1995, HMS Pinafore and Trial by jury
Rehearsals
Auditions were held for Pinafore, and some roles in Trial by Jury. Most roles we were pleased to allocate to their original incumbents, as an anniversary pleasure. Pleasingly, the auditions unearthed a lot of new talent with Malcolm Wilton, who had previously sung chorus, getting the role of the judge (no-one could locate the original singer - Fiona Walters getting Josephine and a new role of the Bosun's mate was created for young bass, Tim Warren. Later, Martin King was brought in to take over the role of the Counsellor in Trial and Kevin Whiting had the role of the Foreman of the Jury. Our two regular funny men were accommodated by allocating David Cox the more serious role of the Captain, while Michael Knuckey played Sir Joseph Porter. Rod Gorfine played Dick Deadeye and Diane Morgan was Little Buttercup.
Rehearsals started for the stage show with Trial by Jury start at 7:30 and Pinafore people at 8:30 as not everyone was doing both shows. Initially there was a shortage of chorus members and we had to chase people.
HMS Pinafore and Trial by Jury - performances
Show Program
The shows were very successful, but attendances fluctuated wildly, with our smallest Saturday matinee and our largest Saturday evening! For the first time a gala supper was introduced on the first Saturday evening, which everyone enjoyed. Financially the season was very successful and $5,000 was donated to charity. A few weeks later Trial was repeated in a church concert for Diamond Creek, with Graham stepping in. for Chris White as the Usher.
Of course there was a Ten Year Anniversary barbecue at Diane and John Morgan's, with Henk Uwland operating the barbecue which was a delightful occasion.
The DVS members often share each other's joys and sorrows and occasionally, unfortunate we lost one of our members. Early in August a number of members attended the funeral of Carolynn O'Brien, a woman her forties who had been a very active member before her illness.
In early October, the DVS joined with the G&S Society to celebrate their 60th anniversary with a weekend singing through the entire G&S repertoire. We provided soloists for Trial by Jury and HMS Pinafore and the audience joined in the choruses. A number of other G&S Societies participated, but not many managed to stay the distance. Graham conducted, while an audience member stepped in for a missing Usher. On Saturday Graham stepped into the role of Dick Deadeye.
Show Program
In September there was an EMO production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Ian, with Graham playing Masetto, a number of other members of DVS in the chorus and Diane Morgan struggling with the publicity. It was held at Warrandyte and was very successful.
These history notes have been kindly provided by our long-term artistic director and co-founder, Graham Ford.
