Lamplighters Sunday

Yesterday was the last show of the season for the Lamplighters, the mostly-Gilbert-and-Sullivan company that we've had season tickets to for over three decades. So the flower_cat, chaoswolf, B. (WINOLJ) and I headed up to San Francisco a little before noon. (The Y.D. doesn't usually like to go, for some bizarre reason, so we take a friend.)

The show was Gilbert & Sullivan Straight Up, With a Twist, written and directed by the redoubtable Barbara Heroux, the Lamplighters' artistic director. It's basically a series of selections from all the operettas, in chronological order, staged between two actors playing the roles of G and S. Their dialog is taken from diaries and letters, and provided a fascinating look into their occasionally-troubled collaboration.

There were nine singers: five men and four women. I really didn't know what to expect going in, but found it delightful. The singing was first-rate, of course, and the whole thing hung together surprisingly well as an artistic biography. The ending, after their death announcements, was especially effective: "The world is but a broken toy" from Princess Ida, followed by an ensemble rendition of "Once more gondolieri" from The Gondoliers.

I'd say, "Go see it!" but the season's over, so you lose. The program notes point to the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive if you want more information, and of course the complete libretti. Next season is The Mikado and Iolanthe.

We came home via I280 and stopped at Buck's for dinner; a delicious end to a pleasant afternoon out.

I finished off the day practicing some songs that aren't on the Baycon setlist but will probably come up in circle -- I'm sadly out of practice. And, a little surprisingly, the start of a setting for "The Collar-bone of a Hare", which started tickling my mind a couple of days ago while I was working on a (not totally unrelated) new song of my own.

Grumble

Came home early from work with a headache and a sore throat. The throat would have been worse if I hadn't had some afrin this morning to dry up the post-nasal drip. Should have done it yesterday, too; I was coughing all day.

Tried to nap without success; ironic, since I'd been nodding off all afternoon. I'm just going to write the entire half-day off as sick time; it's not as if I got anything done.

Cancelled tonight's Tres Gique rehearsal. Grump. Well, I think we were pretty solid last week, and we have Tuesday and Wednesday if I'm feeling better. Thursday cflute joins us, so that's a definite.