GASLIGHT
NEWSLETTER OF THE CAPE TOWN GILBERT AND SULLIVAN SOCIETY
VOLUME 18, ISSUE 2 – APRIL 2011
Greetings!
This edition reflects a whole bunch of decision-making: a cast for “FIDDLER”, a new G&S Exco, and the
recipients of various awards. So let’s get straight to it. The news we’ve all been waiting for ………
After many long hours of auditions and callbacks, and many more long hours of discussion and decision-making, eventually the casting process for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF was completed. Congratulations to those who have been successful.
The cast list is as follows:
CHARACTER /MAIN CAST / SUPPORT/SWINGS/U.Study
THE FIDDLER /DARRYL SPIJKERS /JOHAN MARAIS
TEVYE /SHAUN BROWNE /DAVID BOLTON
GOLDE/ JULIE DICKSON/ MICHELLE GALLOWAY
TZEITEL /ASHLEIGH DOWNES /PHOEBE SNAYER
HODEL/ AMI-ROSE BARBER /CLAIRE SIMONIS
CHAVA/ DANIELLE SCHER /KATE OLMESDAHL
SCHPRINTZE/ EMILY SCHNEIDER or EMILY TURNBULL
BIELKE /HELENA COMITIS or NAOMI FOKKENS
YENTE/ MICHELLE GALLOWAY/ LIORA STANDER
MOTEL/ JULIAN FERNANDEZ /KEENAN OLIPHANT
PERCHICK/ DANIEL FISHER /CHRISTOPHER THOMAS
FYEDKA/ MARIUS BOTHA /CHRISTOPHER THOMAS
LAZAR WOLF/ JOHN CARNE/ IAN KIRKWOOD
MORDCHA/ BRUCE CLAYTON/ DUDONNE DIEGAARDT
RABBI /BRIAN DE KOCK /GARY COLLINS
MENDEL YUSSEL/ DANIEL HORWITZ or DEAN DE KLERK
AVRAM /WAYNE TUCKER/ DUDONNE DIEGAARDT
GRANM TZEITEL /TO BE CAST/ LORNA HANSEN
FRUMA–SARAH/ MELISSA SANDERSON /TBA
CONSTABLE/ DARREN TELFORD /TBA
SHANDEL/ TO BE CAST
RIFKA/ LEZEL GUNTER /GUILMA STANDER
ESTHER/ NAWAAL HOWAL /GUILMA STANDER
IVAN (RUSSIAN TENOR)/ FERDI OOSTHUIZEN /TBA
PRIEST /ADRIAN KETTLE
MAMAS
ADRI LOUW, AUDREY ROBINSON, FIONA WEIR, GLENDA CARMICHAEL, GUILMA STANDER, LEE DE ANDRADE, LEZEL GUNTER, LINDA GAWRONSKY, LORNA HANSEN, MARIZA DIQUE, MICHELLE USHER, MICHELLE SCHER, NAWAAL HOWA, NICOLE McINTYRE, VERONICA MILLER, YOLANDA KOTZE
DAUGHTERS
ALEXANADRA CLAYTON, ALLANA ALDRIDGE, AMY TROUT, CLAIRE SMITH, GEORGIA CROESER, KIRSTY DU PLESSIS, MADELEEN FALK, MEGAN PATON, RENE SILJEUR, TEGAN PEACOCK
PAPAS
DUDONNE DIEGAARDT, FREDDIE KUEHIRT, GARY COLLINS, GRAHAM GOBLE, GREG LAWSON, JEROME JACOBS, KEITH BENJAMIN, LOURENS ERASMUS, LYLE WILSON, STEVE BROEKMANN, VERNON DESCHAMPS
SONS
ALEX MIDDLEBROOK, BULELANI NKUME, CHRISTOPHER KING, DANE MARAIS, DOUGLAS MIDDLEBROOK, JAMES MARITZ, JUSTIN DE VRIES, RIAAN VAN GREUNEN
(Principals and swings/understudies will join the mamas, papas, daughters, sons when not performing.)
RUSSIANS
CORNE OPPERMAN, DAVID O’BRYAN, GABRIEL HOFFMAN, JOHAN MARAIS, JOHNATHAN BEVAN, MATTHEW MARTIN, PATRICK O’BRYAN
We wish you well as you begin rehearsals and look forward to an outstanding show in due course.
AGM
The AGM took place at the Pinelands Club on 8 March.
First item of business was the annual awards. First
up were the awards presented by the Honorary Life Members, represented by Teddy Davies.
1. HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS CUP FOR THE BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL: Graham Boxall, for
his fine portrayal of Oliver Warbucks in “Annie”.
2. HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS CUP FOR AN EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE IN A GILBERT AND SULLIVAN
OPERA OR A MUSICAL: David Bolton, for his portrayal of Rooster Hannigan.
3. THE EUNICE WILLIAMS CUP FOR AN EXCELLENT TECHNICAL OR ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION IN A
GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OPERA OR A MUSICAL: Awarded jointly to Kyla Thorburn for her
magnificent job as Director, and Morag Tyson, for her brilliant managing of the props.
4. CERTIFICATES OF MERIT: Presented to Roxy Levy, both casts of orphans, Julia Holzberg, Kirsty Du
Plessis, and Guilma Stander, for their huge contribution to the success of “Annie”.
Two other Society awards were made:
1. The PETER DONALDSON Award for service above the usual call of duty went to Adrian van Stolk,
for his inspired, dedicated and effective business management of “Annie”
2. The JOHAN ROUX Award for her contribution to the spirit of the Society, particularly in her role as
Production Secretary for “Annie”, to Jennifer Moss.
