Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company records available for research in Special Collections

The records of the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company are now open for research!

The Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company is an amateur theatre group begun in 1960 in Hyde Park.  Since then, the Company has produced an annual fully-staged Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, as well as occasional concert performances and community sing-alongs.  The mainstays of the company’s repertory are Gilbert and Sullivan’s larger, better-known works:  The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, Ruddigore, The Gondoliers, and The Yeomen of the Guard in heaviest rotation.

The Library’s collection contains a small amount of administrative material, but the bulk of it is comprised of set and costume designs, flyers, programs, posters, and other material pertaining to specific productions.  Of particular interest are miniature set models for 11 productions. 

While not technically a University of Chicago organization, the group has been affiliated in various ways with the University throughout its history.  Performances take place in Mandel Hall on the University Campus and the University Chamber Orchestra provides musicians and a conductor.

At left is a poster advertising the 1976 production of The Gondoliers.  The collection includes publicity material for almost every Gilbert and Sullivan production.

The collection opens just in time for this year’s production of The Gondoliers, March 9-11!