page_title: Toronto Light Opera Association
section_title: Productions
hierarchical_section_title: Toronto Light Opera Association / Productions
caption_attribution_description: English: The cast of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, "The Mikado", Toronto Light Opera Association, 1947
context_page_description: The Toronto Light Opera Association was an opera company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that specialized in performing the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. It was founded in 1940 and disbanded in 1955.
context_section_description: Between 1942 and 1950 the company presented six different Gilbert and Sullivan operas, mostly those in the popular repertoire. The actors and singers were ably accompanied by pianist Winnifred Smith Stewart. Edward Wodson of The Evening Telegram described her as "a solo pianist whose touch gives the piano a song always delightful". The Association's productions between 1942 and 1950 were as follows:
  1942: The first work to be presented was Trial by Jury, performed once in March and again in October 1942.
  1943: H.M.S. Pinafore was next, presented twice in March and November 1943.
  1945: The cast of H.M.S. Pinafore, staged in May 1945 at the Northern Vocational School auditorium, included Geoffrey Hatton of D'Oyly Carte experience.
  1946: This was followed by The Pirates of Penzance in March 1946 at Danforth Technical School auditorium.
  1947: This year saw a March presentation of Patience at the Central School of Commerce auditorium. Swords for the production were borrowed from the Governor General's Horse Guards. An Evening Telegram review stated, "The general effect was indeed much better than some of the professional performances seen here in recent years". This was followed in December by a production of The Mikado at Danforth Technical School auditorium with a cast of 40. The Toronto Evening Telegram described this performance as "a notable success" in which "Sullivan's priceless music was sung and played with such a sweet, sparkling animation and precision that many numbers took on a new life that surprised".
  1948: In 1948 two productions were presented: The Pirates of Penzance played for a second time in the company's history in April, this time at Northern Vocational School auditorium, and was deemed by one critic "a bright and richly musical offering".  Iolanthe followed that November at the Temple Theatre, and was labelled by The Evening Telegram "one of the brightest, sweetest singing and clearest speaking presentations of this loveliest of all G. and S. operas seen and heard in Toronto in the last ten years." 
  1949: A double production of Trial by Jury with H.M.S. Pinafore was presented in May, 1949 at Danforth Technical School. A review in the Toronto Evening Telegram proclaimed both the soloists and the choruses to be excellent, and deemed the singing of Harry Stitch to be "sweet and vibrant".  In November The Yeoman of the Guard at Bloor Collegiate Institute followed.
  1950: Another production took place in 1950 when The Gondoliers was presented in November at the Bloor Collegiate auditorium. A review in the Toronto Daily Star praised the acting and singing, but chided the cast for "slapping each other around more than necessary".
caption: Cast of the 1947 production of The Mikado
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