Hull Savoyards is starting rehearsals for its latest production
Hull Savoyards marked its 90th anniversary year with a production of The Yeomen of the Guard (Image: hullsavoyards.co.uk)
A musical performing group with a history stretching back more than 90 years in Hull is looking for new people to swell its numbers. Hull Savoyards will start rehearsals later this month for its early summer production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience.
The amateur operatic and dramatic society performs concerts and staged productions, featuring music from Gilbert and Sullivan, classical opera, and musical theatre. It takes its name, Savoyards, from the Savoy Theatre in London, where operettas by Gilbert Sullivan – “bigger than The Beatles in their heyday” – were originally staged.
Now entering its 92nd year, Hull Savoyards will start rehearsals for the principal parts in Patience, on Saturday, January 17, at Cottingham Civic Hall. A call has gone out from the society to anyone wishing to audition – for these roles or lesser parts in the comic opera.
Harold Kay, of Hull Savoyards, described it as a “friendly, welcoming group” where people could experience the fun of singing and acting. He said: “Whether you’re an experienced performer or completely new, you’ll receive a warm welcome into our delightfully topsy-turvy world.
“Come along, give it a try, and discover just how much fun operetta can be. If you don’t wish to be in a principal role this time, but would like to be one of the maidens or a Dragoon Guard in this comic opera of satire on the aesthetic movement of the 1870s and ’80s in England, why not call in at rehearsals on a Thursday night at Bricknell Methodist Church between 7.30pm and 9.30pm and join in a hardworking but enjoyable rehearsal.”
In its 90th anniversary year in 2024, Hull Savoyards took to the stage in Cottingham to perform The Yeomen of the Guard, also known as The Merryman and His Maid. In its 80th season, the society took operetta The Mikado out on tour across Hull and East Yorkshire.
It was a fitting echo of the society’s fledgling days, as The Mikado was the first production it performed at the Alexandra Theatre in Hull, in April 1934, the venue later being bombed during the Second World War.
The founders of the Hull Savoyards were a group of light opera aficionados who wanted to ensure Hull could see Gilbert and Sullivan productions, even when the world-famous D’Oyly Carte Opera Company was not in the city. They formed at Plane Street Methodist Church and persuaded famous baritone and actor Sir Henry Lytton, who had just retired from the D’Oyly Carte, to be their first president in 1935.
Over the years the company has performed many non-Gilbert and Sullivan productions, starting with Tom Jones in 1936. They keep returning to the Gilbert and Sullivan tradition, however.
For more details about joining Hull Savoyards or its latest production, visit the website or follow on Facebook; call Harold Kay on 07799 037124 or email secretary@hullsavoyards.co.uk