"Inventive...amusing"
Variety

"Sheer fun"
Backstage

"Delightfully entertaining"
American Theatre Web

Drama Desk Nominated
Outstanding Revival of a Musical

Based on Sir W.S Gilbert's "The Pinafore Picture Book: The Story of HMS PINAFORE"
March 5 - March 31, 2007
Sanford Meisner Theater

"An unexpected light-hearted lark... the score has been amusingly reduced...
the storybook-style sets are spare and inventive"
-Variety- Read the whole review here

"There is a rare bright spot in this winter of theatrical discontent.  Intimate, buoyant, and charmingly rough around the edges, the production shines with innocent good spirit and slightly naughty satire."
-Gay City News- Read the whole review here

"A revitalizing restaging of the singing sailor classic, the Vortex’s production of H.M.S. Pinafore makes 19th century satire funny again through cross-dressing, baby-farming, and a good dose of Gilbert and Sullivan silliness."
- New Theatre Corps - Read the whole review here

Cast:

Directed and Adapted by:
Dave Dalton

Music Adapted and Arranged by:
Edward Barnes

Choreographer: Carrie Cimma

Set and Lights: Miranda Hardy

Costumes: Jessica Wegener

Stage Manager: Allison Glenzer

Musician: Zach Redler

Press Rep: Jim Baldassare

Producer: Joshua Randall

Click HERE for tickets.

*appears courtesy of Actors Equity

DAVE DALTON (Director):  MFA, Columbia University where he studied with notable directors Anne Bogart, Robert Woodruff, and Andrei Serban.  He developed an interest in physical theatre and has since been creating productions based on blending historical and forgotten forms of popular theater with the avant-garde.  He has created dark, compelling physical comedy in critically praised productions in New York and throughout the Northeast.  He was recently named an Artist in Residence at Tribeca Performing Arts Center for 2006-2007.  His production, Quinnopolis vs. Hamlet, was chosen by Philadelphia’s 1812 Productions as their Independence Studio production for 2005, and the online journal “Borrowers and Lenders” will feature five responses to that production in a special section of it’s upcoming Fall/Winter 2006 issue.  He was a guest artist at the Shakespeare Association of America’s 2005 conference and a member of the 2004 Puppetlab at St. Ann’s Warehouse.  His work has been reviewed in Time Out New York – which called his production Dog in the Manger, “an evening of devious entertainment” – and the New York Times – which called the two one-act plays he directed as a part of Naked Angels’s Mag-7, “its most seductive one-acts.”  He is a co-artistic director and a founder of the theater company Quinnopolis, NY and a Resident Director at the Vortex Theater Company.

EDWARD BARNES (Music Director): has worked with theaters around the country including the Lincoln Center Theater Company, Mark Taper Forum, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, American Repertory Theater, Prince Music Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival and others.  The winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Stephen Sondheim Award for “outstanding talent in creating innovative musical theater”, he was for 5 years the resident composer-librettist at L.A. Opera, where his A PLACE TO CALL HOME, MYSTERY ON THE DOCKS and A MUSKRAT LULLABY all premiered.  He has also served as composer-in-residence at the Fundaçao Sacatar in Brazil and the Fundación Valparaiso in Spain, and was a founding member of The Metro Ensemble, a California-based musical theater group, for whom he created the award-winning shows OLD AUNT DINAH’S SURE GUIDE TO DREAMS AND LUCKY NUMBERS and THE BONES OF LOVE.  His many recent projects have included writing songs for a singing robot bird for the Walt Disney Studios, musical scores for OUR TOWN at Bay Street Theater, KILT at the Directors Company, a collaboration with Garrison Keillor, THE OLD MAN WHO LOVED CHEESE, for the Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis, and arrangements and orchestrations for Scott Joplin’s TREEMONISHA in concert at Lincoln Center.  He is currently the composer/music director for two series on XM Satellite Radio, “Night Kitchen Radio Theater” and “Live from the Kennedy Center”, and Special Projects Producer for the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall.

CARRIE CIMMA (Choreographer):  National tours: Cameron Mackintosh's Oliver! (original cast member), The Full Monty.  Chorography credits include Grand Hotel (Wagner College), Footloose (Birmingham Summerfest), Showboat (La Comedia Dinner Theatre), Smokey Joe's Cafe (Birmingham Summerfest).  BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Thanks to Josh and Dave for this wonderfully creative opportunity.

JOSHUA RANDALL (Producer): As the Producing Artistic Director for the Vortex Theater Company, Joshua has produced LEARegardless, Kristjan Thorgeirsson's the blind: adapted by Bathsheba Doran, (Pier 63, Frying Pan as well as its extension at Classic Stage Company), A. Rey Pamatmat's DEVIANT, the Drama Desk Nominated AGAMEMNON (St. Veronica’s Church), and IN DELIRIUM: after the sorrows of young werther, for which he received an NY Innovative Theater Award Nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance.  Current projects include KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN directed by Drama Desk nominated Gisela Cardenas,, and A CHRISTMAS CAROL (a new musical), with Kris Thorgeirsson and Joel Bravo.  Through the Vortex, Mr. Randall has collaborated with groups such as Dave Dalton's Quinnopolis, NY, Opera On Tap, and the Punany Poets (as featured in HBO’s Real Sex series).  Joshua has worked in the administrative offices of New York City Opera (Marketing), Manhattan Theatre Club (Individual Giving), American Ballet Theater and Second Stage Theatre. 

