The Julian Light Operatic Society returns to Questors with a traditional production
of one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular works, The Gondoliers.
It’s 1750 and
news arrives in Venice that one of two gondoliers has become the new king of
Barataria, but which of the two it is not yet clear. They are both newly married and
the two couples, up till now fervent republicans, rather like the idea of being royal.
But then they find out that the king, whoever he is, was married in infancy to the
daughter of a Spanish duke, so one of the gondoliers is an unintentional bigamist
and neither of their wives will be a queen. And the duke’s daughter is not best
pleased when she finds this out as she’s in love with someone else.
Somehow they sort all this out, with Gilbert’s brilliant lyrics and sharp wit and a
lovely plot-twist, all set to the music of Sullivan at his most sparkling and tuneful.
A fully staged and costumed production, with orchestra and specially designed set.