Connie's stage page

I've put more time into theater than anything besides marriage and work. I've designed T-shirts, posters, and sets, sung in male and female choruses, and done tech work backstage (I wish I had more pictures of that). I've also written silly parodies (just a few posted so far). This page is a gallery of that.

Most productions are from the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan, so if a show lists no composer, it was G&S. (How did I get into G&S, and why?) My two main theater groups are these:

Click most thumbnails to see a larger version of the image.

For more information about Gilbert & Sullivan, see the wonderful G&S Archive.

Privacy note: I've tried to get permission to show people's pictures and use their name, but when it wasn't possible I've identified them using their first name and maybe last initial. If you're in any of these pictures and want your full name listed, or if you want your name or picture removed, just email me: connie @ this domain.

2002 head shot for the lobby.
Photo by Bob March (thanks, Bob).
Lots of photo credits on this page
are for Bob. You can reach him at robtmarch@earthlink.net.

2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000• 1999 • 1998 • 1997 • 1996 • 1995 • 1994 • 1993 • 1992 • 1991 • 1990 • 1989 •

2009

Florodora
Lyric Theatre
Discover Series Chorus

Lyric Victorian Carolers

Florodora

This was another wonderful revived musical. As you can see from the old poster here, it was performed by some well-known folk. Traces of it even appeared in popular culture into the 70s.

We had two performances, and sold out both! Man, that's fun. The Florodora blog chronicles the experience of the production staff in finding and arranging the material, then bringing it to the stage. It might one day be a mainstage show, but since all the original music was lost, it's been reorchestrated, which was a huge task.

Lyric Victorian Carolers

This year we got a lot of interest, thanks to some of the singers who did promotion (what a concept)! There must be a huge desire for Christmas caroling, since we've worked a lot this year. So far we've lined up gigs at a lunch at a museum, a Farmer's Market, history park, private party, shopping mall, and Christmas in the Park. We've had to turn down some gigs, in fact.

And the group is expanding and learning. We're creating singing groups in different configurations: full group, quartets, octets. We're learning what to do about rain, we're finding out how cold it can get, and, for what it's worth, we're finding out that we're usually just incidental music for an event, and mostly people don't pay much attention to us. That's OK. We like singing, and it earns some money for the group.

But we're still doing gigs. Photo later if I can find one.

2008

Yeomen of the Guard
The Stanford Savoyards Chorus (tenor and some scenic artistry)

Pirates of Penzance
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (tenor)

Erminie
Jackobowski, Bellamy, and Paulton
Lyric Theatre of San Jose Discovery Series
Chorus (alto)

Rose of Persia
Sullivan and Nigel Hood
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (tenor)

Lyric Victorian Carolers

Thus ends a busy theatrical year.

Lyric Victorian Carolers

It occurred to someone that people who are trained in singing operetta might be good at singing Christmas carols. So this was the inaugural year for the Lyric Victorian Carolers. Our director is English, and chose lots of traditional arrangements for songs, and I learnrf some new Christmas songs I had never heard before. And it was way fun, especially since I love singing a capella.

Some chorus men and guards. Here we were beggars and thieves ("tramps and scamps and halt and blind"). Quite unsavory. This picture shows Tom, me, Bob, and Steve, with Daniel in front. Nice shot, Ravi.

Frankly, I was ready to play a woman by this time, but they needed men. That's pretty ironic, given that the show has a harem! At the read-through, during introductions, I said, "I'm Connie, and I just discovered that I'm a man," and got general laughter.

The Rose of Persia

This show, based on a story from The Arabian Nights, was Sullivan's last show, composed the year before he died. The librettist, Nigel Hood, did a fine job writing a funny, witty show. So much so that some viewers felt like it was a new Gilbert & Sullivan. This brought us larger audiences than we feared, given the economic downturn. Lyric had performed it a few years earlier as part of their Discovery series, and considered it good enough to take to the main stage. I agree. It's charming, lively, and colorful. Just generally delightful.

The shirt design.

In my second costume at the post-show meet-and-greet, with Kathy in her harem costume. A bit different from the last picture of Kathy and me.

Erminie

This was my third show in Lyric Theatre's Discovery series. Now, Erminie came from an era when shows were often loose plots that vaguely connected lovely songs or funny bits. Think vaudeville. And Erminie lacked magic, although one tearjerker was the hit song of the year in 1886 (or so).

For me, one amazing thing about the show was the refrain to a certain song, which is, note for note, the same as an alma mater.

Anyway, after wearing the bright red dress a few times, I decided I needed something else (they're reasonable at prom stores). It's hard to find one that looks OK on a woman of a certain age without making her look like the mother of the bride, but I liked this one.

(Thanks, Cara, for catching this one on my cell phone. And for helping me with the up-do.)

Nice pic, Bethany. Thanks.

The Pirates of Penzance

This show is just way fun to do as a man. (This is my second time, the first in nine years.) You get to stomp and swagger and stand with your fists on your hips. Arrrr!

I also won TWO awards: the gypsy cape (for contributions) and the Dirty Old Man award! I figure got that one because the boys were well behaved. But I'm also told that women sometimes do a double-take in the dressing room when I walk in with my costume on.

Yeomen of the Guard
Thanks go to Greg, Ravi, and Chihway's friend Jacky for the pictures below.

In rehearsal, with Geoff Schaeffer

Same scene on-stage

The costumer (Lisa) was brilliant at recruiting people. Here I'm cutting out a pattern at a rehearsal. This was load-in weekend, hence the grungy look.

I really like this shot: I'm wearing gorgeous boots loaned to me by my friend Mark Blattel, but also, we're in a picture in the same corner, 11 years earlier. He wore those boots—same show, same stage—in 1995 (13 years earlier). Silly, but kind of cool.

2007

Iolanthe
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (alto and some fairy wing artwork)

Quaker Girl
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (alto)

Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri

This is one of my favorite of the G&S shows. The Big Three (of the dozen+ shows they collaborated on) are considered to be Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, and HMS Pinafore. Personally, I think this is easily as good as Pinafore; it has heart, drama, and a lot of excellent satire.

Fairies (I am one) had individualized costumes keyed to a type of flower. Here is a puddle of those wings.

Click to see the individual wings. On the individual fairies.

The Quaker Girl, by Lionel Monkton

This was my second of Lyric's Discovery series, and I had way too much fun. The director,
Marc Kenig, bravely cast me as a snarky French woman, so I got to chew up the scenery
in a French accent. I think I surprised a few people. Heehee.

In the Discovery series, performers do not wear costumers, but, rather, evening wear. My friend Kathy posed with me in the lobby afterwards. We seem to have a RW&B theme, although I also had a silver dress for when I played a quaker.

Mark Blattel carried much of the show. Here's he's shown in the costume (OK, costumes appear occasionally in Discovery shows) he appeared in for a dream sequence during "Tony from America. " Nice picture taken by Mark Baushke.

2006

(Four shows in ten months.)

Trial by Jury(G&S) and Operetta Highlights
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (alto and a wee bit of dialogue)

The Serenade
Victor Herbert
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (alto)

Naughty Marietta
Victor Herbert
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (alto and graphics)

Die Fledermaus
Johann Strauss
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (alto)

Trial by Jury and Operetta Highlights

The Sultana

Operetta Highlights presented scenes from a variety of operettas the group had done. This was from The Rose of Persia, written by Basil Hood, with music by Sullivan and I had a speaking line. (I also can-canned in a later piece.)

The Serenade, by Victor Herbert
Seeking pictures
In addition to fully staged productions, Lyric Theatre has their Discovery series, which is semi-staged versions of long-lost shows. By semi-staged I mean no set, no orchestra, and no costumes. Rather, there's some blocking, pianos stand in for the orchestra, and there might be minimal props. Performers are dressed in evening wear. It lets you present a show with less overhead, meaning Lyric can perform some exploratory shows. In some ways it's actually quite theatrical; without the other bells and whistles, you have to focus on the singing and acting. Occasionaly you find a gem, but occasionally you also find that a long-lost show really deserved to be lost in the first place.

Naughty Marietta by Victor Herbert

June 2006. Naughty Marietta was quite a success, with good word of mouth.
I swear that people came to see it because of the song, made famous in more
recent decades by Mel Brooks and Madeline Kahn, "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life!"

The T-shirt art. Another in the series of silhouette designs
(see 2004, below). I borrowed from a Garbo poster.

Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss

March 2006. Die Fledermaus. I was an alto again for the first time since 1999
(I've done a lot of male roles; see 1999 to 2004, below). At the first music
rehearsal I started singing an octave too low. Oops.

Die Fledermaus costume

My gown. Normally they refit existing costumes
to you, but this was new. Ahhh!

2005

The Mikado
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Set designer

The Mikado set design

A mock-up of the main design

Click for more picture of the set.

My inspiration piece. Gorgeous.

"Cranes Over Moon," by Keiichi Nishimura

2004

The Gondoliers
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (tenor),
T-shirt

Patience
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (tenor)

The Pirates of Penzance
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
T-shirt

The Gondoliers
I did a series (two) of silhouette images, taking an
original piece of clip art and removing all the detail. I'd
love to claim that all my art was totally original, but ideas
do come from somewhere, and when you're in a hurry you
borrow. But I do like the effect. Here's an actual techie
wearing one (Sabrina Cuddy, who's also a fine soprano).
I wish I had more pictures of techies.

Pirates of Penzance
The second silhouette image. Again, I lifted an existing
image and removed the detail. I also added the skull and
crossbones and tweaked a few other things. And put in
the wrong theater name. Stuff like that.

2003

Princess Ida
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (tenor),
shirt graphics

La Belle Helene
by Jacques Offenbach
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (tenor), graphics

The Gondoliers
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (tenor)

Princess Ida

"The guys who lean right!"
Andrew, Dave Kirby, me, and Davi Euresti. I mostly need facial hair to look like a man, especially when I'm wearing a dress and have long hair (as I was here). But I felt like a Three Musketeer.

Princess Ida art
One of four designs based on
art by W. Russell Flint
(click to see all of them)

This T-shirt design was based on
existing art used in promo material,
and the idea was follow the theme.
Hello, Photoshop.

The Gondoliers

This show really needed men: It had three
distaff tenors. That's me on the left, and
Sally on the right. (And my friends Kathy
and Keith in back.)

Poster for the Savoyards'
thirtieth anniversary show
(based on clip art).
Long time for a college G&S group.

I updated an earlier list of all the shows the
group had done to that point, and placed it on
a background of William and Arthur. (I had a
dickens of a time making them look alike.
The source images were very different.)
(Maybe "dickens" isn't the right word.)

2002

The Mikado
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (tenor)
Graphics

Patience
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (tenor)

G&S aficionados know that the
undulating strip of paper is Koko's
little list. We were in a big hurry, so
I kind of plagiarized my 1992 design.
Or it's a tribute to John Belushi's
samurai [fill in the blank].

(A gay guy in the audience thought
I looked hot, and was dismayed to
learn I wasn't his type.)

Patience, or Bunthorne's Bride

Mike Cuddy on the left and me on the right
(photo by Mark Baushke)
See photos from various production phases.

2001

Ruddigore
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (tenor)

Mademoiselle Modiste
Victor Herbert
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Graphics

Ruddigore, Act II

I'm the third ghost from your right, tormenting
Mark Blattel, who's writhing on the floor. Here's a picture in
the warm-up room, horsing around with Mark (in his Robin
Oakapple costume). I have no idea what we were doing.

More Ruddigore

This picture (blown up a lot) shows
how different it is to portray a man
than a woman, which, after ten
years in the women's chorus, is
what's been so much fun about it.

Mademoiselle Modiste

2000

Iolanthe
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (tenor), graphics

This is a favorite. It has mystery
and a little soul. Usually, if someone
compliments my designs, I say "Yeah,
BUT..." I don't do that with this one.

Iolanthe, or the Peer and the Peri

Yes, it's the upperclass twit-of-the-year contest! (I'm fourth from your left)
Those capes are made out of old theater curtains and weigh
upwards of a dozen pounds each. Seriously. And they're hot.

1999

Princess Ida
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto), graphics

The Pirates of Penzance
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (tenor)

My gratitude to Arborell for creating a wonderful
original that I modfied for this design. (But I do
think the new crown is pretty spiffy.)

The Pirates of Penzance

My first show in the men's chorus. I got
to be a pirate! And even a policeman.

1998

Patience
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto), graphics

The Mikado
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto)

The Gondoliers
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Graphics

The Savoyards' 25th anniversary. Art
executed with the skilled assistance of Neil M.

Design used for poster, mailers, and T-shirts.
The producer wanted a simple, linear design.
It's not my normal style, but it was good to
stretch. And I got to buy a computer tablet.

1997

The Gondoliers
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto)

HMS Pinafore
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto)

International G&S Festival, Berkeley, CA
Trial by Jury (festival production)
The Gondoliers (1997 Stanford Savoyards' production)
The Zoo (1996 Savoyards' production)

HMS Pinafore

Valerie Bubb (on the right) and I were cast as guards to
Sir Joseph Porter, KCB (Mark Blattel). This picture originally appeared here (thanks, Kimmerie).

The Gondoliers
I used the same skyline Neil and I created for
an earlier design. I seem to recall struggling
to execute the gondola with forced perspective.

The Zoo,
by Sullivan and Stephenson

Thank you, Ruth Leibig, for
constructing such a gorgeous
dress. I felt like someone
out of My Fair Lady.

1996

Ruddigore
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto), scenic artis (I think)

Trial by Jury/The Zoo
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto)

The Merry Widow
Franz Lehár
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
SR ASM (i.e., stage right assistant stage manager)

Ruddigore, or The Witch's Curse
I did a concept sketch of the face at rehearsal and tried to do a final one later at home, but the original wouldn't be outdone. I like the yellow eyes, and the way you see the hat just by negative space.

Trial by Jury

With Nathan, who played the Harpo character.

This version was set in the 1920s and starred the Marx Brothers. The bridesmaids were flappers.

I won an award!
(So it was tongue in cheek.) I was assistant stage manager, summoning performers to the stage on speakers that broadcast through the entire backstage. When it was time for Act II to start, I forgot the word "places," you know, as in "Places for act II." Instead I blurted something about "OK, everyone, come on, it's time to get on-stage now!" Something really lame. In honor of that achievement, I received this fine plaque, which I love, from Cheryl B. It says "Eloctratic Elocution Award," a reference to a joke in the show.

1995

Yeomen of the Guard
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto)
Graphics

The Pirates of Penzance
Lyric Theatre of San Jose
Chorus (alto)

The Sorcerer
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto)
Graphics

Yes, this is a total lift from Phantom of
the Opera, and that's what makes it funny.
The thing on the right is a mask. Thanks,
Marc Kenig, for the idea.

Yeomen of the Guard

I was one of the townspeople.

The Pirates of Penzance

The director set this show among
inmates in an insane asylum, and
we got silly backstage, too.
Costumes make you act up. And different
costumers make you act differently.

The Sorcerer
Not elegant, perhaps, but it illustrates a
key part of the story, yet is simple enough
to figure out from a distance.

1994

Utopia, Ltd.
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto) (comprimario)

The Pirates of Penzance
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto)

Utopia, Ltd

Women's chorus. Normally set on a South Pacific
Isle, this was recast in a Grecian setting.

Design used for posters and T-shirts.
Pretty experimental for me.

The Pirates of Penzance

If you know G&S, you know Pirates is given
to high camp. I'm the one in front of the
Major-General (Paul Z.) in moo-cow slippers.

1993

HMS Pinafore
The Stanford Savoyards
Scenic artist
Chorus (alto)
Graphics

Iolanthe
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto)

The Pirates of Penzance
Sunnyvale Town Players
Chorus (alto)

HMS Pinafore

I scanned a T-shirt of this. As an attractive design
I think it worked well. I'm not sure it projects the
concept of the show, or G&S in general, but it's
pretty. The ripples in the wwater were deucedly
hard to convey, although they came in handy later.
It was also a poster (coming by and by).

I looked at lots of butterflies, did scads of
sketches, then talked to Neil M., who skillfully
executed the art from my simple line drawing.

The Pirates of Penzance

The director played off our heights and
assigned Rob, the shortest pirate, to be
my captor. (Photo (c) The Spencers.)

1992

Princess Ida
The Stanford Savoyards
Scenic artist

The Mikado
The Stanford Savoyards
Set designer

The Mikado set, Act I

Click for more pictures of the set and crew.

The Makita
T-shirt design. Kind of a local theater classic.
Now in its third printing.

1991

The Gondoliers
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto)
Graphics, tech

Neil and I spent a long time working
on that skyline. Luckily we reused it later.

1990

Ruddigore
The Stanford Savoyards
Chorus (alto),
graphics, tech

My very first design. I really didn't know what to
do, but I found a book from 1920 whose cover
I liked, and based this drawing on it. I've evolved since then.

1989

Iolanthe
The Stanford Savoyards
Tech

Trial by Jury
Gilbert & Sullivan,
Gianni Schicci
Giacomo Pucchini
The Stanford Savoyards
Tech

I left out a lot of shows where I just did tech,
but since these were the first shows in my operetta career,
I wanted to list them.

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