JESSICA WEGENER  (Costume Design)  New York:  Living Dead in Denmark, A Beginner’s Guide to Deicide (Vampire Cowboys),  The Mistakes Madeline Made (Naked Angels), The Visit (Atlantic Theatre School), Dog in the Manger (Quinnopolis, N.Y.), The Territory (Six Figures Theatre Co.), Courting Vampires (Summer Play Festival) Playing House (HERE ArtsCenter).   Regional:  Underneath the Lintel (Long Wharf Theatre), Haroun & the Sea of Stories, Cabaret & Main Williamstown Theatre Festival), Lemnation (Mad Dog Theatre Co. @ WTF),  Nora, Oklahoma!,  An O. Henry Christmas, Dha-Fuzion (Clarence Brown Theatre Co./Univ. of Tennessee,  Noises Off!, Shadowlands, L’Eboueur Sleeps Tonight (James Madison Univ.).  Assistant:  Spamalot (B’Way), Gem of the Ocean (Arena Stage), The American Pilot (Manhattan Theatre Club), Hot ‘N’ Throbbing (Signature Theatre Co.), The Controversy, As You Like It (The Public Theater), The Architecture of Loss (New York Theatre Workshop), Frame 312 (The Atlantic Theatre), Recent Tragic Events (Playwrights Horizons),  Threepenny Opera, Landscape of the Body, God of Vengeance (Williamstown Theatre Festival).  MFA Costume Design Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville.   Nominiee 2006 Innovative Theatre Awards.

BILLY ERNST: From Cincinnati, Ohio, Billy has performed regionally in A Christmas Carol at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Pirates of Penzance (Police Seargent), Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour), Into the Woods (Prince), Much Ado About Nothing (Benedick), and  the Riverside Theatre’s Knight Life.  He has recorded albums for Stage-Star Records including Company (Paul) and Beauty & the Beast (Beast), and he has toured with Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, and Dora the Explorer.  BFA from Miami University.  www.billyernst.com.  Member Actors Equity

SARAH HARTLEY: is pleased to be working with Dave Dalton once again in HMS PINAFORE.  A recent graduate of the Atlantic Theater Company Acting Conservatory, Sarah’s past credits include Claire Zachanassian in Dalton’s production of The Visit, Bernice Henry in Bus Riley’s Back In Town, Mrs. Hergesheimer in the Tiny Closet, and Vivian Bearing in Wit.  She hopes to entertain the audience and make her mother proud.

NICH KAUFFMAN : is thrilled to be making his debut with the Vortex Theatre Co. in PINAFORE, after returning from the Windy city where he recently played Snoopy in YOU’RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN at the Drury Lane Watertower Place. Other favorites include Boots in the national tour of DORA THE EXPLORER LIVE!, Jud Fry in OKLAHOMA! and The Balladeer in ASSASSINS. A University of Michigan MT graduate, Nich would like to thank all of his friends, “the family,” AEK, and his beautiful, supportive parents. As always… for Grandma.

DAVID MACALUSO: has performed Off Broadway, Nationaly and Internationaly. He has performed rolls that vary from Pappageno in The Magic Flute to Che in Evita! Being no stranger to the Gilbert and Sullivan Rep. David has sung in 9 of the 13 operettas written by the duo. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music.

MAX MILLER: holds a degree in vocal performance from Arizona State University. He has recently performed with the Miami Symphony and San Juan Symphony. His favourite roles include Toby in Sweeny Todd Will Parker in Oklahoma!

PAUL SIGRIST: is well-known to Gilbert and Sullivan audiences here in New York.  He is a long time company member of the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, performing yearly at City Center, Symphony Space and on tour throughout the country.  He is also a frequent soloist for performances given by the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of New York.  Favorite G+S roles have included the Major-General in The Pirates of Penzance, the Sergeant of Marines in H.M.S. Pinafore, Sir Bailey Barre in Utopia, Ltd., the Duke of Dunstable in Patience, and Earl Tollollerin Iolanthe.  In works written by Sullivan without Gilbert, he has played the Physician-In-Chief in The Rose of Persia, Dr. Fiddle D.D. in The Emerald Isle and will be Oswald in an up-coming concert reading of Sullivan's rarely performed Haddon Hall.  He is a proud member of AEA, SAG and AFTRA.

JENDI TARDE: Jendi’s fervent artistic curiosity has led to performances as an instrumentalist, conductor, singer (of various degrees), actor and even belly dancer!  Never sticking to one thing, her favorite stage roles range from the operatic (Cunegonde in Candide) to the belty (Annie Oakley in Annie get your gunI).  At the 2005 Lotte Lenya Competition, judges William Bolcom and Harold Prince awarded her the "Best Performance of a Song" for her schizophrenic rendition of "The Girl in 14G."  She was also the winner of several awards at the 2005 Harold Haugh Light Opera Competition, including Audience Favorite.  Regional credits with: The Pegasus Players, Bailiwick Repertory, Ash Lawn Opera, Aspen Opera Theater, Opera Theatre of St Louis, and Lyric Opera of Chicago.  

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Artistic Director and Producer Joshua Randall with
Choreographer Carrie Cimma at the Drama Desk Reception

Cast and some crew at Drama Desk Reception

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