ENTERTAINMENT

No more summer silliness: Savoyards have grown into a solid training ground

By Sarah D'Esti Miller
Press & Sun-Bulletin

In 1997, the Binghamton Summer Savoyards' reached a turning point in the company's long history. Invited to perform "The Yeomen of the Guard" at the Fourth Annual International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Philadelphia, they competed against other G&S groups from as far away as England and California -- and won. Members of the troupe took second place in vocal competition and first for female performance. A group that began in 1961 as a bunch of college students staging a summer show as an excuse to party had officially arrived at "the next level."

"I think people kind of turned around at that point and thought, 'Wow. Maybe we're not just this little Podunk group in Binghamton,'" said Stephen M. Dell'Aversano, producer and costume designer for this year's Savoyard offering -- that same show, "The Yeomen of the Guard" -- which opens tonight at Binghamton University's Anderson Center.

"I think that's when the mindset changed. That's when people started thinking of the future."

That future is being studiously planned from securing costume rental revenue to the establishment of an endowment, which Dell'Aversano is hoping for by the time the company turns 50.

The Summer Savoyards have a saying -- "Once a Savoyard, always a Savoyard" -- and after 46 years, there are a lot of Savoyards out there.

The company's Web site includes a full listing of everyone who has ever been involved in a Savoyards' show, whether on stage or behind the scenes, and it isn't unusual to see entire families connected with the annual summer staging of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, whether in the same show or decades apart. Many have sustained their involvement over numerous seasons, although sometimes changing hats from year to year.

In this year's production, a tale of mixed-up identities and love lost and found set at the Tower of London, you will find former leads helping out as chorus members (Gregory Keeler) or serving as assistant director/choreographer (Andrea Gregori), and a former chorus member and techie elevated to music director (Brian Vlasak).

They are a tight-knit bunch, without a doubt, but not to the detriment of the shows they perform, as evidenced by a slight shakeup in casting this year's production.

"What had happened, as happens with a lot of theater companies, was there was a core number of people who had been doing roles for a number of years. The danger of that is audiences expect to see the same people all the time, and you get a little stale. And this show, with as many lead and secondary roles as there are, opened up a whole range of casting possibilities that we had not had for years," Dell'Aversano said.

Dell'Aversano said the goal this year was to cast as many new people of all ages as possible -- including giving roles to longtime chorus members -- while still keeping an eye on the demands of the show.

"It's by far the most operatic of the shows, and it's an incredibly difficult show to do musically, dramatically and from a staging standpoint, so casting was very difficult," Dell'Aversano said. "We were also careful in that we knew there were certain parts we had to cast with very seasoned performers."

One such veteran is Anne Schoonover who plays Dame Carruthers. "I think this is the most challenging G&S show, musically, of any of them," she said. "It's got a lot of intense stuff in it that the others don't have."

There is much talk at rehearsals about the construction of madrigals, anachronism in a patter song, time signatures and lots of other things that the casual listener would most likely not know about. But the veteran Savoyards do know about it, and they willingly share their knowledge and experience with newer performers.

But the newbies aren't just onstage. There has been a deliberate effort to train new people this year in all facets of production.

"I have an assistant costume designer. We have an assistant set designer, an assistant stage director, assistant music director and so on, so we can start training a new generation of people," Dell'Aversano said. "We have built it up little by little and we have grown. This company is a real training ground for people.

It's a way of keeping the company growing and moving."