Savoyaires Present Gilbert, Sullivan, Gilbert & Sullivan At Chute Auditorium

Gilbert's Eyes and No Eyes, Sullivan's The Zoo, and Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury to play Friday & Saturday, September 30 - October 1, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, October 2, 3 p.m., Friday & Saturday, October 14 - 15, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, October 16, 3 p.m. at Chute Auditorium (Chute School)

1400 Oakton Street, Evanston, Illinois

TICKETS: Savoyaires Box Office, www.savoyaires.org/tickets or (847) 563-0155

It's a year of firsts for the Savoyaires, Evanston's 47-year-old Gilbert & Sullivan theater company.
As its annual production, the group is presenting a triple bill of three one-acts that all premiered
in the same year - 1875 - yet have never before been performed together: Eyes and No Eyes by Gilbert without Sullivan, The Zoo by Sullivan without Gilbert, and the ever-popular Trial by Jury, the only joint one-act by Gilbert & Sullivan.
For Eyes and No Eyes, this production will be the Midwest premiere and the first production anywhere with orchestra. The score has been newly orchestrated by Evanstonian Francis Lynch, who additionally produced new piano-vocal scores for both Eyes and No Eyes and The Zoo. This will also be the Savoyaires' first-ever production of The Zoo and the group's first production of Trial by Jury since 1979.

Leading the orchestra for his fourth consecutive Savoyaires production will be music director Timothy Semanik, a recent doctoral graduate in conducting at Northwestern University. Stage director for the triple bill is A.J. Wester, who has directed for St. Petersburg Opera plus educational productions for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Light Opera Works, and Chicago Opera Theater.
In Eyes and No Eyes, three sets of faithless lovers face a dilemma reminiscent of "The Emperor's New Clothes." In The Zoo, disguises and misunderstandings abound as a despondent suitor tries to throw himself into the bear pit. And in Trial by Jury, a thoroughly prejudiced judge and jury hear the case of a straying bridegroom and his jilted fiancée.

Performances will be held at Chute Auditorium (Chute School), 1400 Oakton Street in Evanston, on Sept. 30 - Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 2 at 3 p.m., October 14 - 15 at 7:30 p.m., and October 16
at 3 p.m. Tickets are $22/17/12, and $17/$12/$7 for ages 12 and under, and may be purchased online at www.savoyaires.org/tickets, by phone at (847) 563-0155, or by mail from Savoyaires, P.O. Box 126, Evanston, IL 60204.

The Savoyaires are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.