Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore hits the stage at Winter Opera St. Louis–St. Louis Post-Dispatch

It’s a remarkable modus operandi in today’s classical music space, where fiscally strapped theaters repeatedly retreat to the comfort of the same 20 or 25 hit shows. Even in the current fiscal straits, most companies manage to put on at least three shows a season – not many slots, but American opera houses spend a lot of them on repeats.

Yes, this year is the centennial of Puccini’s death, but not a month goes by without a “Bohemian” somewhere in the United States; Cincinnati Opera is pulling “Tosca” from the shed next summer, despite playing it in 2021. And Opera Theater of St. Louis is offering Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” in 2025, despite a successful Union Avenue Opera production in 2023. on the other side of town.

Lacking a single major opera company, St. Louis instead caters to a diversified portfolio of one medium-sized (Opera Theatre) and two smaller-scale organizations (Union Avenue Opera and Winter Opera). This arrangement provides many advantages – the three companies expose St. Louis to a more varied repertoire than would be the case with one larger company that performs perhaps five shows a year. Each of our triplets includes a concentration outside the canonical jukebox of opera, contemporary in the case of OTSL, Broadway shows at UAO, and operetta at Winter Opera.

Indeed, of the three Winter Opera productions this year, only Mozart’s The Magic Flute makes this consistently performed opera’s Top 25. Galazzi cites operettas and lesser-performed works from the long 19th century as her company’s strength. “My vision is to bring to St. Louis the traditional but famous operas and operettas that haven’t been here in a long time. “HMS Pinafore is something we haven’t done with Gilbert and Sullivan.”

Union Avenue hasn’t shown “HMS Pinafore” since 2006, and the Opera House hasn’t since 1981.

Gilbert and Sullivan occupy an interesting place in music history. An entire genre, Savoy opera, arose from their work, but with the exception of theirs, few Savoy operas remain in performance today.

Their comic posturing and quick switches between dialogue and music influenced the Broadway musical, but their works require classic vocal production. The most frequently performed are ‘Pinafore’, ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ and ‘The Mikado’, but audiences still turn up for ‘Patience’, ‘Iolanthe’, ‘Ruddigore’, ‘The Gondoliers’ and other titles. Winter Opera presented ‘The Gondoliers’ in 2022.

‘HMS Pinafore’, which made its debut in 1878, was Gilbert and Sullivan’s first major hit outside of Britain and brought together several lines that united their catalogue. He satirized British institutions, especially the aristocracy and the navy. They routinely send up the rigid 19th-century British class structure and exploit gendered humor to subvert overly serious men — “USS Apron” would be an analogous American title.

Sullivan’s haunting music pairs perfectly with Gilbert’s persistently quotable libretto. (“What, never? No never.”) This is a comedy, so we’ll spare you a plot summary and a nod to the inevitable comic monomyth: obstacles to the marriage of two young people in love.

The performance is sure to be well-conducted musically, as Galatz’s friend, Artistic and General Director of Union Avenue Opera, Maestro Scott Schoonover conducts. As stage director, she has brought in John Stevens, a veteran of “about 20” Pinafore productions.

Stevens answers the perennial question with shows set roughly before World War II—whether to update the action. “Our production will be traditional in terms of costumes and scenery: a beautiful ship, with a mast, a ship’s wheel and even a few canons. The opera is set in the mid to late 19th century, with British naval uniforms and women’s dresses reflecting the period. I’ve done updated or relocated productions of Gilbert and Sullivan, but I’ve found that the planned period works best.”

Asked if this comedy fits the 21st century, Stevens notes its durability. “In ‘Pinafore’ the humor is quite universal in nature. … We recognize these characters in our own lives; it’s just that Mr. Gilbert makes them and their antics funny.

While modern productions sometimes make light edits to Gilbert’s librettos, notably with “The Mikado,” parts of which take a terrifyingly exotic approach to Japan, Stevens finds the change unnecessary with “Pinafore”: “This show works well for modern audiences.”

Of course, you also need great singers, an arena in which Winter Opera often exceeds its budget category. Galatz has lined up a strong cast.

Starring as Sir Joseph Porter is Winter Opera regular baritone Garry Moss, whom Galati calls “a Gilbert and Sullivan perfectionist.” The ubiquitous St. Louis baritone Jacob Lasseter, who learned Ramphis’s bass role for a week earlier this year for Union Avenue’s “Aida,” analyzes Captain Corcoran. Returning from The Gondoliers, bass-baritone Tyler Putnam sings Dick Deadeye.

Galati praises Brian Skoog’s “really beautiful tenor voice” as he makes his debut as Ralph Rackstraw. And soprano Brittany Hebel, Winter Opera’s bewitching lead in last year’s Victor Herbert’s Naughty Marietta, returns as the female lead in Pinafore, Josephine.

Winter Opera’s commitment to filling nooks and crannies in the repertoire less served by our other two opera companies continues in January with Donizetti’s exquisite score for Anna Bolena.

Galati says, “Our mission is to produce different things. I don’t want to do La Traviata every five years. And there’s so much great work that we want to bring to St. Louis that isn’t made here.”