Wolverton Gilbert & Sullivan Society will be back on the stage in November, this time delivering a night of musical folly and creature comforts in The Zoo and Other Greedy Animals.
This double-bill features a complete staging of Arthur Sullivan's one-act comic opera, The Zoo, complemented by a whimsical selection of songs and poems celebrating The Zoo’s twin themes of food and animals.
The libretto for The Zoo was by Mr B.C. Stephenson writing as Bolton Rowe, a notable figure in Victorian theatre who was well known for his record-breaking comic opera Dorothy (1886) which ran even longer than The Mikado.
Premiering in London just three months after Sullivan's first big hit with W.S. Gilbert, Trial by Jury, in 1875, The Zoo offers a glimpse into Sullivan's early theatrical career beyond his famous Savoy Operas.
The farcical plot unfolds in the bustling London Zoological Gardens in Regents Park. We will meet Aesculapius Carboy, an apothecary convinced he's accidentally poisoned his beloved Laetitia Grinder by mixing up her father's backache prescription with her peppermint lotion. His despair leads him to the Zoo, intent on suicide, only to be hilariously confounded at every attempt.
Meanwhile, the mysterious Thomas Brown, a Duke disguised as a commoner, attempts to win the affections of Eliza Smith, the no-nonsense refreshment stall keeper, by comically (and valiantly) eating everything on her stall. She believes he is poor when she declares her love until he collapses in a heap, accidentally revealing his true identity.
The second half of the evening, Other Greedy Animals, promises an equally entertaining mixture of music and poetic delights, woven around the themes of food and the animal kingdom.
The Zoo and Other Greedy Animals will play at Stantonbury Theatre from Thursday, November 6 to Saturday, November 8, at 7.30pm.
Sort your seats at https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/83312?&track=print
