sign in sign up
<<
Home , Patience (opera)

GILBERT & SULLIVAN PATIENCE

THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA

MICHAEL BOROWITZ Conductor STEVEN DAIGLE Artistic Director PATIENCE PROGRAM NOTES...... John Ostendorf Music...... W.S. Gilbert created a series Lyrics...... of lyric poetry he called The , long before he began Ohio Light Opera his collaboration with Arthur Conductor...... Michael Borowitz Sullivan. From these he later Stage Director...... Steven Daigle drew amusing characters to Recording Producer...... John Ostendorf enliven his libretti. In Sound Designer...... Brian Rudell 1881 for Patience (subtitled Choreographer...... Carol Hageman Bunthorne’s Bride), he selected Costume Designer...... Charlene Alexis Gross a pair of feuding curates, each Scenic Designer...... Kimberly Cox trying to outdo the other in Lighting Designer...... Krystal Kennel being the mildest man in the Production Stage Manager...... Jennifer K. Burns land. Gilbert’s casting was discouraged by Richard D’Oyly CAST: Carte, who feared an offended clergy, many of whom were Patience...... Cecily Ellis-Bills among his best patrons. The librettist decided to adapt the Bunthorne...... Kyle Knapp rivalry to a pair of feuding poets. Grosvenor...... Jon Gerhard “Aesthetics” were all the rage in the 1880’s. They Lady Jane...... Julie Wright Costa populated the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a movement Colonel...... Boyd Mackus which had organized earlier around a protest against Duke...... Drake Dantzler materialism and progress in England. But many found Major...... Cory Clines the group’s love of art, poetry and fashion excessive: their Angela...... Tania Mandzy posturing made them an easy target for . Indeed, du Saphir...... Chelsea Basler Maurier’s Punch cartoons inspired a stage play, The Colonel Ella...... Jacqueline Komos by F. C. Burnand, which pitted the British military against these pre-Raphaelites. Alerted to the forthcoming G&S ENSEMBLE: production on the same theme, Burnand rushed to have Natalie Ballenger, Sarah Best, Justin Bills, Jennifer K. his own play open in London mere weeks before Patience Burns, Julianna Byess, John Callison, Malia French, was to bow at the Opera Comique on April 23, 1881. Lindsey Gradwohl, Karla Hughes, David Kelleher- Flight, Andrew LeVan, Sarah Levering, Elisa Mat- Competitive feelings ran high. Arthur Sullivan fueled thews, Caroline Bassett Miller, Gary Moss, Emily the fire by announcing to the world that he had prepared Neill, Max Nolin, Will Perkins, Michael Davis Smith, an ”Entirely New and Original Aesthetic Opera” that, with Allison Toth, Adam VonAlmen, Logan Walsh. his customary last-minute rush, he delivered to the theater ❦ 2 ❦ Composer Arthur Sullivan Librettist W.S. Gilbert Poet Patience Playbill page by page during the rehearsals. He completed Padmore. D’Oyly Carte Company comic George the final scoring just two days before the premiere. Grossmith created the first Bunthorne. W.S. Gilbert After conducting at the opening night, Sullivan served not only as stage director for his new recorded in his diary that the performance elicted production but designed the costumes as well, eight encores! selecting special “aesthetic” fabrics for the filmy Aesthetic poet Oscar Wilde attended the opening gowns worn by the Twenty Love-Sick Maidens. night London performance, a daffodil in hand. This Patience was the sixth of the fourteen G&S provided such good publicity, for both impresario collaborations. It played for 850 performances, D’Oyly Carte—who also served as Wilde’s booking although six months into its initial run, the show was agent—and the flamboyant Wilde himself, that they moved to the Savoy Theatre, where it was hailed as repeated the stunt when Patience opened in New the first theatrical production to be lit entirely by York on tour that September. It played in Australia as electric light! Henceforth, works well a month later, and an unauthorized version of were known as the “Savoy” operas, their performers Patience ran at the Bijou Opera House in Manhattan (and fans) “Savoyards.” The show was revived in the following season, starring in the London in 1900 and during many subsequent sea- title role. sons by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. Gilbert’s “fleshly poet,” Bunthorne, is modeled I began my own performing career in the role of not just on Oscar Wilde, as is popularly supposed, Grosvenor at a theater on Cape Cod run by Oberlin but on a composite of Wilde and the then-better- College, inspiring a life-long love of Gilbert and known Swinburne and Rossetti. The pastoral Gros- Sullivan. Our Bunthorne in that production: a young venor was inspired by and Coventry and brilliant Harvard actor—John Lithgow. ❦ 3 ❦ PLOT SYNOPSIS he and Patience were childhood elderly Lady Jane. He and she plot ACT I: Twenty love-sick maidens sweethearts. They instantly fall in to defeat his new rival. pine for the aesthetic poet Regi- love. He explains that he too is a Meanwhile, the Duke, Colonel nald Bunthorne, who himself loves poet, but it is his fate to be madly and Major appear dressed in a milkmaid, Patience. She, how- loved by every woman he meets. “Aesthetic” garb, determined to ever, claims to be happier without Realizing that he is Perfection, win back their fiancées. Bunthorne love at all. The previous year, the Patience is forced to reject him— confronts Grosvenor and theatens maidens were all engaged to the true love must be unselfish, and to curse him unless he will “de- local dragoon guards, but their there can be nothing unselfish in aestheticize” himself. Grosvenor tastes have since been “ethereal- loving such a flawless man! yields and Bunthorne himself ized” by their ideal, Bunthorne. Also rejected by Patience, becomes happy and natural. Thus The girls all worship him, but the Bunthorne plans to raffle himself attractively changed, Patience can dragoons see through his pose. off to the maidens, but is halted no longer love him “unselfishly,” Alone, Bunthorne confesses that when Patience declares she has so she returns to Grosvenor—who he is indeed an aesthetic sham— decided to love him—unselfishly. is again eligible because he is now his only motivation is his love of When the gorgeous Grosvenor so ordinary! The love-sick maidens female adoration. Lady Angela arrives, the maidens immediately return to their dragoons, Lady explains to Patience that true love abandon Bunthorne and group Jane is wooed by the Duke, and must be totally unselfish and so themselves around their new ideal. no one at all is left to be Bun- she resolves to fall in love at once. ACT II: Bunthorne’s train of ad- thorne’s bride! The handsome Grosvenor arrives— mirers is now reduced to only the Raymond McCall

