THEATRE + COMEDY

The 2004 International Champion Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston proudly presents IOLANTHE – the masterpiece of classic English comic opera from the clever pens of W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, creators of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, THE MIKADO, and HMS PINAFORE. IOLANTHE – 60th Anniversary of G&S in Houston!

IOLANTHE will run July 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, and 29, 2012 at the Wortham Center, Cullen Theater in downtown Houston. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm – Sundays at 2:30pm.

Join us for six performances of this audience favorite as we continue our 31-year association with internationally-acclaimed British actor Alistair Donkin as our stage director and star (as the The Lord Chancellor). Dr. Brian Runnels, returns for his fifth season as the Society’s Music Director.

Iolanthe or the Peer and the Peri, the seventh collaboration between Gilbert & Sullivan, debuted at the Savoy Theatre on November 25, 1882, three nights after the final performance of Patience. Iolanthe's initial run lasted for 398 performances.

Iolanthe or The Peer and the Peri, is considered by many to be Gilbert’s most pointed attack on the House of Lords and the aristocracy as ineffective and dim-witted. The plot is so absurd, however, that the satirical elements are presented in an atmosphere of great fun and hard to take too seriously. (On the other hand, there may have been a reason that Sullivan, the sublime composer, was knighted in 1883, and Gilbert, the master of barbed wit, was not given a knighthood until 1907.)

Read more about the plot of Iolanthe.