Her crew go about their morning tasks. As they ready themselves and the ship for the Captain's daily inspection, they are pleasantly interrupted by Little Buttercup, who comes on board to sell trinkets to the sailors and, incidentally, to hint at a deep, dark secret she hides within her ample bosom.

Into this scene comes Ralph Rackstraw, "the smartest lad in all the fleet," forlorn because he is in love with the Captain's daughter Josephine. He well knows (even without Dick Deadeye's pointed reminder) that Victorian society would never countenance a union of two people from such disparate classes. Captain Corcoran emerges from his cabin. He and the crew voice their mutual admiration, and the crew leave to continue their appointed tasks. The Captain confides to Buttercup that he is trying to arrange a marriage between his daughter Josephine and Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B., the First Lord of the Admiralty, but she is resisting. Josephine laments that she is torn between her love for Ralph and her family duty.

Now Sir Joseph arrives to visit the ship accompanied (as always) by a retinue of his female relatives. The Captain and crew welcome Sir Joseph and the ladies. He explains to them his unique views on proper decorum and polite relations between officers and those in their command. Only Dick Deadeye has the forthrightness to say that his ideas won't work. Ralph braces his courage and proposes to Josephine. She turns him down, only to relent when he threatens suicide. They plan to elope under cover of darkness. Dick Deadeye warns them not to do it, but he is shouted down by the rest of the crew, who enthusiastically support the lovers.

Act II begins with Captain Corcoran singing of his perplexity over how he might possibly reconcile Josephine's and Sir Joseph's conflicting romantic desires. Buttercup hints darkly to him that she foresees a change in store for him, and we recognize her affection for the Captain.

Forestalling Sir Joseph's announcement that he is about to call off his marriage to Josephine, the Captain suggests he might present his suit more convincingly by arguing that love levels all ranks. They retire, and Josephine again laments that she is still torn between love and duty. The two men return, and Sir Joseph presents his argument to her. She is overjoyed, because she recognizes that his argument applies just as forcefully to her and Ralph.

Overhearing the Captain's celebration over Josephine's apparent change of heart, Dick Deadeye alerts him about her plans to elope with Ralph. The Captain hides, then jumps out to confront the lovers and the crew as they stealthily attempt to leave the ship.

Ralph asserts his and Josephine's mutual love, so angering her father that he utters a word banned in polite society. Sir Joseph, hearing the oath but not what led up to it, sends the Captain to his cabin in disgrace and then asks Ralph for an explanation. Ralph's explanation outrages Sir Joseph as well, but he maintains his composure as he orders Ralph to be loaded with chains and sent to the dungeon.

Even as things look blackest for the romance, Buttercup reappears. She reveals to everyone the secret she has been hinting at. The effect of the revelation, of course, is to permit both Josephine and Buttercup herself to marry the men they love without any affront to Victorian social norms. The opera ends amid general relief and rejoicing.

-- Kurtiss Gordon

Overture

Act I:

1.	We sail the ocean blue	Sailors
2.	I'm called Little Buttercup	Buttercup
	But tell me who's the youth	Buttercup and Boatswain
3.	The nightingale	Ralph and Sailors
	A maiden fair to see	Ralph and Sailors
4.	My gallant crew	Captain Corcoran and Sailors
	Sir, you are sad!	Buttercup and Captain Corcoran
5.	Sorry her lot	Josephine
6.	Over the bright blue sea	Sir Joseph's Female Relatives
7.	Sir Joseph's barge is seen	Chorus
8.	Now give three cheers	Captain Corcoran, Sir Joseph, Cousin Hebe, and Chorus
9.	When I was a lad	Sir Joseph and Chorus
	For I hold that on the seas	Sir Joseph, Cousin Hebe, and Chorus
10.	A British tar	Ralph, Boatswain, Carpenter's Mate, and Sailors
11.	Refrain, audacious tar	Josephine and Ralph
12.	Can I survive this overbearing?	Ralph, Dick Deadeye, Cousin Hebe, and Boatswain
	My friends, my leave of life I'm taking	Ralph, Josephine, and Chorus
	Oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen!	Josephine, Cousin Hebe, Ralph, and Dick Deadeye
	This very night, with bated breath	Soli and Chorus
	Let's give three cheers for the sailor's bride	Chorus
	For a British tar	Ensemble