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR For more than 30 years little of everything: a well-known Wooster, its community and The Ohio Light Opera has been and lesser-known Gilbert and nearly 500,000 patrons who dedicated to producing, promo- Sullivan, a Viennese operetta, a have championed the company's ting and preserving the best of French operetta, an American dedication to operetta have given the traditional operetta reper- operetta and a revival of a long- OLO a reputation that reaches toire. In any summer season, forgotten work that is given a internationally. In no small way, 20,000 patrons come to hear much-deserved rebirth for an Albany Records has added to the and see more than sixty perfor- appreciative audience. This CD company’s success. The company mances of seven productions on set will hopefully give the oper- and the operetta art form are the beautiful campus of The Col- etta aficionado a taste of what indebted to John Ostendorf and lege of Wooster in Ohio. These makes this company unique. Albany for their commitment. shows offer the operetta fan a The support of the College of Steven Daigle ❦ 4 ❦ All Angela ATIENCE All our love is all for one, And cherishes the receipts! P Yet that love he heedeth not. Saphir ACT I He is coy and cares for none, Oh, happy receipts! Outside Castle Bunthorne Sad and sorry is our lot! Lady Jane (enters) Overture CD ONE, TRACK 1 Ah, misery! Fools! Opening TRACK 2 Ella Angela Maidens Go, breaking heart, I beg your pardon? Twenty love-sick maidens we, Go, dream of love requited! Jane Love-sick all against our will. Go, foolish heart, Fools and blind! The man loves, Twenty years hence we shall be Go, dream of lovers plighted. wildly loves! Twenty love-sick maidens still! Go, madcap heart, Angela Twenty love-sick maidens we, Go, dream of never waking; But whom? None of us! And we die for love of thee...! And in thy dream, Jane Angela Forget that thou art breaking... No, none of us. His weird fancy Love feeds on hope, they say, All has lighted, for the nonce, on Or love will die. Twenty love-sick maidens we... Patience, the village milkmaid! All Saphir Ah, misery...! Dialogue TRACK 3 On Patience? Oh, it cannot be! Angela Angela Jane Yet my love lives, although no hope There is a strange magic in this love Bah! But yesterday I caught him in have I! Alas, poor heart, go hide of ours! Rivals as we all are in the her dairy, eating fresh butter with a thyself away, to weeping concords affections of our Reginald, the very tune thy roundelay! Ah, misery. hopelessness of our love is a bond that binds us to one another! Saphir Jealousy is merged with misery. While he, the very cynosure of our eyes and hearts, remains icy insen- sible. What have we to strive for? Ella The love of maidens is, to him, as interesting as the taxes! Saphir Would that it were! He pays Lady Angela (Tania Mandzy, left) laments his taxes. with Lady Saphir (Chelsea Basler, at right). Lady Jane (Julie Wright Costa). ❦ 5 ❦ tablespoon. Today he is not well! Who foolishly hug and foster it. Saphir If love is a weed, how simple they But Patience boasts that she has Who gather it, day by day! never loved—that Love to her is a If love is a nettle sealed book! Oh, he cannot be That makes you smart, serious! Then why do you wear it Jane Next your heart? Tis but a fleeting fancy; ’twill quick- And if it be none of these, say I, ah ly wear away. (aside) Oh, Reginald, Why do you sit and sob and sigh? if you but knew what a wealth of Though everywhere... golden love is stored up in this rugged old bosom of mine, the Dialogue TRACK 5 milkmaid’s triumph would be short Angela indeed! (Patience appears.) Patience, if you have never loved, you have never known true hap- Scene TRACK 4 Patience (Cecily Ellis-Bills) and Maidens. piness! Patience (aside) Patience Patience Still brooding on their mad in- But the truly happy always seem to I cannot tell what this love may be fatuation! I thank thee, Love, have so much on their minds. The That cometh to all but not to me. thou comest not to me! Far truly happy never seem quite well. It cannot be kind, as they’d imply, happier I, free from thy minis- Jane Or why do these ladies sigh? tration, than dukes or duchesses There is a transcendentality of It cannot be joy and rapture deep, who love can be! delirium, an acute accentuation of Or why do these gentle ladies weep. Saphir supremest ecstasy—which the It cannot be blissful as ’tis said, or ’Tis Patience, happy girl! Loved earthy might easily mistake for Why are their eyes so wond’rous red? by a poet! indigestion. But it is not indigestion, Though everywhere true love I see Patience (approaches) it is æsthetic transfiguration! A-coming to all, but not to me. Your pardon, ladies. I intrude Enough of babble. Come! I cannot tell what this love may be! upon you! (She starts to leave.) Patience For I am blithe and I am gay, Angela But stay, I have some news for you. While they sit sighing night and day. Nay, pretty child, come hither. Is it The 35th Dragoon Guards have Think of the gulf twixt them and me true that you have never loved? halted in the village, and are even Fa la la la and misery...! Patience now on their way to this very spot. Maidens Most true indeed. Angela Yes, she is blithe... Maidens The 35th Dragoon Guards! Most marvellous! And most Patience Saphir deplorable! If love is a thorn, they show no wit They are fleshly men, of full habit! ❦ 6 ❦ Ella As a Heavy Dragoon. Yes, yes...! Peak-haunting Peveril, We care nothing for Dragoon Take all the remarkable people Thomas Aquinas, Guards! In history, And Doctor Sacheverell, Patience Rattle them off to a popular tune: Tupper and Tennyson, Daniel Defoe But, bless my heart, you were all The pluck of Lord Nelson Anthony Trollope and Mr. Guizot! engaged to them a year ago! On board of the Victory, Yes! Ah! Take of these elements Saphir Genius of Bismarck devising a plan. All that is fusible, A year ago! The humor of Fielding, Melt them all down Angela Which sounds contradictory, In a pipkin or crucible, My poor child, you don’t under- Coolness of Paget about to trepan, Set them to simmer, stand these things. A year ago they The science of Julien, And take off the scum, were very well in our eyes, but since The eminent musico, And a Heavy Dragoon then our tastes have been ether- Wit of Macaulay, Is the residuum! Yes...! ealized, our perceptions exalted. (to Who wrote of Queen Anne, If you want a receipt the others) Come, it is time to lift The pathos of Paddy, For that soldier-like paragon, up our voices in morning carol to As rendered by Boucicault, style of Get at the wealth of the Czar our Reginald. Let us to his door! The Bishop of Sodor and Man, If you can, the family pride The dash of a D’Orsay, Of a Spaniard from Aragon, Chorus TRACK 6 Divested of quackery, Force of Mephisto Maidens (departing) Narrative powers of Dickens and Pronouncing a ban. Twenty love-sick maidens we... Thackeray, Victor Emmanuel, A smack of Lord Waterford, Reckless and rollicky, Chorus and Song TRACK 7 Swagger of Roderick, Dragoons (entering noisily) Heading his clan, The soldiers of our Queen The keen penetration Are linked in friendly tether; Of Paddington Pollaky, Upon the battle scene Grace of an Odalisque on a divan. They fight the foe together. The genius strategic There every mother’s son Of Caesar or Hannibal, Prepared to fight and fall is; Skill of Sir Garnet The enemy of one In thrashing a cannibal, The enemy of all is...! Flavor of Hamlet, Colonel, Dragoons The Stranger, a touch of him, If you want a receipt Little of For that popular mystery, But not very much of him, Known to the world The Colonel (Boyd Mackus). Beadle of Burlington ❦ 7 ❦ Richardson’s show, Mr. Micawber Major Duke And Madame Tussaud! Yes! Ah! Very! Exactly! That’s it exactly! That Take of these... Colonel describes me to a T! Thank you all We are all fond of toffee. very much! Well, I couldn’t stand it Dialogue TRACK 8 All any longer, so I joined this second- Colonel We are! class cavalry regiment. In the army, Well, here we are once more on Duke thought I, I should be occasionally the scene of our former triumphs. Yes, and toffee in moderation is a snubbed, perhaps even bullied, But where’s the Duke? capital thing. But to live on toffee— who knows? The thought was Duke toffee for breakfast, toffee for rapture, and here I am. Here I am! (comes forward, sighing) dinner, toffee for tea—to have it Colonel supposed that you care for nothing Scene TRACK 9 Come, cheer up, don’t give way! but toffee, and that you would Colonel (looking off) Duke consider yourself insulted if any- Yes, and here are the ladies! Oh, for that, I’m as cheerful as a thing but toffee were offered to Duke poor devil can be expected to be you... how would you like that? But who is the gentleman with the who has the misfortune to be a Colonel long hair? Duke, with a thousand a day! I can quite believe that, under those Colonel Major circumstances, even toffee would I don’t know. Humph! Most men would envy you! become monotonous. Duke Duke Duke He seems popular! Envy me? Tell me, Major, are you For “toffee” read flattery, adulation, Colonel fond of toffee? and abject deference, carried to He does seem popular! (Bunthorne such a pitch that I began, at last, to enters, followed by the Maidens.) think that man was born bent at an Maidens angle of forty-five degrees! Great In a doleful train, heavens, what is there to adulate in Two and two we walk all day, me? Am I particularly intelligent, or For we love in vain! remarkably studious, or excru- None so sorrowful as they ciatingly witty, or unusually accom- Who can only sigh and say plished, or exceptionally virtuous? “Woe is me, alackaday!” Colonel Dragoons You’re about as commonplace a Now is not this ridiculous, young man as ever I saw. And is not this preposterous? All A thorough-paced absurdity. The Duke (Drake Dantzler, right) and the Major (Cory Clines, at left). You are! Explain it if you can. ❦ 8 ❦ Dialogue TRACK 10 Colonel Angela, what is the meaning of this? Angela Oh sir, leave us; our minds are but ill-tuned to light love-talk. Reginald Major Bunthorne But what in the world has come (Kyle Knapp) with over you all? Maidens. Jane Bunthorne! He has come over us. Instead of rushing eagerly I hear plainly all they say, He has come among us, and he To cherish us and foster us, Twenty love-sick maidens they! has idealized us. They all prefer Dragoons (to each other) Duke This melancholy, literary man. He hears plainly... Has he succeeded in idealizing Instead of slyly peering at us, Saphir you? Casting looks endearing at us, Though so excellently wise, Jane Blushing at us, flushing at us, For a moment mortal be. He has! Flirting with a fan— Deign to raise