Savoy needs your help and support! Attend our Open House on September 8th, 7:30 p.m.
Going into our 35th season, Savoy finds itself at a cross-roads and needs input from our audience and membership.
An open house meeting to discuss the plans for the upcoming season will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday September 8, 2010 at the Montgomery Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, 330 Kent St. at Maclaren. Please mark your calendar and plan on attending this meeting to find out more about our plans for this autumn. The meeting will be a chance to hear about our planned December concert and the Spring Show in 2011. It will also be an opportunity to discuss issues related to the Society, its committees, its membership, and fundraising.
Your donation will help us reach our immediate goal of $8000 CDN to mount a concert this coming December and keep the 2010 - 2011 Season alive.
Should donations, fundraising, and December's ticket revenue allow, every effort to mount a stage production of The Merry Widow will be made for an Opening Curtain in Spring 2011.
For details on Savoy's charitable status, please follow the link below to the Canada Revenue Agency's website. All donations are eligible for a tax receipt.
Message to the Membership of the Savoy Society of Ottawa
Our president, Denis Watson, is currently in Scotland, and he has asked me to send a message to the Savoy community as a follow-up to the one sent on June 22.
The June 22 message outlines the financial situation we currently face, which means that the Society is not in a position to guarantee our usual spring production. Over the past few years, the costs of putting on a fully staged Gilbert and Sullivan opera with orchestral accompaniment at Centrepointe theatre have been steadily rising, and our ability to attract a sizable enough audience even for the most popular works has been getting more and more difficult, in spite of excellence of the productions and the great effort that has been put into publicity.
The June 22 message also included a proposal for a subscription series of dinner theatre presentations. Having discussed this further and having taken into consideration the feedback received from the membership, the Board of Directors has concluded that this proposal would require a tremendous amount of effort, and at the same time we would not be able to count on the same enthusiasm from our members as we would if we were focussing on one show.
As a result, several members of the Board of Directors have generated a proposal for an autumn activity, which, if successful, will prepare us for a staged production in the spring of 2011 and will make the most efficient use of our time and of financial and human resources. This proposal was accepted by the board as a whole at our meeting last week.
This proposal is to prepare for a concert featuring highlights from Franz Léhar’s the Merry Widow, plus favourite choruses from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The Merry Widow was originally chosen by the board as the production for the 2010-11 season, so we would essentially be picking up from where we left off a few months ago. The Merry Widow is a perennial favourite, perhaps the most famous operetta in the Viennese tradition. Lovers of Gilbert and Sullivan will appreciate its witty story and memorable melodies. We would present an English version of the show.
The date for the concert has been set for Monday, December 6, 2010. This event will also serve as a fundraising activity, with a silent auction. The rehearsals for the concert will, in keeping with Savoy Society tradition, take place once per week for the chorus and once per week for the leads.
An open house meeting to discuss the plans for the production will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday September 8, 2010 at the Montgomery Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, 330 Kent St. at Maclaren. Please mark your calendar and plan on attending this meeting to find out more about our plans for this autumn. The meeting will be a chance to hear about the concert and the spring show. It will also be an opportunity to discuss issues related to the Society, its committees, its membership, and fundraising.
Fundraising is an important consideration both for the concert and for the possibility of a main show. We will proceed with the concert if, by September 8, we have raised $8,000 to cover the costs of auditions, rehearsals, and a concert venue. This is a vital aspect of the plan, and we need donations from both members and friends of the Society, and from corporate sources. The $8,000 figure is a minimum to carry us through to the concert event in December; much more money will have to follow if we hope to put on a staged production in the spring. Simply put, if we can’t raise this money, we won’t be able to mount the fundraising concert, much less a show. Please buy a membership, give what you can, and encourage your friends and family to do the same. This can be done on our website or by mailing a cheque. There is a lot of work to do in the next few weeks!
Indeed, there will be a lot of hard work to do all year, but we believe that this initiative marks an important beginning. We need everyone in the Savoy Society community to support it. If we raise enough funds, we hope to hold auditions on the September 18-19 weekend. Watch for further details about the concert, the Savoy Society’s future plans, and membership benefits in our upcoming newsletters and emails.
I look forward to seeing you on September 8.
Bruce Patterson
Vice-President, Savoy Society of Ottawa
August 10, 2010
2009 - 2010 Season: The Zoo and The Yeomen of the Guard
Music: Arthur Sullivan
Coming soon: Pictures and video clips of Savoy's production of The Yeomen of the Guard and information about next season.
Ottawa Savoy Society on YouTube
Three clips from our 2009 production of Sullivan's The Zoo are now available for viewing:
- Rash man! Forbear! - Carboy's first suicide attempt
- Help! Ah, help! - Thomas Brown's fainting scene
- My father! - Carboy and Laetitia are ambushed by Laetitia's father