Entr'acte

Act II:

13.	Fair moon, to thee I sing	Captain Corcoran
14.	Things are seldom what they seem	Buttercup and Captain Corcoran
15.	The hours creep on apace	Josephine
16.	Never mind the why and wherefore	Josephine, Captain Corcoran, and Sir Joseph
17.	Kind Captain, I've important information	Dick Deadeye and Captain Corcoran
18.	Carefully on tiptoe stealing	Soli and Chorus
19.	Farewell, my own!	Octet and Chorus
20.	A many years ago	Buttercup and Chorus
21.	Oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen! (Finale)	Ensemble

COSTUMES--Phyllis Jordan, Diane Kelton, and Elaine Walker, co-heads;

Donovan Arthen, Janet Bowdan, Deborah Braswell, Esta Busi, Connie Cappelli, Elizabeth Chilton, Jamieson M. Cobleigh, K. C. Conlan, Elaine Crane, Kimaya Diggs, Makeda Diggs, Savita Diggs, Rebecca Eden, Cami Elbow, Reed Elkinton, Rosalie Elkinton, Margaret Evans, Schuyler Evans, Greg Firman, Barbara Freed, BethAnn Freed, Erin Freed, Rebecca Freed, Beverly Fuller, Richard Gregory, Jacqueline Haney Kidwell, Sue Keller, Wendy Larsen, Elysse Link, Louise MacDonald, Rena Moore, Lee Pershyn, David Provencal, Nichole Provencal, Carolyn Samonds, Lois Smith, Rachel Smith, Akshaya Tucker, Sally Venman, Lee Whitcomb, Cathy Youngen

LIGHTING--Steve Morgan, head;

Ben Howard, David Kent, Kelly Morgan

MAKE-UP--Angela DeFrancis, head;

Jeana Gelston, James C. Goyette, Kelly Morgan

HAIR DRESSING--Hair by Harlow

SET CONSTRUTION and PAINTING--John Foster, head;

Donovan Arthen, Armen Babikyan, David Mix Barrington, Andrew Cappelli, Elizabeth Chilton, Hoda Chou, Jamieson M. Cobleigh, Nicholas Dahlman, Matthew Denny, Anju Diggs, Reed Elkinton, Rosalie Elkinton, Jonathan Evans, Rhys Evans, Schuyler Evans, Gordon Freed, Ben Gagnon, Bob Graham, John Healy, Juli Holmes, Avery Johnson, Lew Jordan, Elysse Link, Lee Pershyn, Judi Pierce, Jim Pistrang, Joe Pistrang, David Provencal, Nichole Provencal, Matthew Riddle, Ken Samonds, Linda Stark, Dick Stromgren, Michael Sugerman, Bill Venman, Jim Walker, Charles Weems, Roy Williams

PROPERTIES--Marese Dolan Hutchinson, head;

K. C. Conlan, John Foster, Kevin P. Hutchinson, Judy Pistrang, Joe Pistrang, David Provencal, Mary Jane Schulze, and the costume crew

PROGRAM--Kurtiss Gordon, head;

Janet Bowdan, Nicholas Dahlman, Cami Elbow, Jonathan Evans, Paul E. Peelle, Lee Pershyn, Jim Walker, Fred Zinn

PUBLICITY and TICKETS--Steve Stoia, publicity; Laurel Kushi, tickets;

Lynne Rudié, poster design; Pat Desmarais, Donna Roy, Maryanna Whittemore, and Town of Amherst Leisure Services

BANNER PAINTING--Judi Pierce

USHER COORDINATOR--Barbara Davis

USHERS--Cami Elbow and Janet Lowry, co-heads;

