Utopia Opera Returns With Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS PINAFORE in November

On Friday, November 17 at 7:30pm, Saturday, November 18 at 3pm and 7pm, and on Sunday, November 19 at 2:30pm, Utopia Opera continues its comeback 10th season — after a three-year hiatus — with W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan's perennial comic opera, HMS PINAFORE, in a semi-staged gala production performed with full orchestra at the Ida K. Lang Recital Hall at Hunter College (695 Park Avenue). 

Utopia founder and artistic director William Remmers directs and conducts while playing the role of Sir Joseph Porter. The production will feature Sullivan's full orchestration and an all-singing and dancing principal cast, abetted by an on-book chorus of Utopia favorites.

Remmers is joined in the principal cast by Richard Holmes as Captain Corcoran, reprising a role he has performed perhaps more times than any living artist (including, to great acclaim, with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players); mezzo-soprano Stephanie Feigenbaum as Little Buttercup; sopranos Alexis Cregger Olinyk and Christina Krawec sharing the role of Josephine; tenors Joshua La Force and Jeremy Sivitz sharing the role of Ralph Rackstraw; and Bronx Opera's Benjamin Spierman as Dick Deadeye.

On November 19th, comic baritone Vince Gover plays Sir Joseph Porter (reprising his role from Ohio Light Opera's summer 2023 season) and Remmers plays Dick Deadeye. The November 18th performance at 7pm is followed by a multi-genre gala concert of highlights from stage, screen, and elsewhere.

The gala cast of 23 features, among the other principal roles, Jonathan Fox Powers (Carpenter), Angela Scorese (Cousin Hebe), Henry Horstmann (Boatswain), and, anchoring the ensemble, founding member and mascot of the company, Alan Smulen.

About Utopia Opera

Utopia Opera was founded in 2011.  Striving to present the most entertainingly rich operatic performances possible (for audiences and performers alike) while also maintaining a high standard of musical integrity, Utopia Opera has established itself as a young and vibrant addition to New York City's vast operatic landscape, and was featured in the cover story of the August 2016 issue of Opera News.

 

In addition to providing young singers with performance opportunities, Utopia aims to share opera of all varieties with a general audience and to reveal its modern relevance. A central part of that mission is realized through giving its audience and performers a stake in the direction of the company, allowing the public to vote on their annual repertoire. Their 2023 comeback productions included, so far, their namesake show, UTOPIA LIMITED, and a G&S revue called REMMERS & ROME. Their 9th season in 2019 began with an acclaimed tour of Gilbert & Sullivan's THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, however their next production, an April Fools rendering of CARMEN, was cut short mid-rehearsal in March 2020 by a certain global health event. Their seventh season and eight seasons featured Glass & Ginsberg's HYDROGEN JUKEBOX, Flotow's MARTHA, Sondheim & Lapine's PASSION, the U.S. premiere of Arthur Sullivan's dramatic oratorio, THE MARTYR OF ANTIOCH, the New York premiere of Thea Musgrave's THE STORY OF HARRIET TUBMAN, Gilbert & Sullivan's THE SORCERER, Benjamin Britten & Eric Crozier's ALBERT HERRING, and the NY Premiere of Laura Kaminsky, Mark Campbell, and Kimberly Reed's SOME LIGHT EMERGES. To keep updated on what's to come in season 10, find Utopia on Facebook at facebook.com/utopiaopera or visit their website: utopiaopera.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utopiaopera/

Tickets ($30 for general admission) are available online (with card) and at the door (card/check/cash). Tickets are available online at: https://hmspinafore.brownpapertickets.com/

For press tickets, please contact info@utopiaopera.org

 

CAST

Sir Joseph Porter: William Remmers*
Captain Corcoran: Richard Holmes
Ralph Rackstraw: Joshua La Force (Nov 17 and Nov 18 matinee)
Ralph Rackstraw: Jeremy Sivitz (Nov 18 evening and Nov 19)
Dick Deadeye: Benjamin Spierman*
Boatswain: Henry Horstmann
Carpenter: Jonathan Fox Powers
Josephine: Alexis Cregger Olinyk (Nov 17 and Nov 18 matinee)
Josephine: Christina Krawec (Nov 18 evening and Nov 19)
Cousin Hebe: Angela Scorese
Little Buttercup: Stephanie Feigenbaum

*On Nov 19, Vince Gover will play the role of Sir Joseph Porter and William Remmers will play the role of Dick Deadeye.

ENSEMBLE
Rick Agster (Carpenter cover)
Vanessa Aldrich (Josephine cover)
Heather Bobeck
Manya Gaver (Little Buttercup cover)
Kaitlin Hanford
Chris Jurak (Dick Deadeye cover)
Alyssa Mener (Hebe cover)
Mariah Muehler
Marc Shepherd
Tamara Shyngle
Alan Gordon Smulen (Boatswain cover)
Zachary Tirgan (Ralph cover)

Conductor/Stage Director: William Remmers
Art: Kristal Babich

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