TARANTARA! TARANTARA! Comes to the Arts Theatre This Month

The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of SA presents Tarantara! Tarantara!, the musical based on the lives of WS Gilbert & Sir Arthur Sullivan.

The play/musical tells the story of the famous Gilbert and Sullivan partnership: their meeting, their association with D'Oyly Carte, their mounting success, the divergencies of temperament and conflicting ambitions. All with excerpts from the well-known operas threaded seamlessly into the story.

Well known G&S aficionado Richard Trevaskis, who has directed this show previously says, "I love the show. It's a true "musical play" - the script itself is clever and could stand without the music, which is skilfully interpolated to give an extra layer of meaning to the circumstances that gave rise to the shows."

In this production Trevaskis, along with Musical Director Christine Hodgen, will be focussing on the ensemble nature of the production. "We don't always understand what we are best at. That is that collaboration so often leads to success? Sounds a bit grand, but I find the whole idea of using an ensemble to demonstrate that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts attractive.... everyone's a principal; everyone is chorus."

The show features some familiar Adelaide theatre faces and some new comers. The titular roles of Gilbert, Sullivan and D'Oyly Carte will be played by Nicholas Bishop, Paul Briske and Andrew Crispe. Completing the cast are Nicholas Munday, Megan Doherty, Vanessa Lee Shirley, Hazel Green, James Nicholson, Grace Carter, Anthony Little and Suri Umapathysivam.

For those who have never seen this 'take' on the famous partnership of Gilbert & Sullivan, there is the allure of seeing/hearing many of your famous G&S moments in one night and as Richard Trevaskis says, "I love the irony that this fractious relationship produced such sparkling wit and good humour, as well as essentially changing the direction of musical theatre forever!"

Tarantara! Tarantara! runs from Wednesday 27th April to Saturday 30th April at The Arts Theatre, 53 Angas St Adelaide.