Muriel Abeledo, Donovan Arthen, Irene Bright-Dumm, Gaea Camp, Hadley Crane, Paige Crane, Taylor Crane, Sophie Crafts, Matthew Denny, Meghan Devine, Sarah Devine, Marisa Douglas, Barry Elkinton, Joe Elkinton, Reed Elkinton, Cooper Findley, Sara Franks-Jones, Anastasia Heron-Duranti, Abigail Howard, Lily Lawrence, Sally Lawton, Bridget Lowry, Fiona Lowry, Susannah Lowry, Sally Marcus, Julia Mix Barrington, Matthew Musante, Owen Myers, Paul Norton, Mark Parsons, John Pasterello, Melissa Pasterello, Kiara Perico, Laura Piela, Jeannine Rosen, Amira Shulman-Kumin, Alya Sussman, Elena Joy Sussman, Zachary Tanne, Lori Tuominen, Janet Vance, Killian Venman, Saras Yerlig, Melanie Zacek

COMPANY PHOTOGRAPHY

Deborah Campbell, Gigi Kaeser

GIFT SHOP--Mimi Cary, head;

Teddy Milne, Lee Pershyn, Nina L. Pollard

COMMISSARY--Mimi Cary, head;

Rena Moore, Paul E. Peelle, and cast

COMPANY PARTY

Jamieson M. Cobleigh, Barbara Freed, Erin Freed, Gordon Freed

PERFORMANCE REFRESHMENTS--Amherst Regional High School Theatre Company

Elaine Crane -- Josephine -- is very happy to be making her debut with VLO! Her other G&S roles include Yum-Yum, Constance, Lady Saphir, and Edith with Salisbury Lyric Opera, Sudbury Savoyards, and Savoyard Light Opera Company. Elaine's non-G&S credits include Guenevere (Camelot) and Hodel (Fiddler on the Roof), as well as many oratorios and recitals. She lives in the Worcester area where she and her husband homeschool their five children. She invites you to visit her on the web at www.elainecrane.com.

Nicholas Dahlman -- Carpenter's Mate -- has been acting in plays across the Pioneer Valley since 1993. He played Pvt. Willis in VLO's 2000 Iolanthe and the moping merryman/jester-with-fern-on-head in last year's The Yeomen of the Guard. Other recent roles include Mark in A Chorus Line at the Shea Theater, and two very different productions at Amherst College: Twimble in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in April, and Professor Spaulding in C'est La Vie last month. He works in the IT Department at Amherst College.

Jonathan Evans -- Ralph Rackstraw -- returned to Gilbert and Sullivan last fall, after a 30-year hiatus, as the decidedly unsavory Second Citizen in VLO's production of The Yeomen of the Guard. As Ralph, he follows in the footsteps of his son, Rhys, who played the role in a spring 2002 production at The Hartsbrook School. His daughter, Schuyler, is our Midshipmite. By day, Jonathan is a freelance business and financial writer. He lives and works in Amherst.

Schuyler Evans -- Midshipmite -- says, "My hair does curl and my heart does glow to be the Midshipmite for VLO!" Schuyler is a fifth grader at The Hartsbrook School in Hadley, where she has acted in a number of plays, but this is her first major production and her first musical. She plays the violin and recorder, and loves to sing, act, and dance.

Thom Griffin -- Sir Joseph -- is no stranger to the patter roles of the G&S repertoire, having sung them all at one time or another. In recent years he has performed Alcindoro (La Bohême) and Dr. Grenvil (La Traviata) with Opera North of Hanover, NH, and Don Basilio (The Barber of Seville) and the Guitar Player (Lucas Foss's Jumping Frog) in Opera New England productions for young audiences. He also served as stage director for the VLO productions of The Gondoliers, The Pirates of Penzance, and Princess Ida. Thom owns and operates Penfrydd Farm Bed & Breakfast in Colrain, MA.

