STAGE TALK by Carol Viescas

Gilbert and Sullivan will celebrate its 40th anniversary this month by producing a 130-year-old classic, “The Pirates of Penzance.”
“I am so glad we reached this milestone,” founder and director Joan Quarm says. “It’s always been a pleasure.”
She explains, “Forty years ago, I was asked to direct a show for the Upstairs Theater Downtown and decided that a Gilbert and Sullivan musical would be fun. ‘Patience’ was an obvious choice at that time of hippies, as the girls in Act One all loved and copied the aesthetic Bunthorne, in dress and manners. By Act Two, however, elegant Grosvenor arrived and captured their hearts and fashions. At that time of hippies, our costuming was easy — rags to elegance — and the appearance of the girls transformed always earned a round of applause.”
The success of that show led the way to others — at the Festival Theater (now El Paso Playhouse) and Chamizal National Memorial Theater.
“Since then, we have done all the major shows several times, including the first,” Quarm adds, “and my favorite is always the one I am working on at present — ‘Pirates of Penzance’ again this year at the Scottish Rite Theater.”
“Pirates” tells the story of Frederic, the hero of the piece, who was as a child apprenticed to a pirate by his nurse, Ruth, who, being rather hard of hearing, had mistaken her master’s instructions to apprentice the boy to a pilot. The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive Web site explains that the idea for the operetta probably originated from the fact that Gilbert himself had been captured by a gang of Italian brigands at the early age of two, and had been ransomed for £25.
The usual convoluted plot includes a pompous Major-General and his beauteous daughters, especially Mabel, who falls for the young pirate. After many missteps and funny turns (which include the fact that Frederic’s birthday fell on Feb. 29 in a leap year), everyone lives happily ever after. Many might remember the 1983 movie version and then–rising star Linda Ronstadt, who starred as the beautiful Mabel. Rex Smith was the handsome Frederic; Angela Lansbury was the nurse, Ruth; and the always hilarious Kevin Kline had a wonderful turn as the Pirate King. George Rose got to do the best, fastest and funniest of the Gilbert and Sullivan patter songs, “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.”
Quarm says that the group as a whole chose this operetta as the anniversary piece.
“So many of them have been with me so many years,” Quarm says, “and they reminded me it’s been a number of years since we did it.”
Over the years, G&S has produced most of the duo’s pieces several times, including the most famous, like “The Mikado,” “The Gondoliers” and “H.M.S. Pinafore”; and the lesser known, like “Patience,” “Ruddigore,” “Iolanthe,” “The Sorcerer” and “Trial by Jury.” The only ones they haven’t produced, Quarm once told me long ago, were the ones that she thought weren’t the duo’s best.
She also says that she was once asked if she ever got tired of doing the same show more than once.
“I said, ‘not at all!’ First of all, I usually forgot what I did the last time,” she says with a laugh. “And we always do it with different people. We have newcomers every time.”
And a director, she added, always adjusts direction according to the talents of the cast.
“I have some very good singers this time,” she said. “This is the best cast I’ve ever had.”
This cast includes some very familiar faces (indeed, eight performers have been with the company at least ten years, and two, Stephanie Conwell and Alicia Williamson, for more than 20). Familiar faces are Roger Heidt and Mitch Wilson, alternating at the Major-General; Luis Linggi as the Pirate King (newcomer Ben Blystone alternates); David Castro and Alfonso Johnson as Frederic; and Cyndi Castro and Jessica McKay as Ruth. Newcomers Bridgett Rivas and Laura Sambrano alternate as the lovely Mabel.
If some of the last names are alike, there is a reason.
“Members of the company became like a family, enriched by new voices and even moving on into the second generation,” Quarm explains. “The Castro family is an example.
“A very loyal board sees to most of the production work and leaves me little to do except stage the shows. Stephanie Conwell and Alicia Williamson head the work ably assisted by Rickie Williamson, Cyndi Castro, David Castro and the rest of the board. Ballard Coldwell is our gifted accompanist, and George Wheeler ably conducts vocal and instrumental musicians.
“Never were [there] more loyal people than ours, upholding the company motto: ‘If you can’t sing it, act it; if you can’t act it, sing it; but above all, be kind to each other.’ And they are indeed.”

Carol Viescas is a veteran of

community theatre and teaches

journalism at Bel Air High School.

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