Gilbert and Sullivan fans are big on the rhetoric of obsession. They call themselves “nuts” and refer to each other, admiringly, as “mad.” They all seem to have a story about the moment they got “hooked for life.” And the rhetoric fits–they really are crazed.
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The only thing that distinguishes Thespis, besides its chronological primacy, is the fact that it’s come down to us all but stripped of its music. Only two songs survive complete; one of them, “Climbing Over Rocky Mountain,” wound up in The Pirates of Penzance. The rest of Sullivan’s score disappeared at some unknown point, never to be seen again.
Kingsley Day became part of that tradition in 1982, when he heard that a now-defunct Chicago theater company, Pary Productions, was planning to produce Thespis but didn’t have any music for it. A self-professed G & S fanatic and an accomplished composer (his musical Summer Stock Murder was a hit that same year), Day offered his services. In one wild month he came up with a chamber production for voices and piano.
Lynch, Day, and Savoyaires musical director Dan Robinson have been working together since last November on developing and refining orchestrations for a 25-piece orchestra. This weekend the Savoyaires will mark their 40th anniversary by premiering the finished work. Lynch is in the cast, appropriately playing a character named Preposteros.
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