John Healy -- Boatswain -- was last seen as the Lieutenant in VLO's 2002 production of The Yeomen of the Guard. John is an occupational therapist and, when not on stage, enjoys singing with the DaCamera Singers, an early music vocal group based in Amherst.

Robert Kumin -- Dick Deadeye -- connected first with G&S as a violinist for a University of Michigan production of H.M.S. Pinafore. On VLO stages, he has played Pish-Tush (The Mikado, 1996), Captain of the Guards (The Vagabond King, 1997), and the Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance, 1999). In "real life" Bob directs the Department of Service-Learning at the Hampshire Educational Collaborative in Northampton. He lives in the Pioneer Valley cohousing community with his wife, Amy, and their 15 year-old daughter, Amira.

Nichole Provencal -- Cousin Hebe -- is appearing on stage with VLO for the first time. However, she is a veteran to Westfield stages, having performed in several shows with the Musical Theatre Guild and Dramatic Arts Department of Westfield State College, from which she earned a degree in Music Education. Nikki hopes to hit the stage in New York soon.

Matthew Roehrig -- Capt. Corcoran -- is appearing in his nineteenth role with VLO. Audiences will remember him as Grosvenor in Patience, the Fairy Queen in Iolanthe, Ludwig in The Grand Duke, and Colonel Fairfax in last year's The Yeomen of the Guard. His other Pioneer Valley performances include Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, and El Gallo in The Fantasticks. He also appeas regularly as a recitalist. Matt is a sixth grade teacher in Belchertown.

Mary Jane Schulze -- Buttercup -- is playing her twelfth contralto lead for VLO in a run that began with Katisha (The Mikado) in 1977. She is most pleased that she is finally getting to play Buttercup, the bumboat woman. Other credits include Lady Thiang in Commonwealth Opera's The King and I and her "Mother" roles in Nunsense, The Sound of Music, and Bye Bye Birdie. In between, she played Miss Hannigan in Annie and Mame in Mame. In her spare time she performs with her cabaret trio, A Class Act. Mary Jane is an elementary school music teacher in Ludlow.

Jamieson M. Cobleigh -- Producer -- is a new member of the production team. He joined the company as a tenor in the chorus of The Grand Duke (2001), then played the parts of First Citizen in The Yeomen of the Guard last fall and Associate Counsel in Trial by Jury this spring. He sings in the St. Brigid's choir and has performed with the St. Brigid's Players. Jamie is a graduate student in Computer Science at UMass.

Joseph Donohue -- Stage Director -- was the Captain in VLO's inaugural production of H.M.S. Pinafore. He played Pooh-Bah, "the most delicious role in comic opera," for VLO in 1996 and and Wilfred Shadbolt in last year's The Yeomen of the Guard. In between, he has portrayed Dick Deadeye, King Gama, and other bass/baritone leads for VLO. Joe lives and gardens in Easthampton. By profession, he is a theater historian and Professor of English at UMass, and has "no intention of retiring despite my advanced age."

John Foster -- Technical Director -- joined VLO in the spring production of The Grand Duke seventeen years ago. He has been a regular member of the chorus ever since, and served a four-year stint as a producer. Over the years, he has built many of the props and special effects. John was a Professor of Biology at Hampshire College for 25 years before retiring nine years ago. He lives in Amherst with his wife Nancy. His daughter Lorena Healy has sung several principal roles with VLO, and her husband John is the Boatswain in this year's production.

Richard Gregory -- Costume Co-Designer -- joins us for his seventeenth VLO production. He has designed costumes for most of VLO's shows since 1985. He also directed one of those productions (Utopia, Ltd.) and designed sets for three others. Dick has been seen on the boards as Cupid in Thespis and the Duke of Plaza Toro in The Gondoliers. He has designed sets and costumes for several Commonwealth Opera productions and for dozens of Williston Theatre productions. He is a teacher of arts history at The Williston-Northampton School.

