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Officials of the Society President Vice Presidents Life Members Chairman Derek Taylor P. Gorton, S. Chadwick, J. Mellileu M. Astridge, C. Kay, D. Taylor Michael Berry Society Co-ordinator Membership Co-ordinator Concert Co-ordinator Treasurer Margaret Geenhalgh Anne Rigby Sandra Chadwick Pat Webster

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BLACKBURN GILBERT AND SULLIVAN SOCIETYS 50TH ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION

2013. 2012. 2011. 2010. 2009. 2008. 2007. 2006. 2005. 2004. 2003. 2002. 2001. 2000. 1999. 1998. 1997. 1996. 1995. 1994. 1993. 1992. 1991. 1990. 1989. 1988. 1987. 1986. 1985. 1984. 1983. 1982. 1981. 1980. 1979. 1978. 1977. 1976. 1975. 1974. 1973. 1972. 1971. 1970. 1969. 1968. 1967. 1966. 1965. 1964.

Our Past Shows Patience Trial by Jury/H.M.S. Pinafore The Gondoliers Ruddigore The Pirates of Penzance The Yeomen of the Guard The Gipsy Baron Iolanthe The Mikado The Sorcerer The Gondoliers The Merry Widow Patience Trial by Jury/H.M.S. Pinafore Carmen The Pirates of Penzance Ruddigore Pink Champagne The Yeomen of the Guard The Mikado The Gipsy Baron The Gondoliers Princess Ida The Sorcerer Trial by Jury/H.M.S. Pinafore The Grand Duke Iolanthe The Pirates of Penzance The Mikado Patience The Yeomen of the Guard The Gondoliers Princess Ida Ruddigore Trial by Jury/H.M.S. Pinafore The Sorcerer Iolanthe The Yeomen of the Guard The Pirates of Penzance Patience The Gondoliers Princess Ida The Mikado Trial by Jury/H.M.S. Pinafore Ruddigore The Pirates of Penzance Iolanthe The Yeomen of the Guard The Mikado The Gondoliers

Details of next years show coming soon on our website; www.blackburngands.co.uk We are on Facebook! Join our group by searching for Blackburn Gilbert & Sullivan Society

TUESDAY 25th FEBRUARY TO SATURDAY 1st MARCH 2014 THWAITES EMPIRE THEATRE

Anyone interested in a role in our next production, whether it be as part of the chorus, or playing a principal part, or helping backstage, or assisting in the designing and building of the set, or to make the tea at rehearsals, or anything at all, if you'd like to take part, then please get in touch with us via the Contact Page on our website. We are always delighted to welcome new members of any age. New members are the life-blood of amateur societies. So get in touch! We are well known as a friendly, welcoming society.

Orchestral arrangement supplied by Martin Paterson of Pattersong Music. For more information about this and other similar G&S arrangements please visit www.pattersong.co.uk

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Synopsis
Our story begins in the town of Titipu in Japan where, having introduced themselves, Japanese nobles meet a wandering minstrel named Nanki-Poo. He tells them of his love for Yum-Yum whom he first saw as he was playing in the Titipu town band. Yum-Yum was engaged to Ko-Ko, a cut price tailor, but he has been sentenced to death for flirting, so Nanki-Poo returns to find his beloved Yum-Yum and marry her. The death sentence for flirting is the idea of the bloodthirsty ruler of Japan, the Mikado. The gentlemen of Titipu decide to get round this law by making Ko-Ko Lord High Executioner on the grounds that he is then unlikely to execute himself. All the senior Titipu civil servants resign in protest at these shenanigans only to find that the ambitious Pooh-Bah snaps up all their jobs, salaries and perks to become Lord High Everything Else. Ko-Ko is set to marry Yum-Yum who arrives with her girl friends, Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo, the three little maids from school. When Yum-Yum sees the handsome Nanki-Poo, she is overjoyed since she does not love Ko-Ko, but duty makes her reluctantly realise that her wedding with the recently ennobled cheap tailor must take place. Then a crisis hits the town. The Mikado is coming to visit Titipu to check that his savage law has been carried out. Since Nanki-Poo has decided to kill himself because he cannot marry Yum-Yum, Ko-Ko convinces him to become the necessary victim the Mikado wants to have executed. Nanki-Poo agrees on the condition that he weds Yum-Yum and they enjoy a month's married bliss before he gets the chop, after which, Ko-Ko can marry her. This seems to fit the bill, and everyone rejoices until another crisis descends in the frightening form of Katisha, an aristocratic older lady who was engaged to Nanki-Poo before he fled the court unable to face marrying her. She tries to reveal Nanki-Poo's identity as the son of the Mikado and heir to the Japanese throne, but the local people refuse to listen to her, and she storms off vowing revenge. On Yum-Yum's wedding day, Ko-Ko brings news that due to another cruel law, the wife of a beheaded man must be buried alive, a fate Yum-Yum does not relish on account of its stuffiness. Pooh-Bah and Ko-Ko decide that the only solution is to fool the Mikado. They will let Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo get married, pack them off abroad on a honeymoon, then draw up false documents and lie to the Mikado about the execution. Accompanied by Katisha, the Mikado arrives and is informed by Ko-Ko, Pooh-Bah and Pitti-Sing of the alleged execution of Nanki-Poo. The deceit boomerangs however, since yet another crazy Japanese law insists that no matter how ignorant of their actions, everyone remotely associated with the death of the heir apparent must be boiled alive. Since the bloodthirsty and husband-hungry Katisha is keen to see the plotters killed, the only solution seems to be for someone to marry Katisha as quickly as possible, then get her to beg the Mikado for mercy. Ko-Ko draws the short straw and reluctantly marries Katisha. When Nanki-Poo and his wife appear, there is a lot of complicated explaining to be done. Fortunately, by a justification even crazier than the fictitious laws of the stage Japan, Ko-Ko manages to placate the Mikado, and with laughing song and merry dance, everyone lives happily ever after.

