page_title: American Savoyards
section_title: 1950s and touring
hierarchical_section_title: American Savoyards / 1950s and touring
caption_attribution_description: English: The Mikado by Gilbert &amp; Sullivan Lithograph depicts Kate Forster (left), Geraldine Ulmar (center), and Geraldine St. Maur (right) as the three little maids, respectively Pitti-Sing, Yum-Yum, and Peep-Bo.
context_page_description: American Savoyards was an Off-Broadway and touring repertory theatre company that produced light operas, principally the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, in New York City and on tour between 1948 and 1967.
context_section_description: Raedler planned to take the company on tour in 1952. She traveled to England in June 1952 with her leading comic baritone and leading soprano, Rue and Sally Knapp, to research W.S. Gilbert's staging, choreography, costumes, properties and other aspects of the original Gilbert and Sullivan productions. She intended her productions to follow the performance "traditions" of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and she replicated "authentic" costumes as closely as possible. Raedler's intentions, as stated in the company's program notes, were to avoid "pork pie" gags or cheap laughs, to stay true to Gilbert's stylistic intentions and to give each member of her company intensive training in the art. Raedler also decided that her company would use American stage diction, rather than British, and attractive actors, to cater to her audiences. Like Gilbert, Raedler was known as a hard taskmaster in rehearsals and an exacting director.
  For this first tour, Raedler renamed the company American Savoyards. The first shows on tour were The Mikado and Patience. Early tours included U.S. states from Florida to Maine. Subsequent tours included places as far away as California and Canada. Each winter, the company returned to New York City, often performing at the Jan Hus Playhouse on East 74th Street, the downstairs room in a church. The group claimed to be the only professional theatre company performing the full G&S repertoire, as the D'Oyly Carte had retired several productions.
  In 1953, the American Savoyards performed for ten weeks over the summer in Cumston Hall, a Victorian theater in Monmouth, Maine. They returned each summer for seven years to Monmouth, generally for ten-week seasons. Their format was eight performances of a different G&S show each week (6 evenings, 2 matinees, no Sunday performances). In 1956, Ronald Bush, the company's principal bass-baritone, gave up his on-stage roles to become its music director. The same year, Company first performed Utopia Limited, probably the first professional performances of this work in North America since 1894. In 1957, Raymond Allen took over the comic leads when the Knapps left the company. In 1958, the company added three non-G&S operettas, and in 1959 they added The Grand Duke, in its North American professional premiere. That summer, the company performed four other G&S shows and five non-G&S shows in Monmouth. It was the company's last summer in Maine.
caption: The Mikado was frequently produced by the Savoyards
exif: {}