thy purple eyes Duke They’re actually sneering at us, From thy heart-drawn poesy. Good old Bunthorne! Fleering at us, jeering at us! Twenty love-sick maidens see, Jane Pretty sort of treatment Each is kneeling on her knee! My eyes are open. I droop des- For a military man...! Maidens pairingly. I am soulfully intense. Angela (to Bunthorne) Twenty love-sick maidens, see... I am limp and I cling! Mystic poet, hear our prayer. Bunthorne (aside) Bunthorne (coming forward) Twenty love-sick maidens we, Though, as I remarked before, Finished! At last! Finished! Young and wealthy, dark and fair, Any one convinced would be Colonel (intercepts him) All of county family. That some transcendental lore Are you better now? And we die for love of thee, Is monopolizing me, Bunthorne Twenty love-sick maidens we! Round the corner I can see Yes! (sees him) Oh, it’s you! I am Maidens Each is kneeling on her knee! better now. The poem is finished, and my soul has gone out into it. Yes, we die... Dragoons (to each other) Bunthorne (aside, slyly) That was all. It was nothing worth Round the corner... Though my book I seem to scan mentioning, it occurs three times a All (variously) In a rapt, ecstatic way, day. Ah, Patience! Dear Patience! Now is not this ridiculous... Like a literary man Angela In a doleful train... Who despises female clay, Will it please you read it to us, sir? ❦ 9 ❦ Saphir they are only uncompounded pills? Empyrean. You are not Della Oh! This we supplicate. Is it, and can it be, Nature hath this Cruscan. You are not even Early Bunthorne decree: nothing poetic in the world English. Oh, be Early English ere it Shall I? shall dwell? Or that in all her works is too late! Dragoons something poetic lurks, even in col- Jane (looking at their uniforms) No! ocynth and calomel? I cannot tell. Red and Yellow! Primary colors! Bunthorne (to Patience) Angela Oh, South Kensington! I will read it if you bid me! How purely fragrant! Duke Patience Saphir We didn’t design our uniforms, You can if you like! How earnestly precious! but we don’t see how they could Bunthorne Patience be improved! It is a wild, weird, fleshy thing, yet Well, it seems to me to be Jane very tender, very yearning, very... nonsense. No, you wouldn’t. Still, there is a precious. It is called “Oh, Hollow! Saphir cobwebby grey velvet, with a tender Hollow! Hollow!” Nonsense, yes, perhaps, but oh, bloom like cold gravy, which, made Patience what precious nonsense! Florentine fourteenth century, Is it a hunting song? Colonel (to the girls) trimmed with Venetian leather and Bunthorne This is all very well, but you seem to Spanish altar lace, and surmounted A hunting song? No, it is not a forget that you are engaged to us. with something Japanese—it hunting song. It is the wail of the Saphir matters not what—would at least poet’s heart on discovering that It can never be. You are not be Early English! Come, maidens. everything is commonplace. To understand it, cling passionately to one another and think of faint lilies. (They do so as he recites.) “Oh hollow, hollow, hollow!” What time the poet hath hymned the writhing maid, lithe-limbed, quivering on amaranthine asphodel. How can he paint her woes, know- ing, as well he knows, that all can be set right with calomel? When from the poet’s plinth the amorous colocynth yearns for the aloe, faint with rapturous thrills, How can he hymn their throes knowing, as well he knows, that The Love-Sick Maidens and the 35th Dragoon Guards. ❦ 10 ❦ Scene TRACK 11 They will see Maidens (going) That I’m freely gold-laced Twenty love sick maidens, we... In a uniform handsome and chaste.” Duke (after they are gone) But the peripatetics Gentlemen, this is an insult to the Of long-haired æsthetics British uniform! Are very much more to their taste. Colonel Which I never counted upon, A uniform that has been as When I first put this uniform on! successful in the courts of Venus Men as on the field of Mars! By a simple coincidence... (The Dragoons go off angrily.) Colonel Bunthorne’s Confession When I first put this uniform on, Scene TRACK 12 You must lie upon the daisies I said, as I looked in the glass, Bunthorne (tip-toes in) And discourse in novel phrases “It’s one to a million Am I alone and unobserved? I am! Of your complicated state of mind. That any civilian Then let me own: I’m an æsthetic The meaning doesn’t matter My figure and form will surpass. sham! This air severe is but a mere If it’s only idle chatter Gold lace has a form for the fair, veneer! This cynic smile is but a wile Of a Transcendental kind. And I’ve plenty of that, of guile! This costume chaste is but And ev’ry one will say, And to spare, good taste misplaced! Let me con- As you walk your mystic way, While a lover’s professions, fess: a languid love for lilies does “If this young man expresses himself When uttered in Hessians, not blight me! Lank limbs and hag- In terms too deep for me, Are eloquent ev’rywhere!” gard cheeks do not delight me! I Why, what a very singularly A fact that I counted upon, do not care for dirty greens by any Deep young man When I first put this uniform on! means. I do not long for all one sees This deep young man must be!” Dragoons that’s Japanese. I am not fond of By a simple coincidence few uttering platitudes in stained-glass Be eloquent in phrase Could ever have counted upon, attitudes. In short, my Med- Of the very dull old days The same thing occurred to me, iævalism’s affectation, born of a Which have long since passed away, When I first put this uniform on! morbid love of admiration! And convince ’em, if you can, That the reign of good Queen Anne Colonel If you’re anxious for to shine Was Culture’s palmiest day. I said when I first put it on, In the high æsthetic line Of course, you will pooh-pooh “It is plain to the veriest dunce, As a man of culture rare, Whatever’s fresh and new, That every beauty You must get up all the germs And declare it crude and mean, Will feel it her duty Of the transcendental terms, For Art stopped short To yield to its glamour at once. And plant them ev’rywhere. In the cultivated court ❦ 11 ❦ Of the Empress Josephine. Patience (aloud) Patience, you don’t like And ev’ryone will say, No, thanks, I’ve dined; but I poetry Well, between you and me, As you walk your mystic way, I beg your pardon—I interrupt you. I don’t like poetry. It’s hollow, un- “If that’s not good enough for him Bunthorne substantial, unsatisfactory. What’s Which is good enough for me, Life is made up of interruptions. the use of yearning for Elysian Fields Why, what a very cultivated The tortured soul, yearning for when you know you can’t get ’em, Kind of youth solitude, writhes under them. Oh, and would only let ’em out on This kind of youth must be!” but my heart is a-weary! Oh, I am building leases if you had ’em? Then a sentimental passion a cursed thing! Don’t go. Patience Of a vegetable fashion Patience Sir, I... Must excite your languid spleen, Really, I’m very sorry. Bunthorne An attachment à la Plato Bunthorne Patience, I have long loved you. For a bashful young potato, Tell me, girl, do you ever... yearn? Let me tell you a secret: I am not as Or a not-too-French, French bean! Patience (misunderstanding him) bilious as I look. If you like, I will cut Though the Philistines may jostle, I earn my living. my hair. There is more innocent fun You will rank as an apostle Bunthorne within me than a casual spectator In the high æsthetic band, No, no! Do you know what it is to would imagine. You have never If you walk down Piccadilly be heart-hungry? Do you know seen me frolicsome. Be a good girl, With a poppy or a lily what it is to yearn for the Inde- a very good girl—and one day you In your mediæval hand. finable and yet to be brought face shall. If you are fond of touch-and- And ev’ryone will say, to face, daily, with the Multiplication go jocularity, this is the shop for it. As you walk your flow’ry way, Table? Do you know what it is to Patience “If he’s content seek oceans and to find puddles?— Sir, I will speak plainly. In the With a vegetable love That’s my case. Oh, I am a cursed matter of love I am untaught. I have Which would certainly not suit me, thing! (She starts to leave.) never loved but my great-aunt. But I Why, what a most particularly Don’t go. am quite certain that, under any Pure young man Patience circumstances, I couldn’t possibly This pure young man must be!” If you please, I don’t understand love you. you. You frighten me! Bunthorne Bunthorne Oh, you think not? Dialogue TRACK 13 Bunthorne (seeing Patience enter) Don’t be frightened. It’s only poetry. Patience Ah! Patience, come hither. I am Patience I’m quite sure of it. Quite sure! pleased with thee. The bitter- Well, if that’s poetry, I don’t like Quite! hearted one, who finds all else poetry. Bunthorne hollow, is pleased with thee. For Bunthorne (eagerly) Very good. Life is henceforth a you are not hollow. Are you? Don’t you? (aside) Can I trust her? blank. I don’t care what becomes of ❦ 12 ❦ me. I have only to ask that you will emotion in this whirlpool of grasp- you have never loved anybody? not abuse my confidence; though ing greed! Patience you despise me, I am extremely Patience (upset) Yes, one. popular with the other young ladies. Oh, dear, oh! Angela Patience Angela Ah! Whom? I only ask that you leave me and Why are you crying? Patience never renew the subject. Patience My great-aunt... Bunthorne To think that I have lived all these Angela Certainly. Broken-hearted and years without having experienced Great-aunts don’t count. desolate, I go. (recites) this ennobling and unselfish passion. Patience “Oh, to be wafted away, Why, what a wicked girl I must be! Then there’s nobody. At least... no, From this black Aceldama of sorrow, For it is unselfish, isn’t it? nobody. Not since I was a baby. Where the dust of an earthy today Angela But that doesn’t count, I suppose. Is the earth of a dusty tomorrow!” Absolutely! Love that is tainted Angela It is a little thing of my own. I call with selfishness is no Love. Oh, try, I don’t know. Tell me all about it. it “Heart Foam.” I shall not publish try, try to love! It really isn’t difficult it. Farewell! Patience, Patience, if you give your whole mind to it. Duet TRACK 14 farewell! (He goes.) Patience Patience Patience (after he departs) I’ll set about it at once. I won’t go Long years ago—fourteen, maybe, What on earth does it all mean? to bed until I’m head over ears in When but a tiny babe of four, Why does he love me? Why does love with somebody. Another baby played with me, he expect me to love him? He’s not Angela My elder by a year or more. a relation! It frightens me! Noble girl! But is it possible that A little child of beauty rare, Lady Angela (coming in) With marv’lous