The Madison Savoyards, Ltd.
It's Madison; It's summer; It's Savoyards!

Save the dates:

Sunday, September 19, 2010: Annual Meeting at the Goodman Community Center; 4:00 - 6:00 pm

Friday, January 28, 2011: Midwinter Concert at First Unitarian Society; 7 - 9 pm

The 48th summer production of the Madison Savoyards, Ltd:

HMS Pinafore

or The Lass Who Loved a Sailor

July 23 - Aug 1

Music Hall

Terry Kiss Frank, stage director
Grant Harville, music director

Reviews from Isthmus and The Capitol Times

HMS Pinafore was recorded and the DVD is planned for release in late 2010 or early 2011.

The Yeomen of the Guard DVD Released

The July 2009 production of The Yeomen of the Guard has been released and is now available from The Madison Savoyards and Amazon. The DVD contains the complete performance in wide format video and surround sound. Two numbers deleted by Gilbert & Sullivan shortly before the premier (When jealous torments rach my soul and A laughing boy but yesterday) were restored and orchestrated by Maestro Alexander for this production. Sullivan included a bell that tolls in the Act 1 finale representing the bell of the Chapel inside the Tower customarily run before executions. In this performance the bell is the Music Hall clock tower bell. The orchestra includes the additional players specified in Sullivan's score (a third trombone and a second bassoon) needed for the somewhat darker and richer orchestral textures required in this score. The usual 12 channel audio recording was augmented by a 13th channel for the tower bell. Preview clips of The Yeomen of the Guard DVD are available via this link. Subscribe to Madison Savoyards podcasts via this link.

This DVD is the subject of two reviews in the July/August issue of Fanfare Magazine. Both (Brennesal and Kirk) are available on this site by permission of Fanfare Magazine. "Catherine Schweitzer (Elsie), Ryan McEldowney (Col. Fairfax), Sarah Z. Johnson (Phoebe), Leigh Akin (Carruthers), and Governor Harris (Sgt. Meryll) were among the outstanding singers. Schweitzer and McEldowney have exceptional voices rarely heard in community-theater productions."

Our Mission

The Madison Savoyards, Ltd. presents fully staged productions with orchestra of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas every summer in Madison, WI. Beginning in 1963 with Iolanthe the Savoyards has produced all the G&S works over its history.

Madison Savoyards DVDs and CDs

To order, print the order form, fill out, send with check to Madison Savoyards. Ltd. All Madison Savoyards DVDs and CDs are also available from Amazon.com.

Contribute on-line to the Madison Savoyards Ltd.

The Madison Savoyards has a "passthrough" fund at the Madison Community Foundation. This is a service provided by the Madison Community Foundation for organizations having endowment funds at the Madison Community Foundation. The passthrough fund is not an endowment fund but was established as a mechanism for contributors to make on-line donations to the Madison Savoyards. The purpose of the fund is to support the recording of performances and to enhance the production values of our annual performances. You may contribute directly to this fund on line via this link. (Note: using this link selects the Madison Savoyards, Ltd. Passthrough Fund) If you would like to contribute to the Madison Savoyards Endowment Fund, see the following section.

Madison Savoyards Ltd. Endowment Fund

The Madison Savoyards has an endowment fund at the Madison Community Foundation. You may contribute directly to this fund on line via this link. (Note: using this link selects the Madison Savoyards, Ltd. Endowment Fund)

Gilbert & Sullivan

Prof. John W. Barker has written a wonderful piece on Gilbert and Sullivan, their backgrounds, the collaboration, with interesting details about the work they produced. The mission of the Madison Savoyards is to present the works of Gilbert and Sullivan with careful attention to the elements that made them so great. Prof. Barker's article provides much insight into these unique creations.

Previous Program Archive

We are scanning programs from prior productions and making them available on this site in PDF format. To date we have 1972 and 1977 through 2005 completed and posted. If and when we can locate the remaining programs, they will be added. If you have any programs for the years 1963 - 1971 and 1973 - 1976, we would like to borrow them so we could scan and add to the web site. Please contact us if you have any we are missing.