Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘Iolanthe’ Comes to East Hampton Library

The classic play “Iolanthe” will be presented by the Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island on Saturday, May 4, at 2 p.m. at East Hampton Library.

“Iolanthe,” which debuted in 1883, with book and lyrics by W.S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan, is one of the most beloved of all the Gilbert & Sullivan operas, especially for its perfect balance of words and music, humor and drama, magic and political satire. The current production is the Light Opera Company’s first since 2015.

The story is a whimsical one, involving a shepherd lad named Strephon, who has the unusual problem of being half fairy and half mortal (his mother was a fairy, his unknown father a mortal). He’s a fairy down to the waist, though his legs are mortal. When Strephon falls in love with Phyllis, a wealthy heiress who is a ward in chancery and sought after in marriage by half the House of Lords, it sets up a conflict between the wily Lord Chancellor and the cosmically powerful Fairy Queen, with the Queen’s band of fairies, the lovestruck Peers and Strephon and Phyllis themselves caught in between.

The dramatic side of the story involves Strephon’s mother, Iolanthe, who was sentenced to death for marrying a mortal, then reprieved at the last moment and banished from the fairy world. Her greatest concern is for her son, and when the Lord Chancellor himself falls in love with Phyllis, Iolanthe faces a dilemma that may spell the end of her immortal life.

The production stars Kara Vertucci as Phyllis and Henry Horstmann as Strephon, with Traci Weisberg Gang playing Iolanthe.

“Iolanthe is everything at once,” said the show’s director, Gayden Wren, a longtime member of the company and author of an acclaimed book about Gilbert & Sullivan. “It’s a goofy slapstick comedy, a whimsical fantasy, a political satire and a drama of Shakespearean proportions, and it swings from one to another so gracefully that it seems perfectly natural.”

The score for “Iolanthe” is arguably Sullivan’s greatest, ranging from the jaw-breaking patter of the Lord Chancellor’s famous “Nightmare Song” to the romantic duet “None Shall Part Us,” from the swaggering “March of the Peers” to the keen-edged “When Britain Really Ruled the Waves,” offering literally something for everyone.

“It’s really Gilbert & Sullivan at their best,” concluded Wren, who admitted that it’s his personal favorite of the operas. “The real magic isn’t the invisible fairies or the hypnotic spell they cast, it’s Gilbert, Sullivan and the way that they seem to come together so closely that it’s hard to tell where one begins and the other leaves off. It’s one of the greatest works of musical theater ever written.”

East Hampton Library is at 159 Main Street in East Hampton. Admission to the performance is free. For further information, visit easthamptonlibrary.org or call 631-324-0222 ext. 3.