Simsbury Light Opera Company Celebrates 80 Years
- Maria O'Donnell
- Mar 27
- 5 min read
SLOCO To Go ‘All-Out’ for Anniversary with Production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado
By Maria G. O’Donnell
Staff Writer
Eighty years. With the exception of one year (i.e., Covid) the Simsbury Light Opera Company (SLOCO) has put on a production every year for 80 years with Gilbert & Sullivan operettas as its primary choice of shows.
SLOCO has entertained this receptive town and other surrounding towns since its incorporation in 1946, its humble beginnings originally at Ensign-Bickford on Hopmeadow Street. That year, they launched with the production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance.
The annual spring production this year is Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado, which originally opened in 1885. In his third year as SLOCO President, Jay Wolman said, “We hope to go all-out with this production. There are a good number of characters. It’s one of the three biggest of shows that Gilbert & Sullivan aficionados go to.” He has been a member of SLOCO since 2015 and a member of the Board of Directors since mid-2016.
Wolman said that SLOCO will be doing the “traditional Mikado with minor changes.” Since Gilbert & Sullivan were creating productions in the Victorian era, things deemed offensive nowadays were not considered so at the time, Wolman explained. “Some lines have been changed. A prologue and epilogue were written by the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players – this sets the stage for the show. No one should think we’re trying to represent what Japan is; it’s more impressionistic.”
The catalyst for the show is that “Arthur Gilbert suffered a head injury and this is his dream of it,” Wolman said. “It’s an interesting setting with extra humor – meta humor. An audience familiar with Gilbert & Sullivan would appreciate it.”
The Mikado storyline features a “love quadrangle” with a tailor who is charged with the task of being an executioner who could never actually carry out that task, according to Wolman. “Hijinks ensue, as one would expect from Gilbert & Sullivan,” he said.
Playing the role of the “executioner” named Ko-Ko, SLOCO’s Publicity Chair Tim Colby said, “I play judge, jury and executioner rolled into one. I’m in a position I shouldn’t be in and it creates a comedy of errors: the rejoicing or ruin of an entire town. I’m the wrong man for the job.”
A member of SLOCO since 1990 and President from 2017-19, Colby explained that The Mikado will be no different than the traditional show. “It’s the same show, just framed differently. Modern problems require modern solutions. People look critically of things in other eras. We’re trying to adjust it, but not too much.” He also referenced the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players who reframed the work and said, “They didn’t do it in a vacuum. They reached out to the Asian-American community to reframe it better. I’d hate to see it fall by the wayside as misunderstood.”
Explaining that The Mikado was appealing to people in Victorian England, “this wasn’t a slight or poking fun” at the Japanese, said Colby. “It acknowledges and pays homage to that culture. We’re being respectful to the past and embracing the future” by “framing it for more modern audiences.” He noted the “beautiful music” and the costumes and sets that reflect a Japanese culture that Colby finds to be “all about bright colors that represent happiness, strength, and vibrancy.”
Colby described the works of Sir William Schwenck Gilbert, a storyteller and lawyer, and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan, the musical composer, as “a precursor to modern Broadway.” Since they were up and coming in the Victorian era, “there was no TV; shows were it. They took the concept of comedic opera and brought it in their modern time.”
As for Gilbert and Sullivan, they were “notoriously catty with each other,” he noted. Colby explained that the music and lyrics reflected the politics of the day. Additionally, “Gilbert was an attorney, and attorneys love Gilbert & Sullivan because there’s a lot of legal stuff in there. Almost every show references Parliament or the law or a legal trick. Gilbert loved fantasy. It annoyed Sullivan – he was a composer and wanted grand symphonies, but he had to do something that pays the bills.”
In fact, the legal side is what drew Wolman to the genre. He is also a lawyer who had gotten involved in his law school’s Gilbert & Sullivan Society. He said, “There’s always significant legal humor, and it attracts members of the bar to these groups.”
Regarding SLOCO, Wolman considers the most rewarding aspect of the company for him “being able to perform fantastic music with a group of dedicated individuals. Some members have been doing this since the 70s.”
Colby was inspired to join SLOCO because his mom was a singer with the company. He recalled being involved with SLOCO since age 11, which gave him an opportunity to bond with his mom. Although away from SLOCO during high school and college, after his mom passed in 2009, he rejoined a few years later, and continues to feel that connection with his mother.
Additionally, “The studio in Simsbury is a second home for me. I’ve been going there for 36 years. A lot of friends have passed, and there’s a lot of melancholy, but it’s a place of joy for me – when you embrace the music and let it wash over you. There’s a power to opening your mouth and singing that’s not matched by anything else.”
SLOCO puts on one large, fully staged production every year, “largely Gilbert & Sullivan,” said Wolman, with “other light opera and musical theatre over the years.” The company has performed these at Simsbury High or Eno Memorial Hall, and now currently Henry James Memorial School. He said that SLOCO’s road shows are held at smaller venues, such as Avon or Simsbury Library, Duncaster, Seabury, or Elmwood Community Center.
He referenced the warehouse studio on Herman Dr. in Simsbury, affectionately known as Basingstoke, which is a location in Gilbert & Sullivan’s production of Ruddigore and the actual location where SLOCO builds sets, stores things, and rehearses.
Eighty years of Gilbert & Sullivan. Wolman contemplated, “I find it rather impressive for a group to do one set of composers – a writing team – over that period. As we go forward for another 80 years, we hope the community will join us and share our passion for their works.”
SLOCO Presents Its 2026 Production of The Mikado
This production features The Mikado Re-Imagined, a Prologue, created by David Auxier-Loyola and presented by permission of the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players .
First introduced in NYGASP’s critically acclaimed 2017 production at The Kaye Playhouse in New York City, this re-imagined approach was developed in collaboration with members of the Asian-American theatrical community, offering a thoughtful and inclusive reexamination of a classic work. – website: www.SLOCO.org
Performances to be held at: Henry James Memorial School: 155 Firetown Road, Simsbury, CT
Saturday, April 18, 2026 – 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 19, 2026 – 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 25, 2026 – 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 26, 2026 – 2:00 p.m.
To purchase tickets, visit: SLOCO.Ludus.com. Online ticket sales end one hour before showtime. Ticket prices increase $5 at the door.
