About This List

What is this?
This is a list of the people of the Durham Savoyards, Ltd. It is a searchable and sortable database of the many, many individuals who, over the last 50+ years, got themselves involved a Savoyard production, be it on stage or behind the scenes. If you ever wielded a snicker-snee or a saber-saw, played (or claimed to play) the second trombone, helped lay the keel of the Tom-Tit, polished up the handle of the big front door, or played one of a myriad other roles under the Savoyard banner, you are here (or should be).

What’s here: This is a compilation of the programs and playbills from every major* Durham Savoyards stage venture, from the very first Pirates in 1963 to the most recent production (2017’s Grand Duke as of this writing). For each show the participants are arranged in categories: Cast (those performers in named roles, including understudies), Chorus (including Royal Chorus), Crew (from accompanist to wig maker; with producer, director, drillmaster, and tech crew in between), Governors (as in “Board of”), and Orchestra (the lowly pit dwellers).

In any given production there are many individuals who served in more that one capacity, and thus may be listed multiple times – once for each role. In more than a few cases a given individual may be listed by different names (maiden names, nicknames, etc.). To the limit of my knowledge, I’ve tried to standardize on each such person’s most recent name (or in some cases the most frequently occurring name), but have retained their originally published name in the “As Credited” column.

What’s not here: In spite of the most diligent efforts of producers and program editors over the years, errors were made. Names were misspelled or listed ambiguously, and some people were left out altogether. One obvious omission is in the program for the 1979 Ruddigore: there is no credit given for Sir Roderic, even though the character is mentioned in the plot summary. In a very few cases I was able to fill gaps from personal knowledge (with appropriate annotation in the “As Credited” column), but there are doubtless other unsung heros yet to be anointed. If you spot any of these inevitable sins of omission or commission, please do alert your humble Archives webmaster so that he may rectify the oversight.

*There could be considerable argument as to what constitutes a “major” production. For the purpose here, a “major” production is one involving the full G&S score and libretto, costumes and make-up, a set (or semblance thereof), special lighting, and (in most cases) an orchestra. I’ve taken the liberty of including the 2004 production of Gilbert & Jones’ Thespis because of its historic import to the Durham Savoyards, Ltd.

Of similar stature is Benjamin Keaton’s delightful concert piece, Places Please! A Savoyard Symphony. While not listed here specifically, it is important to note that this piece was performed on the same program – and with the same cast and crew – as Trial By July in 1989 and 1990.

Navigation – moving through the list
The list is presented in “pages” – tables of up to 50 rows each. If your browser window is too small to accommodate all 50 table rows you will need to use the browser’s scroll bar to see all of the page. To move the display among the pages, use the navigation control buttons at the bottom of each page:

> – Go the the next page.
< – Go the the previous page. >> – Go the the last page.
<< – Go the the first page.
At the top of the page you can control the Sorting and Filter the information by various fields.

The default (as originally displayed) sort order is by Show and Year, Category, Role/Title, SubCatetory, and Name. This is roughly equivalent to browsing through programs, year by year, section by section.

Click on the Clear link to remove any filter that may be applied.

The sorting and searching features may be used together.