eyes Why, Patience, what is the matter? And wondrous hair, who Patience In my child-eyes, seemed to me Lady Angela, tell me two things. All that a little child should be! Firstly, what on earth is this love Ah, how we loved, that child and I! that upsets everybody; and, How pure our baby joy! secondly, how is it to be How true our love, and, by the bye, distinguished from insanity? He was a little boy! Angela Angela Poor blind child! Oh, forgive her, Ah, old, old tale of Cupid’s touch! Eros! Why, Love is of all passions I thought as much... the most essential! It is the embod- He was a little boy! iment of purity, the abstraction of Lady Angela and Patience discuss Patience (shocked) refinement! It is the one unselfish true love. Pray don’t misconstrue what I say; ❦ 13 ❦ Remember, pray, remember, pray, (Hey willow waly O!) be! Oh, how happy I am! I thought He was a little boy...! Grosvenor. we should never meet again! And Angela Prithee, pretty maiden, how you’ve grown! No doubt! Will you marry me? (Hey...) Grosvenor Yet, spite of all your pains, I may say at once, Yes, Patience, I am much taller and The interesting fact remains: I’m a man of property. (Hey...) much stouter than I was. He was a little boy...! Money, I despise it, Patience Many people prize it. (Hey...) And how you’ve improved! Patience (as Angela departs) Patience Grosvenor (sighing) It’s perfectly dreadful to think of Gentle sir, Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful! the appalling state I must be in! I Although to marry I design, (Hey..) Patience had no idea that love was a duty. As yet I do not know you, But surely that doesn’t make you No wonder they all look so un- And so I must decline. (Hey...) unhappy? happy! Upon my word I hardly like To other maidens go you, Grosvenor to associate with myself. I don’t As yet I do not know you, Yes, Patience. Gifted as I am with a think I’m respectable. I’ll go at Both beauty which probably has not its once and fall in love with... (Hey, willow waly O!) rival on earth, I am, nevertheless, (Enter Grosvenor.) ...a stranger! utterly and completely miserable. Dialogue TRACK 16 Patience Duet TRACK 15 Grosvenor Oh, but why? Grosvenor Patience! Can it be that you don’t Prithee, pretty maiden, recognize me? Prithee, tell me true. (Hey, but Patience I’m doleful, willow willow waly!) Recognize you? No, indeed I don’t! Have you e’er a lover Grosvenor A-dangling after you? Have fifteen years so greatly (Hey willow waly O!) changed me? I would fain discover Patience If you have a lover! (Hey willow...) Fifteen years? What do you mean? Patience Grosvenor Gentle sir, my heart Have you forgotten the friend of Is frolicsome and free, (Hey, but your youth, your Archibald? Your He’s doleful, willow willow waly!) little playfellow? Oh, Chronos, Nobody I care for comes Chronos, this is too bad of you! A-courting me. (Hey willow...!) Patience Nobody I care for Archibald! Is it possible? Why, let Comes a-courting, therefore me look at you! It is! It is! It must Archibald Grosvenor (Jon Gerhard). ❦ 14 ❦ Grosvenor been deaf to the voice of love. I perfection, again you interpose My child love for you has never seem now to know what love is! between me and my happiness! faded. Conceive then the horror of It has been revealed to me: it is Patience my situation when I tell you that it Archibald Grosvenor! Oh, if you were but a thought less is my hideous destiny to be madly Grosvenor beautiful than you are! loved at first sight by every woman Yes, Patience, it is! Grosvenor I come across! Patience Would that I were; but candor Patience We will never, never part! compels me to admit that I’m not! But why do you make yourself so Grosvenor Patience picturesque? Why not disguise We will live and die together! Our duty is clear: we must part, yourself, disfigure yourself, any- Patience and forever! thing to escape this persecution? I swear it! Grosvenor Grosvenor Grosvenor Oh, misery! And yet I cannot No, Patience, that may not be. We both swear it! question the propriety of your These gifts—irksome as they are— Patience (recoiling from him) decision. Farewell, Patience! were given to me for the enjoy- But... Oh, horror! Patience ment and delectation of my fellow Grosvenor Farewell, Archibald! But stay! creatures. I am a Trustee for Beauty, What’s the matter? Grosvenor and it is my duty to see that the Patience Yes, Patience? conditions of my trust are faith- Why, you are perfection! A Patience fully discharged. source of endless ecstasy to all Although I may not love you—for Patience who know you! you are perfection—there is nothing And you, too, are a Poet? Grosvenor to prevent your loving me. I am Grosvenor I know I am. Well? Yes, I am the Apostle of Simplicity. Patience I am called “Archibald the All- Then, bless my heart, there can be Right,” for I am infallible! nothing unselfish in loving you! Patience Grosvenor And is it possible that you con- Merciful powers! I never thought descend to love such a girl as I? of that! Grosvenor Patience Yes, Patience, is it not strange? I To monopolize those features on have loved you with a Florentine which all women love to linger! It fourteenth-century frenzy for a full would be unpardonable! fifteen years! Grosvenor Patience Why, so it would! Oh, fatal Patience realizes she cannot love Oh, marvellous! I have hitherto Grosvenor. ❦ 15 ❦ plain, homely, unattractive! Fickle Fortune will decide who solicitor...! Grosvenor Shall be our Bunthorne’s bride...! Dragoons Why, that’s true! Let the merry... A hideous curse on his solicitor...! Patience (Enter Dragoons, led by Colonel, Colonel, Dragoons The love of such a man as you for Major and the Duke.) Stay, we implore you, such a girl as I must be unselfish! Dragoons (to Bunthorne) Before our hopes are blighted; Grosvenor Now tell us, we pray you, You see before you Unselfishness itself! Why thus they array you. The men to whom you’re plighted! Oh, poet, how say you. Stay, we implore you...! Duet TRACK 17 What is it you’ve done...? Patience Duke Song TRACK 2 Though to marry you Of rite sacrificial, Duke Would very selfish be... By sentence judicial, Your maiden hearts, ah do not steel Grosvenor This seems the initial, To pity’s eloquent appeal, (Hey, but I’m doleful...) Then why don’t you run? Such conduct British soldiers feel. Patience Colonel Sigh, sigh, all sigh! (They all sigh.) You may, all the same, They cannot have led you To foeman’s steel we rarely see Continue loving me... To hang or behead you, A British soldier bend the knee, Grosvenor Nor may they all wed you, Yet, one and all, they kneel to ye. (Hey...) Unfortunate one! Kneel, kneel, all kneel! (All kneel.) Both Dragoons Our soldiers very seldom cry, All the world ignoring, Then tell us, we pray you... And yet I need not tell you why. You’ll/ I’ll go on adoring, Bunthorne A tear-drop dews each martial eye! (Hey, willow waly O!) (They go Heartbroken at my Patience’s Weep, weep, all weep! (All weep.) off in opposite directions.) barbarity, by the advice of my END CD ONE solicitor, (introduces his solicitor) in aid of a deserving charity, I’ve Finale CD TWO, TRACK 1 put myself up to be raffled for! (Bunthorne enters, crowned with Maidens roses and followed by Maidens.) By the advice of his solicitor, Maidens He’s put himself up to be raffled for! Let the merry cymbals sound, Dragoons Gaily pipe Pandæan pleasure, With a Daphnephoric bound Oh, horror! Urged by his solicitor, Tread a gay but classic measure. He’s put himself up to be raffled for! Ev’ry heart with hope is beating, Maidens Oh, heaven’s blessing on his For at this exciting meeting The Duke appeals to the Maidens. ❦ 16 ❦ All Bunthorne (aside) Patience Our/We soldiers very seldom... Oh, Fortune, this is hard! (aloud) No! (kneeling before him) Bunthorne (interrupting this) Blindfold your eyes. Two minutes If there be pardon in your breast Come, walk up, will decide who wins the prize! For this poor penitent, And purchase with avidity, (Maidens blindfold themselves.) Who, with remorseful thought Overcome your diffidence Maidens Opprest, sincerely doth repent; And natural timidity. Oh, Fortune, If you, with one so lowly, Tickets for the raffle should be To my aching heart be kind; Still desire to be allied, Purchased with rapidity, Like us, thou art blindfolded, Then you may take me, if you will, Put in half a guinea and a husband But not blind! For I will be your bride! You may gain. (Each uncovers one eye.) All Such a judge of blue-and-white Just raise your bandage, thus, Oh, shameless one! And other kinds of pottery. That you may see, Oh, bold-faced thing! From early Oriental down And give the prize to me! Away you run. To modern terra-cottary. (They cover their eyes again.) Go, take your wing... Put in half a guinea, Bunthorne Bunthorne (delighted) You may draw him in a lottery, Come, Lady Jane, How strong is love! Such an opportunity I pray you draw the first! For many and many a week, May not occur again. Jane (joyfully) She’s loved me fondly, Maidens He loves me best! And has feared to speak, Such an opportunity... Bunthorne (aside) But Nature, (They all rush to purchase tickets.) I want to know the worst! For restraint too mighty far, Dragoons (Patience suddenly enters.) Has burst the bonds of Art, We’ve been thrown over, And here we are! We’re aware, but we don’t care. Scene TRACK 3 Patience There’s fish in the sea, Patience No, Mister Bunthorne, no. No doubt of it, Hold! Stay your hand! You’re wrong again. As good as ever came out of it, All (uncovering their eyes) Permit me. I’ll endeavor to explain: And some day What means this interference? True love must single-hearted be. We shall get our share, Of this bold girl All (variously) So we don’t care! I pray you make a clearance! Exactly so! Bunthorne (to Lady Jane) Jane Patience And are you going Away with you, From every selfish fancy free. A ticket for to buy? And to your milkpails go! No idle thought of gain or joy Jane (surprised) Bunthorne (suddenly) A maiden’s fancy should employ. Most certainly I am; She wants a ticket! Take a dozen! True love must be without alloy... Why shouldn’t I? Imposture to contempt must lead. ❦ 17 ❦ Blind vanity’s dissension’s seed. And who is this, whose manly face That it’s unselfish, goodness knows, It follows then, a maiden who Bears sorrow’s interesting trace? His shell-like ears he does not close Devotes herself to loving you All You won’t dispute it, I suppose? Is prompted by no selfish view... Yes, who is this... To their recital of their woes. Saphir Grosvenor Dragoons Are you resolved I am a broken-hearted troubadour, Oh, list while they a love confess To wed this shameless one? Whose mind’s æsthetic That words imperfectly express. Angela And whose tastes are pure! His shell-like