Juli E. Holmes -- Music Director -- is in her third season wielding the baton for VLO. In addition to being a conductor, Juli is an instrumental music educator in School Union #38 (Conway, Deerfield, Sunderland, and Whately) and plays horn with the Pioneer Valley Symphony and Massachusetts Wind Orchestra. She is also chief taxi driver and Mom to two teenage girls active in music, theater, and sports.

Lew Jordan -- Stage Manager -- started working on sets for VLO in 1995, so he could see more of his wife Phyllis and daughter Karen, who were sewing costumes for Princess Ida. The next year he was assistant stage manager for The Mikado, then co-technical director for three shows, and technical director for Iolanthe and The Yeomen of the Guard. Lew's other interests include the Saint Brigid's Players, for whom he has served as co-producer, technical director, stage manager, and set designer. By day, he is a network specialist at UMass.

Jacqueline Haney Kidwell -- Coordinating Producer -- has been involved with VLO every year since Princess Ida in 1995 and has worked in every job except performing on stage. She is pursuing a degree in Arts Management at UMass, and lives in Leeds with her new husband David and two spoiled cats.

Steve Morgan -- Lighting Designer -- has been involved with VLO since 1977 as performer (most recently as Sergeant Meryll in last year's The Yeomen of the Guard), producer, technician, and occasional designer. Recent lighting assignments have included Welcome, Yule! at the Shea Theater and The Very Lonely Firefly at the Eric Carle Museum. He lives in Leverett with his wonderful family of people and dogs and spends inordinate amounts of time with Hampshire Shakespeare Company and The Amherst Center for Stage and Screen.

DeAnne Riddle -- Choreographer -- returns for a third year, having choreographed VLO's The Grand Duke in 2001 and The Yeomen of the Guard in 2002. Her previous VLO experience includes assistant choreographer for The Mikado (1987) and H.M.S. Pinafore (1993), and set crew for Iolanthe (2000). DeAnne enjoys ballet, folk, and modern dance. She is the business manager for the Preschool Enrichment Team in Springfield.

Ken Samonds -- Set Designer -- designed last year's set and appeared in a cameo role on stage as well. His first connection with VLO was as the "slender young baritone in the rigging" of our 1984 production of H.M.S. Pinafore. He has designed sets for Arena Civic Theater (Greenfield), Victory Players (Holyoke), Cambridge Community Players, Westfield Theatre Group, and four VLO shows in the late 1980s. Ken is a Professor of Nutrition at UMass.

Elaine Walker -- Costume Co-Designer -- has participated in VLO productions every year since 1980, first as a soprano in the chorus. She began to take on the duty of costume co-head in 1988, and served on the production team for several fall productions. This year Elaine is thrilled to co-design costumes with Dick Gregory. She also co-founded and co-produced several musical shows with the St. Brigid's Players in Amherst. She supervises the costume shop for the Theater Program at Hampshire College.

Jim Walker -- Producer -- played third trombone in the orchestra of VLO's 1980 production of The Gondoliers. Every year since then, he has been on stage in the tenor section of the chorus. He also serves VLO as treasurer (since 1996). Jim is one of the founding members of St. Brigid's Players of Amherst. He recently retired from a 35-year career at UMass as a faculty member in Physics, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Advising, and Acting Dean of the Graduate School.

Sometimes I think Gilbert was happiest of all in his villains. That comment may reveal a bias of mine, born of playing so many Gilbertian bad guys. Still, it seems fair to say that the Pooh-Bahs and Dick Deadeyes of Gilbert and Sullivan opera have a unique and vital part to play in the topsy-turvy universe Gilbert loved to construct. Unique, because Gilbert's villains, unlike the other characters of his make-believe locales, are not turned inside out and upside down. Instead, they function as rightside-up emissaries from Knightsbridge and Land's End and Portsmouth Harbour--and often fare badly (in the short term) as a result. The world they inhabit is the complex world of late-Victorian social reality, and they keep trying to foist their reactionary views on a community determined to shun them. "Captains' daughters don't marry foremast hands!" Dick Deadeye insists early in the first big Gilbert and Sullivan success, H.M.S. Pinafore. Life has a rigid vertical class structure, he correctly observes (though in simpler, more colorful language), and it's no use trying to buck the trend.

