G&S Austin's 17 "Fresh Takes" Now Stream Free of Charge from the "Shows" Page of www.gibertsullivan.org
All seventeen of the "fresh takes on Gilbert & Sullivan" commissioned by Gilbert & Sullivan Austin are now available for streaming free of charge. Click HERE to go to the page with video links.
When Gilbert & Sullivan Austin had to postpone its grand summer production The McAdo for a second year, interim artistic director Michelle Haché proposed commissioning Austin artists and theatre companies to do innovative contemporary versions of songs and sequences from G&S works. The GSA board approved the notion and charged Michael Meigs, recently appointed head of the production committee, to reach out to Austin's theatre community. The outcome? Seventeen "Fresh Takes on Gilbert and Sullivan"! GSA invested more than $40,000 in the project, all of which went to Austin artists. The "Fresh Takes" were presented in four episodes, May - September, 2022, with each episode streaming free of charge for a month.
These reimaginings of the classic 19th-century musical entertainments of Sir W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan put a definitely (and sometimes defiantly) 21st-century spin on the works. Given free rein, directors, performers, and other participants delivered clever re-interpretations demonstrating that Sullivan's music and Gilbert's wit continue to sparkle today.
Credits
Directors: Kaci Beeler, Bonnie Bogovich, Brian Cheslik, Trey Deason, Liz Fisher, Christine Jean-Jacques, Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, Margaret Jumonville, Kirk Kelso, Suzanne Orzech, Helen Sohyun Park, Allison Price, Rudy Ramirez, Lisa Scheps, Jacob Schnitzler, Marcelo Tesón, Sebastian Vitale
Performers: Alex Aponte, Juliá Arizola, Benjamin Bazán, Kaci Beeler, Bonnie Bogovich, Jeremy Rashad Brown, Jawan Clif-Morris, Sarah-Marie Curry, Garrett Cordes, Stéphanie Chávez Noell, Rafael de la Cruz, Trey Deason, Amy Downing, Sabrina R. Ellis, Mónica Fossi, Leann Fryer, Leslie Gaar, Xavier Hagans, Leila Hanaumi, Josue Hernandez, Chris Humphrey, Kaitlyn Huston, Abigail Jackson, Mykel Jewell, Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, Natalie Joy, Ana Kamarena, Kirk Kelso, Luke Linsteadt, Andrés Felipe Losada Dimate, Alejandra McGuire, Anthonio Medrano, Charissa Memrick, Brian Minnick, Suzanne Orzech, Sydney Pérez, Amber Quick, Malyssa Quiles, Steven Reichel, Nicholas Ryland, Ryan Scarlatta, Ellie Jarrett Shattles, Kenzie Slottow, Ismael Soto III, Rebekah Smeltzer Staley, Will Sturrock, Susan Johnson Taylor, Marcelo Tesón, Sebastian Vitale, Pei-Jun Wang, Cameron Weger, J.R. Zambrano
“Fresh Takes” Concept: Michelle Haché
Artists, Choreographers, Technicians: Brenda Alvarez Romero, Jennifer Rose Davis, Barb Jernigan, Matthew Kennedy, Katie Miller, Marcelo Tesón
Orchestrations: Nicholas Perry Clark, Pablo Pupillo, Kenzie Slottaw
Puppetry: Caroline Reck, Julia Smith
Additional Lyrics: Trey Deason, Michael Meigs, Alan Sherman
Piano accompaniment: Jeanne Sasaki
Recording Studio: Queen Deelah (Fadeelah Muhyee)
Videography/Captioning/Webmastering: Bonnie Bogovich, Jonah Fujikawa, David Little, Matthew Marks, Rafael Ruiz, Lisa Scheps, Jacob Schnitzer, Marcelo Tesón
Production: Bill Hatcher, Michael Meigs
Special Thanks to: American Berserk Theatre, Chris Buggé, Ground Floor Theatre, Deaf Austin Theatre, Hideout Theatre, Density512, Diane Radin, Scottish Rite Theatre, kt shorb, Dave Wieckowski, and the board and membership of Gilbert & Sullivan Austin
Sneak Peek of the "Fresh Takes" Page at www.gilbertsullivan.org:
SCENE DETAILS
A Fresh Take on Act II of "H.M.S. Pinafore"
Directed by: Margaret Jumonville
"Fair moon to thee I sing" - Ellie Jarrett Shattles
"Things are seldom what they seem" - Ellie Jarrett Shattles, Natalie Joy
"The hours creep on apace" - Abigail Jackson
"Never mind the why and wherefore" - Ellie Jarret Shattles, Abigail Jackson,Pei-Jun Wang
A Fresh Take on "Ruddigore"
Directed by: Rudy Ramirez
"If somebody there chanced to be" - Malyssa Quiles, Chris Humphrey (accordion)
"I know a youth who loves a little maid" - Luke Linsteadt, Malyssa Quiles, Chris Humphrey (accordion)
