Windham County Observer

Gilbert-Sullivan Opera To Benefit Cosmos Milk Fund
Cast Awaits Curtain Call For Revival Of "Pinafore" To Take Place In Hard Auditorium Pomfret School, Saturday.

Pomfret School will revive one of its most successful stage presentations, the time-honored comic operetta, "H. M. S. Pinafore," Saturday evening at 8:30 o'clock in the Hard Auditorium at the school. According to an announcement from the office of the headmaster, Halleck Lefferts, the performance will be given as a benefit for the Milk Fund of the Cosmos Club of Putnam.

With book by W. S. Gilbert and score by Arthur Sullivan, "Pinafore" or "The Lass That Loved a Sailor." is one of the most popular of all operas by these noted collaborators.

It was given with tremendous success in March, 1934, a fact which prompted the present revival.

The cast has been selected and rehearsals are underway, with Mr. Wood director of the speaking parts, and Mr. Hadley as musical director. Casting was completed last week with the selection of John Russell as "Little Buttercup."

Treading the stout deck of "H. M. S. Pinafore" will be a troupe, fit to do honor to the tripping, satirical niceties of the Gilbert and Sullivan wizardry.

If you have not seen "Pinafore," you must surely attend Saturday.

If you have seen it, you must come again to recapture its lilting magic.

You'll be depriving yourself of a good time, if you don't.

A group of the principals, including "Ralph" Butler, "Captain" Thorne, "Deadeye" Stack, "Bos'n" Clement, K. C. B. House and Bos'n's Mate "Walker," with the director Mr. Wood, journeyed to New York recently to see the performance of "Pinafore," put on by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company of London.

On their arrival home, they gave the rest of the cast an idea of how such famous Savoyards as Leslie Rands, Martyn Green and Darrell Fancourt portrayed their various roles.

Mr. Hadley, musical director, is busy rehearsing his choruses and soloists, in preparation for the dress rehearsal Friday afternoon and the public performance Saturday evening.

The stage and scenery crews have made considerable progress in mounting the production. Although the D'Oyly Carte set affords a broadside view of the good ship, "Pinafore," the audience at Pomfret will be looking aft from the middle of the deck. The town of Spithead slopes attractively down to a typical English harbor.