Achordants to perform fall concerts
The Achordants would agree they aren't your father's barbershop quartet.
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The Achordants would agree they aren't your father's barbershop quartet.
What happens when "Rocky Horror Picture Show" meets Gilbert and Sullivan? Very good and very funny things do, said Steven Dobbins, actor and co-director of The Durham Savoyards, Ltd. The thespian team's upcoming production of "Ruddigore: The Witch's Curse" will be performed today through Sunday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro. Admission is $8 for students and $14 for the general public. The performance takes the classic Gilbert and Sullivan parody opera and adds a few new, entertaining twists for the stage. "Ruddigore" is a comical ghost story that features outlandish costumes and antics, as well as a mad scientist, a family curse and inverted moral absolutes to make for an amusing show for all ages. Dobbins, who plays the wicked Baronet, said the show will be a lot of fun for audience members. "There is certainly a lot of laughter during our rehearsals, so I'm sure the audience will have a good time this coming weekend," he said. "UNC students should find this sort of satire-slash-melodrama to be great fun." Lynden Harris, artistic director of The ArtsCenter, said she is excited about The Savoyards' performance in a venue where the actors interact with the audience. "I thought it would be fun if we could just scale down a show for them," she said. "They usually perform in a huge theater." "It's a different experience from seeing them at a huge venue like, you know, the Carolina Theater. At the ArtsCenter, the characters are moving around in the audience - it's much more intimate." Harris also points out that the play is very fitting for the days leading up to Halloween. "Crazy scientist, family curse - its got these elements that are kind of wonderful to put up around Halloween," she said. "Ruddigore" is one of the comical operettas by English librettist Sir W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, who performed in London's Savoy Theatre, which The Savoyards is named after. The play is based on last year's Savoyard performance directed by Derrick Ivey and contains most of the same cast. "I think we have a great show in the works," Dobbins said. "I have enjoyed the luxury of having merely to brush up on material already familiar to us and add some new twists, surprises, and laughs along the way." Dierdre Shipman is producing this year's performance, with Dobbins codirecting along with fellow actress Evelyn McCauley, who plays Mad Margaret. The music direction is being covered by The Savoyards' Alan Riley Jones, with Thomas B. Clark at the piano. Dobbins, who stumbled onto The Savoyards by chance and "fell in love with it" considers himself lucky to be codirecting and acting as a central character. "Putting on a production like this requires a lot of work, but it's worth it to see the smiles on the faces of the audience and cast alike when the show is done," he said. "I think folks will have a good time watching The Savoyards in action." Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.