A Fresh Take on "Ruddigore - Cheerily carols the Lark"
Directed by and Starring: Bonnie Bogovich
A Fresh Take on "The Mikado - The sun whose rays are all ablaze"
Starring: Susan Johnson Taylor
Illustrations by Barb Jernigan, video edit by Marcelo Téson
A Fresh Take on "The Mikado - Three little maids from school are we"
Directed by: Christine Jean-Jacques
Starring: Amy Downing, Stephanie Chavez Noell, Ismael Soto III
A Fresh Take on "The Mikado" - The Little List
Directed by and Starring: Trey Deason
Lyrics by: Michael Meigs & Trey Deason
A Fresh Take on "H.M.S. Pinafore" - El Buque Parasol (Spanish)
Directed by: Sebastián Vitale
Orchestrations by Pablo Pupillo
Choreography by Matthew Kennedy
Cinematography by Sebastian Vitale and Marcelo Tesón
Disfrutamos navigar ("We sail the ocean blue") - Julián Arizola, Benjamin Bazán, Rafael de la Cruz, Mónica Fossi, Leslie Gaar, Ana Kamarena, Anthonio Medrano, Steven Reichel
Mariposa ("Hail, men-of-war’s men...") - Alejandra McGuire and crew
Gran Tripulación ("My gallant crew") - Sebastián Vitale and crew
A Fresh Take on Patter songs – The Patter Trio
Directed by: Allison Price
Ruddigore “My eyes are fully open” - Alex Aponte, Kaitlyn Huston, Ryan Scarlatta
The Gondoliers “Rising early in the morning” - Alex Aponte
HMS Pinafore “When I was a lad” - Ryan Scarlatta
Princess Ida “If You Give Me Your Attention" - Alex Aponte
The Sorcerer “My name is John Wellington Wells” - Ryan Scarlatta
Ruddigore “My eyes are fully open” - Alex Aponte, Kaitlyn Huston, Ryan Scarlatta
A Fresh Take on "The Mikado" – The Roaring Mikado
Directed by: Lisa Scheps, Ground Floor Theatre & Bryan Cheslik, Deaf Austin Theatre
"Hearts do not break" - Jeremy Rashad Brown, Xavier Hagans
"Tit-Willow" - Malyssa Quinn, Leila Hanaumi
"There is beauty in the bellow of the blast" - Jeremy Rashad Brown, Xavier Hagans, Malyssa Quinn, Leila Hanaumi
A Fresh Take on "The Mikado" - The Little List
Directed by: Kirk Kelso, Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, Marcelo Téson
Lyrics by: Michael Meigs
Illustrations by: Barb Jernigan
Edited by: Marcelo Tesón
Starring: Kirk Kelso, Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, Garrett Cordes
A Fresh Take on "The Pirates of Penzance" – The Computer Pirates of Penzance Avenue
Directed by: Kaci Beeler, American Berserk Theatre & Jacob Schnitzler, Density 512
Orchestrations by Nicholas Perry Clark, Density 512
"Pour, oh pour, the pirate sherry" - Mykel Jewell, Kenzie Slottow, Charissa Memrick, Kaci Beeler, Roy Janik, J.R. Zambrano
"When Frederick was a little lad" - Charissa Memrick
"I am the Pirate King" - Mykel Jewell
"Although we live by strife...hail, Poetry" - Mykel Jewell and crew
"When you had left our pirate fold" - Mykel Jewell, Charissa Memrick, Kenzie Slottow
"Hail poetry...Poor wand’ring one" - Ensemble
A Fresh Take on "H.M.S. Pinafore - A British tar is a soaring soul"
Directed by and Starring: Marcelo Tesón
A Fresh Take on "The Gondoliers"
Directed by: Margaret Jumonville
"In enterprise of martial kind" - Andres Felipe Losada Dimate, Will Sturrock, Abigail Jackson, Ellie Jarrett Shattles
"Oh rapture, when alone together" - Abigail Jackson, Ellie Jarrett Shattles
"There was a time" - Abigail Jackson, Ellie Jarrett Shattles
A Fresh Take on "The Mikado" - The Little List
Directed by: Suzanne Orzech
Lyrics by: Michael Meigs
Starring: Suzanne Orzech, Leann Fryer
A Fresh Take on Act II of "Princess Ida" – Ida Voice University
Directed by: Helen Sohyun Park
"I am a maiden, cold and stately" - Josue Hernandez, Nicholas Ryland, Andres Felipe Losada Dimate
"The world is but a broken toy" - Sabrina R Ellis, Josue Hernandez, Nicholas Ryland, Andres Felipe Losada Dimate
"A lady fair of lineage high" - Sydney Pérez, Josue Hernandez, Nicholas Ryland, Andres Felipe Losada Dimate
"The woman of the wisest wit" - Sydney Pérez, Cameron Weger, Josue Hernandez, Nicholas Ryland, Andres Felipe Losada Dimate
A Fresh Take on "The Mikado - Tit Willow"
Directed by and Starring: Lisa Scheps
Lyrics by Allan Sherman used by permission
Illustrations by Barb Jernigan
Edited by Marcelo Tesón
A Fresh Take on "Yeomen of the Guard"
Directed by: Liz Fisher
Starring: Amber Quick, Sara-Marie Curry