ears, ah, do not close. Is there no chance for any other? Angela To blighted love’s distracting woes! Bunthorne (decisively) Æsthetic! He is æsthetic! Now is not this ridiculous... None! (Angela, Saphir, Ella take Grosvenor (General confusion.) the arms of the Colonel, Duke, Yes, yes. I am æsthetic and poetic! END ACT I and Major, while the Maidens Maidens (excited) gaze fondly at the others.) Then... we love you! ACT II Sextet (The Maidens leave the Dragoons Opening TRACK 5 I hear the soft note and kneel before Grosvenor.) (A glade. Jane is discovered leaning Of the echoing voice Dragoons on her cello. The Maidens are heard Of an old, old love, long dead. They love him! Horror! singing sadly in the distance.) It whispers my sorrowing heart Bunthorne, Patience Maidens “Rejoice,” They love him! Horror! On such eyes as maidens cherish For the last sad tear is shed. Grosvenor Let thy fond adorers gaze, The pain that is all They love me! Horror! Horror...! Or incontinently perish, But a pleasure will change, Oh, list while we a love confess In their all-consuming rays...! For the pleasure that’s all but pain. Again my cursed comeliness Jane And never, oh never, That words imperfectly express. The fickle crew have deserted Our hearts will range Spreads hopeless anguish Reginald and sworn allegiance to his From that old, old love again! And distress! Those shell-like ears, rival, and all, forsooth, because he All Ah, do not close. Thine ears, has glanced with passing favor on Yes, the pain that is all... Oh Fortune, do not close a puling milkmaid! Fools! Of that (Enter Grosvenor, reading. He To blighted love’s distracting woes! fancy he will soon weary, and then takes no notice of them. The To my intolerable woes. I, who alone am faithful to him, Maidens are fascinated by him.) Patience, All shall reap my reward. But do not List, Reginald, while I confess dally too long, Reginald, for my Scene TRACK 4 My jealousy I can’t express, charms are ripe, Reginald, and Angela A love that’s all unselfishness; already they are decaying. Better But who is this whose god-like grace Their love they openly confess; Proclaims he comes of noble race? secure me ere I have gone too far! ❦ 18 ❦ Fading is the taper waist, Grosvenor Shapeless grows the shapely limb. One of my own poems? Better And although severely laced, not, my child. They will not cure Spreading is the figure trim! thee of thy love. Stouter than I used to be, Ella Still more corpulent grow I. Mr. Bunthorne used to read us a There will be too much of me poem of his own every day. In the coming by-and-bye...! Saphir (She sadly departs.) And to do him justice, he read them extremely well. Chorus TRACK 7 Grosvenor (sourly) Maidens (enter with Grosvenor) Oh, did he so? Well, who am I Turn, oh, turn in this direction, that I should take upon myself to Shed, oh, shed a gentle smile. withhold my gifts from you? What Lady Jane yearns for Bunthorne. With a glance of sad perfection, am I but a Trustee? Here is a deca- Our poor fainting hearts beguile! Song TRACK 6 let, a pure and simple thing, a very On such eyes as maidens cherish... daisy; a babe might understand it. Jane (He sits; they group around him.) Sad is that woman’s lot who, year To appreciate it, it is not necessary to think of anything at all. by year, sees, one by one, her Dialogue TRACK 8 Angela beauties disappear. When Time, Grosvenor (aside) Let us think of nothing at all! grown weary of her heart-drawn The old, old tale. How rapturously sighs, impatiently begins to dim Grosvenor (recites) these maidens love me, and how Gentle Jane was as good as gold, her eyes! Compelled at last, in life’s hopelessly! Oh, Patience, Patience, uncertain gloamings, to wreathe She always did as she was told; with the love of thee in my heart, She never spoke her wrinkled brow with well-saved what have I for these poor mad combings, reduced, with rouge, When her mouth was full, maidens but an unvalued pity? Or caught bluebottles lip-shade, and pearly grey, to make Alas, they will die of hopeless love Their legs to pull, up for lost time as best she may! for me, as I shall die of hopeless Or spilt plum jam Silvered is the raven hair, love for thee! On her nice new frock, Spreading is the parting straight, Angela Or put white mice Mottled the complexion fair, Sir, will it please you read to us? In the eight-day clock, Halting is the youthful gait. Grosvenor (sighing) Or vivisected her last new doll, Hollow is the laughter free, Yes, child, if you will. What shall Or fostered a passion for alcohol. Spectacled the limpid eye. I read? And when she grew up Little will be left of me Angela She was given in marriage In the coming by-and-bye...! One of your own poems. To a first-class earl ❦ 19 ❦ Who keeps his carriage! Ella Felt no whim. I believe I am right in saying that Oh, sir, you are indeed a true poet, Though he charmed iron, there is not one word in that for you touch our hearts, and they It charmed not him. decalet which is calculated to go out to you! From needles and nails bring the blush of shame to the Grosvenor (aside) And knives he’d turn, cheek of modesty. This is simply cloying. (aloud) For he’d set his love Angela Ladies, I am sorry to appear un- On a Silver Churn! Not one; it is purity itself. gallant, but this is Saturday, and you Maidens Grosvenor have been following me about ever A Silver Churn? Here’s another: since Monday. I should like the Grosvenor Teasing Tom was a very bad boy, usual half-holiday. I shall take it as A Silver Churn! A great big squirt a personal favor if you will kindly His most æsthetic, very magnetic Was his favorite toy; allow me to close early today. Fancy took this turn: He put live shrimps Saphir If I can wheedle a knife or a needle In his father’s boots, Oh, sir, do not send us from you! Why not a Silver Churn? And sewed up sleeves Grosvenor Maidens Of his Sunday suits; Poor, poor girls! It is best to speak His most æsthetic... He punched plainly. I know that I am loved by Grosvenor His poor little sisters’ heads, you, but I never can love you in And Iron and Steel And cayenne-peppered return, for my heart is fixed else- Expressed surprise, Their four-post beds; where! Remember the fable of the The needles opened He plastered their hair Magnet and the Churn. Their well-drilled eyes. With cobbler’s wax, Angela But we don’t know the fable of And dropped hot halfpennies the Magnet and the Churn! Down their backs. Grosvenor The consequence was Don’t you? Then I will sing it to you. He was lost totally, And married a girl Song TRACK 9 In the corps de bally! Grosvenor Angela A magnet hung in a hardware shop, Marked you how grandly, how And all around was a loving crop relentlessly, the damning catalog Of scissors and needles, of crime strode on, till Retribution, Nails and knives, like a poisèd hawk, came swoop- Offering love for all their lives. ing down upon the wrong-doer? But for iron the magnet Oh, it was terrible! Grosvenor reads to the Maidens. ❦ 20 ❦ The pen-knives felt shut up, Grosvenor Patience No doubt, Love you? If the devotion of a Sir! this language to one who is The scissors declared lifetime (seizes her hand) promised to another! Oh, Archibald, Themselves “cut out.” Patience (indignantly) think of me sometimes, for my The kettles they boiled with rage, Hold! Unhand me, or I scream! heart is breaking! He is so unkind ’Tis said, If you are a gentleman, pray to me, and you would be so loving! While every nail went off its head. remember that I am another’s! Grosvenor And hither and thither But you do love me, don’t you? Loving! (advances towards her) Began to roam, Grosvenor Patience Till a hammer came up Madly, hopelessly, despairingly! Advance one step, and as I am a And drove them home. Patience good and pure woman, I scream! Maidens That’s right! I never can be yours, Farewell, Archibald! (sternly) Stop It drove them home? but that’s right! there! (tenderly) Think of me Grosvenor Grosvenor sometimes! (angrily) Advance at It drove them home! And you love this Bunthorne? your own peril! Once more, adieu! While this magnetic, Patience (She weeps as he leaves. Bunthorne Peripatetic lover he lived to learn: With a heart-whole ecstasy that enters followed by Jane who sings.) By no endeavor can magnet ever withers and scorches and burns Jane Attract a Silver Churn! and stings! It is my duty. In a doleful train... Maidens Grosvenor Bunthorne (seeing Patience.) While this magnetic... (They go off.) Admirable girl! But you are not Crying, eh? What are you crying happy with him? about? Dialogue TRACK 10 Patience Patience Grosvenor Happy? I am miserable beyond I’ve only been thinking how At last they are gone! What is this description! dearly I love you! mysterious fascination that I seem Grosvenor Bunthorne to exercise over all I come across? That’s right! I never can be yours, Love me! Bah! A curse on my fatal beauty, for I but that’s right! Jane am sick of conquests! Patience (turns) Love him! Bah! Grosvenor (turns and sees But go now. I see dear Reginald Bunthorne (to Jane) Patience enter) Patience! approaching. Farewell, dear Don’t you interfere. Patience Archibald. I cannot tell you how Jane (aside) I have escaped with difficulty from happy it has made me to know He always crushes me! my Reginald. I wanted to see you that you still love me. Patience so much that I might ask you if you Grosvenor What is the matter, dear Reginald? Ah, if I only dared... still love me as fondly as ever? If you have any sorrow, tell it to ❦ 21 ❦ me, that I may share it with you. Bunthorne Dialogue TRACK 12 It is my duty! I don’t believe you know what Bunthorne Bunthorne love is! Everything has gone wrong with Whom were you talking with Patience me since that smug-faced idiot just now? Yes, I do. There was a happy time came here. Before that I was Patience when I didn’t, but a bitter admired... I may say, loved. With dear Archibald. experience has taught me. Jane Bunthorne (furiously) Too mild... adored! “With dear Archibald!” Bunthorne Song TRACK 11 Upon my honor, this is too much! Patience Do let a poet soliloquize! The Jane Love is a plaintive song, damozels used to follow me A great deal too much! Sung by a suffering maid, wherever I went; now they all follow him! Bunthorne (angrily to her) Telling a tale of wrong, Jane Do be quiet! Telling of hope betrayed. Not all! I am still faithful to you. Jane Tuned to each changing note, Crushed again! Bunthorne Sorry when he is sad, Patience Yes, and a pretty damozel you are! Blind to his ev’ry mote, I think he is the noblest, purest, Jane Merry when he is glad...! most perfect being I have ever met. No, not pretty. Massive. Cheer up! Love that no wrong can cure, But I don’t love him. It is true that I will never leave you, I