Act I: Late afternoon and evening
Act II: Morning of the following day

All At Sea was apparently written for a G&S group in the Boston area some time early in the last century. It was published in Boston by C. C. Birchard in 1921, which is the best I can do for a date. I can find absolutely nothing about the author, David Stevens, but the name of the musical adaptor, Harvey Worthington Loomis, comes up with many, many hits on Google. Born in Brooklyn in 1865, Loomis died in Roxbury in 1930. (Those wanting to know more about him can search Google, too!) About Stevens, nothing.

Over the years the VLO has done much the same thing that Stevens and Loomis did, that is, present a number of choruses, solos and ensembles from a variety of G&S operas in a concert setting strung together with a narration, which in our case has always been written by Glen Gordon. Glen never tried to write a whole scenario, however, which is what Stevens did. It seems to me that Stevens and Loomis decided what numbers they wanted to include, and then Stevens sat down and worked out a script that would include them all. The script turned out to be a series of hooks on which they hung the 21 numbers included in All At Sea. It's fun, but feather-light. What is really fun, however, is the singing and hearing some of the wonderful voices the VLO has been blessed with over the years. Sit back, enjoy the singing, and be glad that the VLO has W. S. Gilbert as our regular author.

-- Bill Venman

As is always the case with VLO productions, there are numerous people whose work makes them possible. A new name this year is Sally Jones, who is in charge of keeping the schedule for the schools, succeeding Maryanna Whittemore, who worked with us for more years than we can count. Thanks, Sally! Kathy Tobiassen worked with Sally to set up our rehearsal schedule. The ever-resourceful Elaine Walker and Phyllis Jordan made the baldrics with our characters' names on them. Jim Walker helped Glen, Sally, and Bill with casting.

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.

This list is restricted to fully-staged productions. For additional productions and more details, visit the VLO Web Site.

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, 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 Glen Gordon (President), Kurtiss Gordon (Clerk), and James Walker (Treasurer). Members of the Board are Richard Asebrook, Connie Cappelli, Jamieson M. Cobleigh, Barbara Davis, Erin Freed, Bob Graham, Phyllis Jordan, Elysse Link, Paul E. Peelle, Lee Pershyn, Nina R. Pollard, and Kathy Tobiassen.

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

We salute the memory of those no longer with us, who have donated their time and talent to Valley Light Opera during our first 30 years.

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