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Greetings, Players!

I'll start with a correction from last month's newsletter: auditions for Gypsy will be on Monday, August 23, and Wednesday, August 25, (NOT Tuesday 24th), with callbacks on Thursday, August 26, at 7:30 PM. I mentioned that Claiborn Dawes and Peggy Elliot are producers, but I omitted Sally Bull, who is also producing. Sorry, Sally!

We were saddened to hear of the death of Player William McDonald. A widely accomplished actor and comedian, Bill appeared in several movies, including Housesitter, Celtic Pride, and Monument Ave. Our condolences go out to his wife, Belle, and the rest of his family.

Ronda Yeomans and Giselle Ganz are appearing in Hail Poetry: The Best of Gilbert and Sullivan with the Fiddlehead Theatre Company in Norwood. Ronda will be playing Isabel in selections from The Pirates of Penzance, Peep-Bo in The Micado, and will also be in excerpts from H.M.S. Pinafore. Giselle will be singing with the chorus in songs from Pirates, Pinafore, and Mikado. Performances will be Tuesday, July 27, Wednesday, July 28, and Thursday, July 29 at 109 Central Street in Norwood Center. Call 781-762-4060 for tickets. Giselle is having a busy summer. A member of the Boston Pops Gospel Chorus, she sang at the Hatch Shell on July Third and Forth in a collaboration that group did with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Gay Men's Chorus. They've just released a CD called "A Splash of Pops," featuring patriotic music and the song they debuted, "With Voices Raised." She says it was phenomenal to be singing on the Esplanade to all of those thousands of people.

By the way, speaking of Gilbert and Sullivan, you can catch what may very well be the American premiere of a play written by W.S. Gilbert, Foggerty's Fairy, presented by the Sudbury Savoyards in an intimate setting in Hawes Hall at the Sudbury United Methodist Church. Performances will be Fridays and Saturdays, July 23, 24, 30, 31, August 6, and 7 at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, August 1, at 2:30 PM. I'm told that it is a very funny play with a talented cast. G&S fans will be able to spot themes and ideas that later made their way into some of the Savoy operas. Call 978-443-8811 for tickets; all proceeds will be donated to the relief of world hunger. The Savoyards would like to thank Betsy Connelly for her help with costumes.

Janice Dallas sends along this information about an opera workshop that she's involved with:

"Living Room Opera (Opera Lirica del Soggiorno) is a summer opera workshop directed by Marion Leeds Carroll (stage) and Eric Schwartz (music) with the assistance of Nancy Burstein (producer.) I make sure everyone is in an appropriate costume, and am also one of the performers. The object is to learn and perform ensembles in a casual, noncompetitive atmosphere. It's funded in part by the Arlington Council for the Arts. This year we have 11 participants. There's a wide range of abilities, but scenes are picked with this in mind. I'm in scenes from Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore" (Adina) and Poulenc's "Dialogues des Carmelites," (Sister Blance is one scene, Sister Constance in the other.) There are also scenes from Handel's "Orlando," Wagner's "Das Reingold," Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's Luisa Miller, and Saint-Saens' Samson et Dalila. This is the 10th year that the Workshop has been presented. We will have an open performance of our "Works in Progress" (costumed, blocked, simple set and props, piano accompaniment) on the afternoon of August 1 at the Park Avenue Congregational Church on Park Avenue in Arlington. We hope anyone who might be interested in participating next year, comes to the open performance."

Nancy Curran Willis is directing the new England premier of Neil Simon's Proposals with the Second Stage Theatre Co. Featured in the cast are Players Joseph Zamparelli Jr. and Tom Berry. Performances will take place at the (air conditioned) New England Repertory Theatre, 54 Lincoln Street, in Newton Highlands. The dates are Aug 4,5,6,7,8,11,12,13,14 and 15, Wed through Saturdays at 8:00, Sunday at 3:00. Tickets are $17 and $19, call 617-332-1646

Jackson Royal is playing the part of Leonato in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing with the Ubiquity Theatre Company at the Mass College of Art. Performances ate the last three weekends in September. Call 617-782-1344 for info and tickets.

Save the date of October 15; this is when our annual Fall Huddle will take place. Details will be forthcoming in a later newsletter, but plan to come and bring along a friend!