swear it! Love that is always new, he is devotedly attached to me, Bunthorne That is the love that’s pure, but I don’t love him. Whenever Oh, thank you! I know what it is: it’s he becomes affectionate, I scream. That is the love that’s true...! his confounded mildness. They find It is my duty! Rendering good for ill, me too highly spiced, if you please! Bunthorne Smiling at every frown, And no doubt I am highly spiced. I dare say! Yielding your own self-will, Jane Jane Laughing your tear-drops down. Not for my taste! So do I! I dare say! Never a selfish whim, Bunthorne Patience Trouble or pain to stir; No, but I am for theirs. But I will Why, how could I love him and Everything for him, show the world that I can be as mild love you too? You can’t love two Nothing at all for her! as he. If they want insipidity, they people at once! Love that will aye endure, shall have it. I’ll meet this fellow on Bunthorne Though the rewards be few, his own ground and beat him on it. Oh, can’t you, though! That is the love that’s pure, Jane Patience That is the love that’s true...! You shall. And I will help you. No, you can’t. I only wish (She goes off sadly.) Bunthorne you could. You will? Jane, there’s a good deal ❦ 22 ❦ of good in you, after all! Bunthorne It’s something like this sort of thing: To stuff his conversation You hold yourself like this, Duet TRACK 13 Full of quibble and of quiddity, You hold yourself like that, Jane To dine on chops and roly-poly By hook and crook you try to look So go to him and say to him, Pudding with avidity, Both angular and flat. With compliment ironical. He’d better clear away We venture to expect Bunthorne With all convenient rapidity. That what we recollect, Sing “Hey to you, Jane Though but a part of true High Art, Good-day to you,” Sing “Hey to you... Will have its due effect. And that’s what I shall say! Both If this is not exactly right, Jane Sing “Booh to you...” We hope you won’t upbraid. “Your style is much too sanctified, (They both go. Enter Duke, Colonel You can’t get high aesthetic tastes Your cut is too canonical.” and Major. They have abandoned Like trousers, ready made. Bunthorne their uniforms, and are dressed in True views on Medievalism Sing “Bah to you, ha! ha! to you!” imitation of Æsthetics. They walk Time alone will bring. And that’s what I shall say! in stiff and angular attitudes.) But, as far as we can judge, Jane It’s something like this sort of thing: “I was the beau ideal Trio TRACK 14 You hold yourself like this... Of the morbid young æsthetical, Duke, Colonel, Major To cultivate the trim To doubt my inspiration It’s clear that Medieval Art alone Rigidity of limb, Was regarded as heretical Retains its zest, You ought to get a Marionette, Until you cut me out To charm and please its devotees And form your style on him. With your placidity emetical.” We’ve done our little best. Both We’re not quite sure if all we do Dialogue TRACK 15 Sing “Booh to you, Has the Early English ring. Colonel (holding an attitude) Pooh, pooh to you...” But, as far as we can judge, Yes, it’s quite clear that our only Bunthorne I’ll tell him that unless he will Consent to be more jocular... Jane Sing “Booh to you...” Bunthorne The Colonel (far left), Duke To cut his curly hair, and stick (center) and An eyeglass in his ocular. Major (right) Jane try to adopt the Æsthetic Sing “Bah to you...” Style. ❦ 23 ❦ chance of making a lasting im- summately utter. Saphir pression on these young ladies is to Saphir (in admiration) Which we have every reason to become as æsthetic as they are. How Botticellian! How Fra Angel- believe he will... Major (likewise) ican! Oh Art, we thank thee for Major (aside, in agony) No doubt. The only question is how this boon! I wish they’d make haste! far we’ve succeeded in doing so. I Colonel (apologetically) Angela don’t know why, but I’ve an idea I’m afraid we’re not quite right. We are not prepared to say that that this is not quite right. Angela our yearning hearts will not go Duke (likewise) Not supremely, perhaps, but oh, so out to you. I don’t like it. I never did. I don’t all-but! Oh, Saphir, are they not Colonel see what it means. I do it, but I quite too all-but? By sections of threes: Rapture! don’t like it. Saphir (They strike a fresh attitude.) Colonel They are indeed jolly-utter! Saphir My good friend, the question is not Major (in agony) Oh, it’s extremely good—for whether we like it, but whether I wonder what the Inner Brother- beginners, it’s admirable. they do. They understand these hood usually recommend for Major things; we don’t. Now, I shouldn’t cramp? The only question is, who will be surprised if this is effective Colonel take who? enough, at a distance. Ladies, we will not deceive you. Colonel Major We are doing this at some personal Oh, the Duke chooses first, as a I can’t help thinking we’re a little inconvenience with a view of ex- matter of course. stiff at it. It would be extremely pressing the extremity of our devo- Duke awkward if we were to be tion to you. We trust that it is not Oh, I couldn’t thank of it—you are struck so! without its effect. really too good! Colonel Angela Colonel I don’t think we shall be struck so. We will not deny that we are Nothing of the kind. You are a great Perhaps we’re a little awkward at much moved by this proof of your matrimonial fish, and it’s only fair first, but everything must have a attachment. that each of these ladies should beginning. Oh, here they come! Saphir have a chance of hooking you. It’s Attention! (They strike fresh atti- Yes, your conversion to the perfectly simple. Observe: suppose tudes, as Angela and Saphir enter.) principles of Æsthetic Art in its you choose Angela, I take Saphir, Angela (seeing them) highest development has touched Major takes nobody. Suppose you us deeply. Oh, Saphir, see! see! The immortal choose Saphir, Major takes Angela, I Angela fire has descended on them, and take nobody. Suppose you choose And if Mr. Bunthorne should they are of the Inner Brotherhood: neither, I take Angela, Major takes remain obdurate... perceptively intense and con- Saphir. Clear as day! ❦ 24 ❦ Quintet TRACK 16 Colonel Dialogue TRACK 17 Duke (taking Saphir’s hand) In that case unprecedented, Grosvenor If Saphir I choose to marry, Single I shall live and die. It is very pleasant to be alone. It is I shall be fixed up for life; I shall have to be contented pleasant to be able to gaze at lei- Then the Colonel need not tarry; With their heartfelt sympathy! sure upon those features which all Angela can be his wife. All others may gaze upon at their good Major He will have to be contented... will! (Looking at his reflection in In that case unprecedented, Duke hand-mirror.) Ah, I am a very Single I shall live and die. After some debate internal, Narcissus! (Enter Bunthorne.) I shall have to be contented If on neither I decide, Bunthorne With their heartfelt sympathy! Saphir then can take the Colonel, It’s no use: I can’t live without All Five Angy be the Major’s bride. admiration. Since Grosvenor came He will have to be contented... In that case unprecedented, here, insipidity has been at a In that case unprecedented... Single I shall live and die. premium. Ah, he is there! Grosvenor Duke (taking Angela) I shall have to be contented Ah, Bunthorne! Come here. Look! If on Angy I determine, With their heartfelt sympathy! Very graceful, isn’t it! At my wedding she’ll appear, All Bunthorne (taking the hand- Decked in diamond and ermine. He will have to be contented... mirror) Allow me; I haven’t seen it. Major then can take Saphir! (They dance off, arm-in-arm. Enter Grosvenor with a mirror.) Yes, it is... graceful. Grosvenor (taking back the mirror) Oh, good gracious! Not that. This! Bunthorne You don’t mean that! Bah! I am in no mood for trifling. Grosvenor And what is amiss? Bunthorne Ever since you came here, you have entirely monopolized the attentions of the young ladies. I don’t like it, sir! Grosvenor My dear sir, how can I help it? They’re the plague of my life. My dear Mr. Bunthorne, with your (Left to right) Angela, Major, Duke, Colonel and Saphir reunited. ❦ 25 ❦ personal disadvantages, you can am very terrible. nephew’s curse... have no idea of the inconvenience Grosvenor Grosvenor of being madly loved, at first sight, I can’t help that. I am a man with a Hold! Are you absolutely resolved? by every woman you meet. mission. And that mission must be Bunthorne Bunthorne fulfilled. Absolutely! Sir, until you came here I Bunthorne Grosvenor was adored! I don’t think you quite appreciate Will nothing shake you? Grosvenor the consequences of thwarting me. Bunthorne Exactly—until I came here. That’s Grosvenor Nothing. I am adamant. my grievance. I cut everybody out! I don’t care what they are. Grosvenor I assure you, if you could only sug- Bunthorne Very good. Then I yield. gest some means whereby, con- Suppose—I won’t go so far as to Bunthorne sistently with my duty to society, I say that I will do it—but suppose Ha! You swear it? could escape these inconvenient for one moment that I were to Grosvenor attentions, you would earn my curse you? Ah! Very well. Take care. I do, cheerfully. I have long wished everlasting gratitude. Grosvenor for a reasonable pretext to make Bunthorne But surely you would never do that? such a change as you suggest. It has I will do so at once. However pop- Bunthorne come at last. I do it on compulsion! ular it may be with the world at I don’t know. It would be an ex- Bunthorne large, your personal appearance is treme measure, no doubt. Still... Victory! I triumph! highly objectionable to me. Grosvenor (wildly) Grosvenor But you would not do it. I am sure Duet TRACK 18 It is? Oh, thank you! thank you! you would not. Oh, reflect, reflect! Bunthorne How can I express my gratitude? You had a mother once. When I go out of door, Bunthorne Bunthorne Of damozels a score, By making a complete change at Never! All sighing and burning, once. Your conversation must Grosvenor And clinging and yearning, henceforth be perfectly matter-of- Then you had an aunt! Ah! I see Will follow me as before. fact. You must cut your hair, and you had! By the memory of that I shall, with cultured taste, have a back parting... In appear- aunt, I implore you to pause ere you Distinguish gems from paste, ance and costume you must be resort to this last fearful expedient. And “High diddle diddle” absolutely commonplace. Oh, Mr. Bunthorne, reflect, reflect! Will rank as an idyll, Grosvenor (decidedly) Bunthorne (aside) If I pronounce it chaste! No. Pardon me, that’s impossible. I must not allow myself to be Both Bunthorne unmanned! (aloud) It is useless. A most intense young man, Take care! When I am thwarted I Consent at once, or may a A soulful-eyed young man,

