Grosvenor Light Opera Company

Don’t miss a rare chance to see this overlooked gem of a show!

GLOC are delighted to present their sparkling new production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Grand Duke. Featuring a cast of over 40, supported by a live orchestra, in a typically topsy-turvy and farcical plot with beautiful and toe-tapping music.

An acting company in the German town of Pfennig-Halbpfennig are secretly plotting to overthrow their tyrannical Grand Duke. It all goes awry when Ludwig – the comic – lets slip details of the plot to the Grand Duke’s detective! Cue a series of improbable events which see duels decided on the drawing of a card, an abundance of sausage rolls, a full Greek chorus (in full Greek costumes!), a drunk Baroness insisting on marriage and a roulette-inventing French prince with a highly suspect French accent!

The show is by Gilbert & Sullivan – the Victorian writer and composer behind enduring favourites such as The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe and The Mikado. As the last of their collaborations, The Grand Duke never got the chance of a revival production in the authors’ lifetimes, and was rarely performed by the D’Oyly Carte company in the 20th Century and so has often been overlooked. But it is long overdue a rediscovery. Gilbert’s hilarious plot and dialogue reach wonderful levels of absurdity, and Sullivan is at the top of his game – the music is inventive, rich and beautiful.

We are delighted to be premiering a brand new critical edition of the score by Colin Jagger, who previously prepared a new score of The Yeomen of the Guard for Oxford University Press. See our article about it for more information.