Mountain View Resident Directs The Sorcerer Produced by the Stanford Savoyards

What happens when a sorcerously brewed cup o‘ tea intoxicates unsuspecting residents of an entire community into falling in love with the next available person of the opposite gender?

You can find out at Stanford University’s Dinkelspiel Auditorium beginning May 10th, when the Stanford Savoyards perform Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan’s third collaboration together, The Sorcerer.

The Stanford Savoyards, founded in 1973, have produced all the Savoy Operas of Gilbert & Sullivan, many of them at least a half dozen times.  To celebrate this year’s 40th anniversary, the Savoyards chose The Sorcerer.

Producer Gerar Mazarakis commented, "The Stanford Savoyards boast an incredibly rich legacy among theatrical student groups. In the past, we have partnered with D'Oyly Carte, Nobel laureates, and university vice-presidents. Throughout our 40 years of existence, we have maintained a totally student-run administration, while allowing public participation in every show. The Savoyards present the very best of Gilbert and Sullivan through a variety of different themes, always looking for ways to push the boundaries of creativity."

As conceived by Directors Jeremy Erman and Sharon Beltracchi, long-time Savoyards veterans, this musical fantasy provides delightful delusion where nothing is quite as it seems:  helpful-seeming friends may turn out to be servants of dark powers; enchanted spirits lurk at the edges of the village, eager to be set free; and a simple cup of tea may bring everlasting love...or everlasting sorrow.

A Mountain View resident, Ms. Beltracchi, the self-proclaimed "Lord High Everything Else of the Stanford Savoyards", is a recent graduate of Stanford University.  She has been involved in every Savoyards show for the past 5 years as a chorus member, set designer, assistant stage manager, assistant producer, and now finally director. The Sorcerer will be her last show for a while, since she will be joining the Peace Corps this summer.

Gilbert & Sullivan shared 25 years of topsy-turvy partnership from 1871 to 1896.  The story of the Stanford Savoyards is often one of even longer-term commitment.  For example, The Sorcerer’s Vocal Director, Joe Haletky, has gladly returned after helping found the Savoyards 40 years ago. Haletky came to Stanford in the fall of 1972 to study choral conducting. Instead he became one of the founding members of the Stanford Savoyards, and is delighted to be back after four decades of making music with various church choirs and community choruses, musical theatre groups and opera companies.  A wry sense of humor assists with community theater longevity; in Joe’s own words: "He is, in point of fact, a particularly haughty and exclusive person, of pre-Adamite ancestral descent. He can trace his <musical> ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule."

The pit orchestra will be conducted by Jeff Yaeger whose baton also directed the Savoyards 2008 Gondoliers and 2011 Princess Ida. He has a twelve-year history with the Savoyards and deftly manages to share his extraordinary musicianship with some of the other bay area lyric theater/G&S troupes.

Savoyards alumni from all over the country will swoop onto campus for the special reunion festivities marking their anniversary.  Notable Savoyards alumni have distinguished themselves in a variety of scientific, humanitarian, and literary fields, and have garnered a Nobel laureate or two.  Among the current cast, many have professional and community theater credentials from all around the US and Europe, and perform, as well as compete in a variety of performing art forms including instrumental music, a cappella and ballroom dancing. Whether a Savoyard is an industry leader or a professional or amateur thespian, all Savoyards have in common an abiding love for Gilbert & Sullivan. Please join us for our 40th anniversary, as we reflect upon a wonderful past, and celebrate a vigorous future.

See the Palo Alto Patch Event Calendar listings for more details:

Friday and Saturday May 10 & 11 at 8pm - http://patch.com/E-wqrH

Sunday May 12 at 2pm - http://patch.com/E-wqsB

http://www.stanford.edu/group/savoyards

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stanford-Savoyards/352796961489179 

http://www.youtube.com/user/thestanfordsavoyards