❦ 26 ❦ An ultra-poetical, super-æsthetical, A pushing young particle, Bunthorne Out-of-the-way young man! What’s the next article? Patience, I’m a changed man. Grosvenor Waterloo House young man! Hitherto I’ve been gloomy, moody, Conceive me, if you can, Both fitful, uncertain in temper and An every-day young man: Conceive me, if you can, selfish in disposition. A commonplace type, A crotchety, cracked young man, Patience With a stick and a pipe, A matter-of-fact young man, You have, indeed! And a half-bred black-and-tan, An ultra-poetical, super-æsthetical, Bunthorne Who thinks suburban hops An alphabetical, arithmetical, All that is changed. I have More fun than Monday Pops, Out-of-the way young man! reformed. I have modelled myself Who’s fond of his dinner, Everyday young man...! upon Mr. Grosvenor. Henceforth, I And doesn’t get thinner (At the end, Grosvenor dances off. am mildly cheerful. My conversation On bottled beer and chops. Bunthorne remains. ) will blend amusement with in- Both struction. I shall still be æsthetic, A commonplace young man, Scene TRACK 19 but my æstheticism will be of the A matter-of-fact young man, Bunthorne most pastoral kind. A steady and stolid-y, jolly Bank- It’s all right! I have committed my Patience holiday, every-day young man! last act of ill-nature and hence- Oh, Reginald! Is all this true? Bunthorne forth I’m a changed character. Bunthorne A Japanese young man, (Patience enters, gazes in Quite true. Observe how amiable I A blue-and-white young man, astonishment at Bunthorne.) am. (assuming a fixed smile) Francesca di Rimini, miminy, piminy, Patience Patience Je-ne-sais-quoi young man! Reginald! Dancing! And... what in But, Reginald, how long will Grosvenor the world is the matter with you? this last? A Chancery Lane young man, A Somerset House young man, A very delectable, highly respectable Threepenny-bus young man! Bunthorne A pallid and thin young man, A haggard and lank young man, A greenery-yallery, Grosvenor Gallery, Foot-in-the-grave young man! Grosvenor Patience realizes A Sewell and Cross young man, that she cannot An Howell and James young man, love Bunthorne. ❦ 27 ❦ Bunthorne girls and Dragoons.) Grosvenor With occasional intervals for rest Grosvenor (He and the maidens What is the matter? and refreshment, as long as I do. are dressed as commonplace Patience Patience young people.) It is quite, quite certain that you Oh, Reginald, I’m so happy! I’m a Waterloo House young man, will always be a commonplace Oh, dear, dear Reginald, I cannot A Sewell and Cross young man, young man? express the joy I feel at this change. A steady and stolid-y, Grosvenor It will no longer be a duty to love Jolly Bank-holiday, Always. I’ve sworn it. you, but a pleasure, a rapture, Every-day young man. Patience an ecstasy! Girls Why, then there’s nothing to Bunthorne We’re Swears and Wells young girls, prevent my loving you with all the My darling! We’re Madame Louise young girls, fervor at my command! Patience We’re prettily pattering, Grosvenor But... oh, horror! Cheerily chattering, Why, that’s true. Bunthorne Every-day young girls. Patience What’s the matter? My Archibald! Patience Dialogue TRACK 20 Grosvenor Is it quite certain that you have Bunthorne My Patience! (They embrace.) absolutely reformed, that you are Angela, Ella, Saphir... what... what Bunthorne henceforth a perfect being, utterly does this mean? Crushed again! free from defect of any kind? Angela (Enter Jane.) Bunthorne It means that Archibald the All- Jane It is quite certain. I have sworn it. Right cannot be all-wrong; and if Cheer up! I am still here. I have Patience the All-Right chooses to discard never left you, and I never will! Then I never can be yours! æstheticism, it proves that Bunthorne Bunthorne æstheticism ought to be discarded. Thank you, Jane. After all, there is Why not? Patience no denying it, you’re a fine figure Patience Oh, Archibald! Archibald! I’m of a woman! Love, to be pure, must be absolutely shocked, surprised, horrified! Jane unselfish, and there can be nothing Grosvenor My Reginald! unselfish in loving so perfect a I can’t help it. I’m not a free agent. Bunthorne being as you have now become! I do it on compulsion. My Jane! (Flourish. Enter Colonel, Bunthorne Patience Major and Duke.) But, stop a bit. I don’t want to This is terrible. Go! I shall never set Colonel change... I’ll relapse. I’ll be as I was. eyes on you again. But... oh, joy! Ladies, the Duke has at length Interrupted! (Enter Grosvenor, the determined to select a bride!