Warm congratulations to all!
Your EXCO for this year is:
Honorary Chair: Steve Broekman
Secretary: Niel Roux
Treasurer: Lance Kotze
Additional members: David Bolton, Ian Kirkwood, Ken Leverton, Lynn Moss, Audrey Robinson, Guilma Stander.
These are the people to whom you may direct your bouquets and brickbats.
CATA AWARDS
The annual CATA awards evening was on 1 March. And … Leaping lizards! “Annie” did us proud!
Julia Holzberg and Kirsty du Plessis claimed special Junior Awards; certificates of Excellence went to Graham
Boxall for the best male solo, as well as the Orphan’s chorus and the adult chorus; Roxy Levy and Kyla
Thorburn were recognised for choreography; the best supporting actor and actress in a musical went to
David Bolton and Jennifer Moss; Shaun Browne and Graham Boxall shared the award for best actor in a
musical; Kyla was voted best director of a musical, and to top it all off, the best musical was … ANNIE!
Hope I haven’t missed anyone. Congratulations one and all! Well deserved in every case.
CONCERTS
Over the past few weeks, the G&S Concert group has presented 5 concerts: 3 at Homes for Senior Citizens,
one for a church womens’s group, and concluding with an invitation from the Hermanus Musical Society.
This is Lorna’s account of the Hermanus trip. ‘And in this case, it all took place exactly as she says’!
It was with a sense of delicious decadence that I slipped out of the office at lunchtime on Friday 25 March, in
order to have plenty of time to get to Hermanus. It was a glorious, champagne day, with the sun shining
brightly, and a little breeze. Cyndy, Richard, Adrian, Ken, and I met at Richard’s house, and we all set out in
Ken’s car. We arrived in Hermanus at about 16h00, and found the bistro, “Feathers”, where the Hermanus
Musical Society had arranged for us to meet. Caroline of “Feathers” had, at the request of the Musical
Society, laid on a huge tea, with scones, sandwiches and cake for us all. Carload by carload, the gang
arrived, and after a little warm-up, we left for the venue, which was the Bouchard Finlayson wine cellar on
the Hemel en Aarde road. Bouchard Finlayson is a working wine cellar, with a cement floor, a strong smell of
fermenting wine, and the walls lined with rows of wooden barrels. The Musical Society had arranged a
platform at one end, chairs in between the barrels (they could fit only eight chairs per row, so it was a long
narrow space), a very good quality upright piano to one side, and a lectern with hand-held mic for the
narrator – that’s me. There was gentle pink lighting on the stage, which made us all look extremely
glamorous, but it caused a problem: it was impossible to see our scores. Our intrepid Chair, Steve, then risked all sorts of things by climbing on top of a wine barrel and moving two of the downlighters along, to
improve the lighting on the stage. Then we discovered that they had sold more tickets than they had chairs,
and extra seats were being put in all sorts of unlikely places, eventually accommodating about 160 people.
Because of Lance and Yolanda’s sad absence (they had gone to Namibia to Lance’s father’s funeral), we had
to do a certain amount of dodging with the programme, but as Ian said, a crowd who had made it to Buxton
in 2005 in the middle of an airline strike, and managed to get an award, nogal, is not easily fazed by a few
little programme changes. Nevertheless, huge thanks go to Graham Boxall for filling in as Captain Corcoran
in Never Mind the Why and Wherefore trio from HMS Pinafore; Ken for singing Dick Dauntless in the
Ruddigore Madrigal; Niel for bravely and successfully tackling the dreaded Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes;
and Cyndy for stepping in at the very last minute as Yum-Yum in Three Little Maids, when Michele, who had
been suffering with a scratchy throat, lost her voice totally and nudged Cyndy forward. Imagine my surprise
when I looked up from my score and saw a dark head where I was expecting to see a blonde one! Oh, yes,
and I almost forgot, I reached down into the bottom of my boots and sang Kate’s line in Climbing Over
Rocky Mountain, which Yolanda had been going to sing.
The audience was large and enthusiastic, and very responsive – it was a pleasure to perform for them. And
of course the more responsive they got, the more we played to them, so it really was a sparkling
performance. After our final “Hail Poetry”, they shouted for more, so we gave them the Cachucha, and were
rewarded by the sight of Nicola and Brian de Jager dancing at the back of the cellar. They eventually let us
go, and we were given drinks in the tasting room of the cellar, as well as two cases of Bouchard Finlayson
wines which we shared out. Those singers who were available then met at a restaurant which had been
recommended to us by Caroline of Feathers, where we had a light supper before leaving either for our
accommodation in Hermanus, or for the drive back to Cape Town.
A wonderful end to our 2011 series of concerts.
We will be working up an entirely new programme for next year, and we already have two bookings for
early 2012, so if you are interested in singing with our concert group, please feel free to contact me.
NEWS FROM SISTER SOCIETIES
15 & 16 April The Wonderful World of Operetta presented by Playbill Productions at the Masque.
Directed by Celia Musikanth, musical direction by Lorraine Rothenburg and choreography by Gladys
Bullock. Featuring soprano Liesl Hartje, tenor Matthew Overmeyer, Dermod Gloster, Margaret Hill and
Cherith Bain on violin, this production showcases popular music from operettas. Tickets: Evenings R65,
Matinee R55.
Godspell directed by Roché Haupt Buckle for Pinelands Players in the Artscape Arena. Starts 15th April.
Bookings at Computicket. Contact Tina Gough on 082 771 9644
Sympathy. Our sincere condolences to Lance Kotze on the passing of his father in Windhoek.
And that’s all for now. Take care everyone.
Ken