But the microcosmic world fleshed out on the deck of the Pinafore is caught in the grip of a powerful fantasy, and Deadeye's unflinching realism is heartily rejected by his shipmates, who perversely believe that love levels all ranks: "Horrible! Horrible!" they cry, shouting him down in unison. And so poor Deadeye, misshapen misfit, suffering from a sort of mental curvature of the spine, a man for whom any disorder is anathema, takes the Captain of the Pinafore into his confidence and tells him of his daughter Josephine's planned elopement, this very night, with the common sailor Ralph Rackstraw. Thus are set in motion the wheels of a dire confrontation.

Ah, but wait--the villain's part is not only unique, but vital to Gilbert's scheme, and it involves another "heavy." Neither Deadeye nor anyone except the redoubtable bumboat woman Little Buttercup is aware of the truth of the matter. Buttercup, who has kept unspoken for lo! these many years the guilty secret that gnaws at her ample bosom, has a dramatist's genius for knowing when to spill the beans. Late in the second act, enlightening the assembled company, she reveals a crucial fact that saves the day, enabling Ralph to marry his heart's own treasure, Josephine, and the Captain to give his hand to the admiring bumboat woman. And who was the engineer of this remarkable turnabout? Why, Deadeye, of course! If Deadeye had not deemed the violation of Victorian decorum so deplorable and impeached the violators, no such happy ending would ever have materialized.

In this fresh and charming manner, Gilbert manages what becomes, over years of collaboration with Sullivan, his invariable double backflip, arranging for his deep-dyed villain to become the inadvertent engine of prosperity and happiness and even allowing him to join the happy couples in song. "Oh, joy, oh rapture unforeseen! The clouded sky is now serene," Deadeye sings in the finale of the opera, along with Ralph and Josephine--and Hebe, the executive officer of Sir Joseph's innumerable cousins, sisters, and aunts; just like the other two girls, Josephine and Buttercup, Hebe ends up getting the boy. Gilbert's scheme to foment a seeming revolution against the Victorian status quo that ended up as an unqualified endorsement was a grand plan and a delightfully comic one, realized first in 1878 in an amazing Pinafore-mania and then, repeatedly, in some of the most brilliant and tuneful music ever composed for English opera. In view of that collaborative triumph, let us all give three cheers, not only for the sailor's bride and her happy mate, but for the villain who made it all possible.

-- Joe Donohue

Valley Light Opera expresses thanks to the following for helping to make this production possible: the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools' staff, especially Muriel Atwell, Meredith Chmura, and Maryanna Whittemore of the Superintendent's Office, the music and theater faculty, and the custodial staff, for their good nature, flexibility, and unstinting support; the Town of Amherst Department of Public Works for hanging the banner; Glenn Siegel and WMUA for public service announcements; Dan Coan, Justin Cobb, Mary Everett, and Trevor Robinson for the loan of various set pieces; the UMass Fine Arts Center for production assistance; and to 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 and New Hampshire.

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, and Sullivan's oratorio The Prodigal Son. In addition, VLO has performed Rudolf Friml's The Vagabond King, Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, John Philip Sousa's El Capitan, Warren Martin's The True Story of Cinderella, and several of Peter Schickele's P.D.Q. Bach works.

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 Steve Tanne (President), Glen Gordon (President Elect), Kurtiss Gordon (Clerk), and James Walker (Treasurer). Members of the Board are Richard Asebrook, Esta Busi, Barbara Davis, Jim Ellis, Phyllis Jordan, Ken Moore, Paul E. Peelle, Dick Stromgren, and Roy Williams.

Donations to Valley Light Opera are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

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