Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Two Impressive Shows Open Locally

As long-time readers of Inverness Forest Today know, I occasionally discuss the productions of two local theater companies: The Potomac Theatre Company and The Victorian Lyric Opera Company.  Since I'm associated with both companies I get to see the rehearsals and watch the shows take shape.  In June each company will present their season's finale.  The Potomac Theatre Company will present the play, Don't Dress For Dinner while the Victorian Lyric Opera Company will present Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers.

Picture from the Art and Seek Blog
Don't Dress for Dinner is a two-act play by French playwright Marc Camoletti.  The Answer Girl blog provides the following summary: "Don't Dress for Dinner is a farce about a naughty weekend that goes wrong in every possible way. Bernard and Josephine are at their country house for the weekend, but as the play begins, Josephine is on her way to visit her mother. Before she leaves, she discovers that their best man, Robert, is coming to share Bernard's bachelor weekend; what Bernard doesn't know is that Robert and Jacqueline are actually having an affair.  So Jacqueline cancels her plans to visit her mother, but what she doesn't know is that Bernard had invited his own mistress, Suzanne, to spend the weekend while Jacqueline was away. He's also hired a cook to prepare a special dinner for him, Robert and his girlfriend; the cook's name is Suzette. Suzette arrives as Robert is alone in the house, expecting to meet Suzanne, and wackiness ensues."

The Gondoliers is equally zany.  (Picture and text from Wikipedia)
"The story of the opera concerns the young bride of the heir to the throne of Barataria who arrives in Venice to join her husband. It turns out, however, that he cannot be identified, since he was entrusted to the care of a drunken gondolier who mixed up the prince with his own son. To complicate matters, the King of Barataria has just been killed. The two young gondoliers must now jointly rule the kingdom until the nurse of the prince can be brought in to determine which of them is the rightful king. Moreover, when the young queen arrives to claim her husband, she finds that the two gondoliers have both recently gotten married. A last complicating factor is that she, herself, is in love with another man."

Show dates and ticket information can be found at:




I've been attend rehearsals of both shows and taking pictures.  The links to those pictures are here:

Don't Dress For Dinner Rehearsal pictures

Gondoliers Rehearsal pictures





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