The Cast

Jim Lancaster Nanki-Poo

Tony Lewis Ko-Ko

David Slater The Mikado

Bill Shaw Pooh-Bah

Robin Reid Pish-Tush

Musical Numbers
Act I Courtyard of Ko-Kos Official Residence

Debbie Thew Yum-Yum

Sharron Knott Pitti-Sing

Brenda Murray Peep-Bo

Heather Nicholas Katisha

David Slater Director

If You Want to Know Who We Are A Wand'ring Minstrel, I Our Great Mikado, Virtuous Man Young Man, Despair, Likewise Go To And Have I Journeyed For A Month Behold The Lord High Executioner As Some Day It May Happen Comes a Train of Little Ladies & & Three Little Maids From School Are We So Please You, Sir, We Much Regret Were You Not To Ko-Ko Plighted I Am So Proud Finale of Act I

Male Chorus Nanki-Poo & Male Chorus Pish-Tush & Male Chorus Pooh-Bah, Nanki-Poo & Pish-Tush Nanki-Poo & Pooh-Bah Ko-Ko & Male Chorus Ko-Ko & Male Chorus

Chorus
Nobles
J. Chadwick, M. Doherty, S. Evans, C. Fletcher, N. Hartley, J. Livesey, P. Mawson, J. McManus, L. Brown
Geoff Hill Musical Director

Ladies Chorus Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing & Ladies Chorus Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah & Ladies Chorus Yum-Yum & Nanki-Poo Ko-Ko, Pooh-Bah & Pish-Tush Full Company

School Girls & Guards

C. Avino, M. Bentham, J. Brown, D. Bolton, C. Butler, S. Chadwick, M. Greenhalgh, J. Grooby, M. Harling, M. McCumskay, J. Pollard, A. Rigby, J. Rigby, M. Thirkettle, M. Van Eysden

Act II Ko-Kos Garden

Braid The Raven Hair The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day & & Here's A How-De-Do Mi-Ya-Sa-Ma, Mi-Ya-Sa-Ma A More Humane Mikado The Criminal Cried As He Dropped Him Down The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring Alone and Yet Alive Willow, Tit-Willow There Is Beauty In The Bellow Of The Blast Finale of Act II

Pitti-Sing & Ladies Chorus Yum-Yum Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, Nanki-Poo & Pish-Tush Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo & Ko-Ko Mikado, Katisha & Full Chorus Mikado & Full Chorus Pitti-Sing, Ko-Ko, Pooh-Bah & Full Chorus Nanki-Poo, Ko-Ko, Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing & Pooh-Bah Katisha Ko-Ko Katisha & Ko-Ko Full Company

Production Team
Director Musical Director Accompanist Technical Manager Sound Lighting Wardrobe Mistress Costume Hire Scenery Scenery Painting David Slater Geoff Hill Chris Walker Kris Connell Eddie OBrian Harold Carter, Ryan Clegg June Parkington Boyz Theatre Costumes Eric Parkington Eric Parkington Show Co-ordinators Properties Makeup Prompt Stage Manager Programme Publicity Show Photographer Box Office Front of House June & Eric Parkington Dorothy Bolton Dorothy Bolton, David Pilkington Penny Hood Howard Bury Leigh Brown, Mike Johnson Martin Hankinson, Leigh Brown Mike Johnson Linda Berry Judith Grimshaw, Alison Brindle

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