❦ 28 ❦ Duke Bunthorne With a tulip or lily! I have a great gift to bestow. Crushed again! All Approach, such of you as are truly He will have to be contented lovely. (The maidens all come Finale TRACK 21 With a tulip or lily! forward.) In personal appearance Duke In that case unprecedented... you have all that is necessary to After much debate internal, Greatly pleased with one another, make a woman happy. In common I on Lady Jane decide, To get married we/they decide. fairness, I think I ought to choose Saphir now may take the Colonel, Each of us/them will wed the other, the only one among you who has Angy be the Major’s bride! Nobody be Bunthorne’s Bride! the misfortune to be distinctly plain. Bunthorne (General merriment.) (The girls retire disappointed.) Jane! In that case unprecedented, END CD II / END ACT TWO Jane (immediately leaving Bun- Single I must live and die. thorne’s arms) Duke! I shall have to be contented

Ohio Light Opera Orchestra 2010 Michael Borowitz, Conductor

VIOLIN: Selim Giray, concertmaster Rebecca Cutler, Aysegul Giray, Andrew Lisbin, Zsolt Eder VIOLA: Gloria Britez Scolari, Luis Reyes CELLO: Eunkyung Son : Daniel Matlock FLUTE: Alison Crossley, Tyler Menzel CLARINET: Spencer Prewitt, Angela Occhionero OBOE: Elizabeth England BASSOON: Caitlin Weiners Michael Borowitz HORN: Matt Taylor, Dafydd Bevil Conductor TRUMPET: John Schuesselin, Spencer Aston John Schuesselin TROMBONE: Dave Day, Nolan Plunkett Orchestra Personnel Manager PERCUSSION: Ed Zaryky

❦ 29 ❦ THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER Liberal arts colleges are, in the words of President Grant H. Cornwell, ”an American invention.” A recent study measured the leading 50 colleges in three critical areas— educating scientists, educating leaders in international Grant H. Cornwell affairs, and educating business executives. Wooster is PRESIDENT one of only 21 colleges to earn a place in all three groups. It is also a school which is dedicated to the performing arts with strong programs in theater and music. Since establishing The Ohio Light Opera in 1979, Wooster has upheld the goals of providing young musicians with an opportunity to perform in a professional setting and of entertaining audiences with which charmed the publics of an earlier era.

❦ 30 ❦ The Ohio Light Opera 2010 Festival Staff Steven Daigle Artistic Director Julie Wright Associate Artistic Director Laura McGraw Neill Executive Director Michael Borowitz Music Director Jennifer K. Burns Production Stage Manager Brian Rudell Sound Designer Steven Daigle Julie Wright Costa Michael Borowitz Artistic Director Associate Artistic Director Music Director Acknowledgements: Grant Cornwell President, College of Wooster ADVISORY BOARD: Mr. & Mrs. William Blanchard Hon. John D. Ong Mrs. Harold Freedlander Barbara Robinson Mr. & Mrs. Frank L. Knorr John Schambach Boyd & Eloise Mackus Dave & Carol Sherck Michael & Nan Miller Mr. & Mrs. Ernest Stein

The production of Patience was partially underwritten by gifts Laura McGraw Neill John Ostendorf from the Laura B. Frick Charitable Executive Director Recording Producer Trust and LPC Publishing Company.

Albany’s Ohio Light Opera CD series also includes Gilbert & Sullivan’s , , , , and ; Victor Herbert’s Mlle. Modiste, Naughty Marietta, The Red Mill and Sweethearts, Kern’s The Cabaret Girl, Kalman’s Der Zigeunerprimas and Autumn Maneuvers; DeKoven’s Robin Hood; Offenbach’s Bluebeard and The Brigands, Friml’s The Vagabond King and The Firefly, Sousa’s El Capitan and Zeller’s The Birdseller. ❦ 31 ❦ PATIENCE CD ONE (53:28) 1 ACT ONE Overture (5:13) 2 Opening: “Twenty love-sick maidens” (4:28) 3 Dialogue: “There is a strange magic” (1:38) 4 Scene...Song: “Still brooding...I cannot tell” (3:36) 5 Dialogue: “Ah, Patience” (1:20) 6 Chorus: “Twenty love-sick maidens” (0:40) 7 Chorus...Song: “The soldiers...If you want” (3:17) 8 Dialogue: “Well, here we are” (1:57) 9 Scene: “Yes, and here...In a doleful train” (4:43) 10 Dialogue: “Angela, what is the meaning” (4:25) 11 Scene: “Twenty lovesick...When I first” (2:14) 12 Scene: “Am I alone...If you’re anxious” (4:29) 13 Dialogue: “Ah, Patience, come hither” (5:29) 14 Duet: “Long years ago” (2:43) 15 Duet: “Prithee, pretty maiden” (2:32) 16 Dialogue: “Patience, can it be?” (3:47) 17 Duet: “Tho’ to marry you” (0:47) CD TWO (61:51) 1 Finale: “Let the merry cymbals sound” (4:16) 2 Air: “Your maiden hearts” (3:56) 3 Scene: “Hold, stay your hand!” (6:11) 4 Scene: “But who is this?” (2:54) 5 ACT TWO Opening: “On such eyes” (2:00) 6 Song: “Sad is that woman’s lot” (4:38) 7 Chorus: “Turn, oh turn” (1:13) 8 Dialogue: “The old, old tale” (3:42) 9 Song: “A magnet hung” (2:04) 10 Dialogue: “At last they are gone” (3:54) 11 Song: “Love is a plaintive song” (3:13) 12 Dialogue: “Everything has gone wrong” (1:14) 13 Duet: “So go to him” (2:10) 14 Trio: “It’s clear that Medieval Art” (2:41) 15 Dialogue: “Yes, it’s quite clear” (3:20) 16 Quintet: “If Saphir I choose” (2:44) 17 Dialogue: “It is very pleasant” (3:36) 18 Duet: “When I go out of doors” (2:06) 19 Scene: “It’s all right!” (2:31) 20 Dialogue: “Angela, Ella, Saphir!” (1:56) 21 Finale: “After some debate” (1:12)

GILBERT &SULLIVAN

2-CD Set GILBERT& SULLIVAN PATIENCE

TROY 1241 / 42 TROY The G&S hilarious and tuneful

1881 spoof of Oscar Wilde and PATIENCE Cecily Ellis-Bills Kyle Knapp Jon Gerhard the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Patience Bunthorne Grosvenor Complete music and dialogue, recorded with Cast, Chorus and Orchestra at The Ohio Light Opera 2010 Festival, Michael Borowitz conducting and Steven

The Ohio Light Opera The Ohio Daigle directing. John Ostendorf, Michael Borowitz

Conductor TheOhioLightOpera recording producer. Julie Wright Chelsea Basler Tania Mandzy Lady Jane Lady Saphir Lady Angela PATIENCE

TROY 1241 /42 Boyd Mackus Drake Dantzler Cory Clines Steven Daigle Colonel Duke Major Artistic Director Albany Records U.S. 915 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207 CD ONE (53:28) Act One, Part I Tel: 518-436-8814 FAX:518-436-0643 CD TWO (61:51) Act One, Finale / Act Two Albany Records U.K. Box 137 Kendal, Cumbria LA80XD John Ostendorf, RECORDING PRODUCER Tel: 01539 824008 George Faddoul, Warren Bendler, RECORDING ENGINEERS Warning: Copyright subsists in all recordings issued under the label © 2010 Albany Records Robert Muller, PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY Made in the USA.www.albanyrecords.com Jennifer K. Burns, ASSISTANT TO THE PRODUCER GILBERT & SULLIVAN GILBERT &