You’d never know that Sir Arthur Sullivan was suffering from a kidney stone while he was writing “H.M.S. Pinafore.” The silly nautical operetta has kept audiences holding their sides with laughter since it first set sail in 1878.
Starting at 8 p.m. Friday, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City will present “H.M.S. Pinafore” at the Lyric Theatre for five performances through Nov. 15. Ward Holmquist, artistic director for the Lyric, wasn’t always a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan.
“I was working with the Houston Grand Opera, and I was asked to conduct ‘The Mikado,’ so I decided to be open and perhaps discover what so many others see in these works. Jonathan Miller directed the production, and Eric Idle of Monty Python played Koko. Needless to say, after that experience, I became a fan.”
Holmquist is lavishing the same care and attention on “Pinafore” that he would on “Tosca” or “La Traviata.”
“I think it’s important to treat Gilbert and Sullivan with the same respect as any of the other works we perform,” he said. “I hope there’s a smile on Sir Arthur Sullivan’s face when he hears the high level of musicianship we’re bringing to his work.”
Mark Ferrell, the Lyric’s chorus master, will conduct the orchestra, and Bill Tyson, from the highly regarded Skylight Opera Company in Milwaukee, will direct.
The Lyric’s “Pinafore” is very much a hometown production, featuring some of Kansas City’s favorite performers.
Danny Belcher will sing the role of Capt. Corocoran. Robert Gibby Brand, who has stolen the show in previous Gilbert and Sullivan productions by the Lyric, is the pompous Sir Joseph Porter K.C.B., who is always accompanied by a bevy of sisters, cousins and aunts.
Porter is a classic caricature of a British aristocrat who achieves his position in life not through any personal merit but through class privilege.
“Pinafore” skewers the British class system. “Gilbert takes great pains to lampoon the upper class and especially their mental powers,” Holmquist said.
The operetta ends with an improbable switcheroo that capsizes all class distinctions.
For more information and tickets, call 816-471-7344 or go to www.kcopera.org.
Ferocious Beauty: Genome
It’s not often that dance mixes with genetic science.
But at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the Lied Center of Kansas in Lawrence presents “Ferocious Beauty: Genome,” a ballet performed by Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.
Choreographer Lerman, who won a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2002, created her ballet in collaboration with 34 other brainy people, including genetic scientists and researchers, to explore the ramifications of genetic research and the discoveries about the human genome. The result is a multimedia dance piece that has garnered rave reviews for its unique collaboration between artists, scientists and educators.
Pretty heady stuff.
Lerman also has been conducting a residency at the University of Kansas this week with dance, physics and astronomy students. She deserves a lot of credit for helping bridge the gap between two cultures, science and art, which physicist C.P. Snow pessimistically thought was going to grow ever wider.
For tickets to “Ferocious Beauty,” call 785-864-2787 or visit www.lied.ku.edu.
New Ear Ensemble
Stephen Hartke is one of the most interesting composers writing music today. His influences range from Stravinsky and bebop jazz to gamelan music and medieval chant, but his music always sounds distinctly his own.
The New Ear Ensemble will present “American Currents,” a concert of Hartke’s music and music that has influenced him, at 8 p.m. Friday at All Souls Universalist Church, 4501 Walnut St. For tickets, call 816-235-6222 or visit www.newear.org.
A 50th anniversary
On Nov. 6, 1959, Catharine Crozier played the new Aeolian Skinner organ at the Community of Christ (then RLDS) Auditorium in Independence before an audience of 7,000.
Exactly 50 years later, Jan Kraybill, current principal organist and director of music for Community of Christ International Headquarters, will recreate that original recital on the same organ in the same auditorium.
The recital is 8 p.m. Friday, and admission is free. For more information, visit www.cof christ.org/dome_spire/calendar .asp.
Patrick Neas is program director and host of the morning show for Classical KXTR, 98.1 FM HD2, 1660AM and streaming at www.KXTR.com.
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