Organization

Brisbane Festival

Conductor

Johannes Fritzsch

Stage director

Stuart Maunder

Set designer

Simone Romaniuk

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Keith Clark

Choreographer

Lois Redman

English

Iolanthe

Brisbane

Australia

Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University

Public

Approved

Iolanthe Sullivan,A

Hilarious comic opera from ever-popular Gilbert & Sullivan

The Queen of the Fairies meets Britain's legal establishment. Since its sparkling 1882 premiere at London’s new Savoy Theatre, the fantastical satire Iolanthe has delighted audiences with its clever combination of romance, humour, political satire and the memorable musical numbers that made Gilbert and Sullivan household names.

Set in the world of the fairies and the mortal world, this fantasy story centers on the titular character, Iolanthe, who falls in love with a mortal man, bearing him a child who must tackle the world of love as half man, half fairy. A fantastic (in the true sense of the word) mélange of Victorian pantomime and the British Legal establishment, Iolanthe is a satire on the power of hereditary rule and the class system, that classic Victorian sacred cow.

And wherever the Victorians had their sacred cows, there was WS Gilbert ready to milk them for all the laughs he could get. The operas are, of course still relevant today because those sacred cows are still with us, they are just fatter!

Iolanthe by Sullivan, From (2022/2022), Directed by Stuart Maunder,, Conductor Johannes Fritzsch, Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Crew

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues