Have you ever begun playing a song or an album and everyone in the room starts singing along?  We all have favourite songs and stories we carry through our lives, and we instinctively know to share the joy of these pieces with others.

It’s with that thought that this years’ North Shore Light Opera Society production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers begins. Somewhere in Vancouver, a small party is going on. The party is attended by a wide collection of people. Some are excited to be there, some… not so much. The host comes up with an idea: play her favourite record. Some remember the music and enjoy it right away, some are not interested at first. Eventually, all begin to sing along. Then dance along. Before long the partygoers are on a stage of their own imagination, re-creating a production of The Gondoliers  in the living room.

When I began this project earlier this year I asked myself "Why do we continue to see plays that were written in 1891? What keeps bringing us back?" I realized that the stories and themes are ones that we know and love. Stories and themes that are deeply embedded into our psyches. Even if we've never seen The Gondoliers, we know these ideas well: young people want to love each other; previous generations’ ideas of propriety are getting in their way. And, even more importantly, this show tries to impart these ideas in the silliest, most tongue in cheek way possible. A silly way that would be completely at home in an episode of Family Guy or in any Seth Rogan movie. 1891, meet 2014. Through stories such as this, generations can be bridged. I know – as you will see tonight - the story lives as comfortably today in our 2014 living rooms as it did in 1891, when giant dresses and hats were de rigueur. Please gather in our living room to enjoy this story again.

I would like to thank North Shore Light Opera for putting trust in me to helm this project, the cast for diving head first into it, and you for choosing to spend your time with us. Moreover, I would like to thank my brother, Matt, for being the best Musical Director I could ever hope to be related to and to my parents for having the infinite wisdom to choose to bring him into the world.

I would like to take this time to dedicate my work on this show to my grandmother, Irene. Her love for Gilbert and Sullivan runs deep. Very early on in this process she showed me that G&S is big fun, and that is what is most important.

Joel Grinke