dale gutzman returning to the skylight

milwaukee's dale gutzman is returning to the skylight opera theatre to write and direct an evening with gilbert and sullivan for the company's 50th anniversary season.

skylight's interim artistic director colin cabot says gutzman "has some great ideas for the script which he's developing based on the original songlist from the skylight's first production in '59. they involve a chance meeting between gilbert & sullivan in an english gentlemen's club in heaven -- big leather chairs and alots of dry ice."

the skylight press release:

MILWAUKEE (August 20, 2009)... Dale Gutzman, founder and artistic director of Off The Wall Theatre, will return to Skylight Opera Theatre for the 50th Anniversary Season to write and direct An Evening with Gilbert and Sullivan.

Gutzman is no stranger to the Skylight having directed twenty-three shows in the 1970s and 80s including the American premiere of Italian Straw Hat and productions of The Fantasticks, Mikado, Little Me, and more. Gutzman has also written nearly a dozen original shows for the Skylight and has acted in over twenty Skylight shows.

"I have always loved the Skylight and my memories of (Skylight founder) Clair (Richardson) and working there are among the most precious in my life. To be able to return and do Gilbert and Sullivan and to be able to write once again for the Skylight is a dream come true," said Gutzman.

Gutzman plans for an eclectic show filled with the unexpected. It will present Gilbert and Sullivan looking down at the original theatre on Jefferson leading into the new Cabot Theatre and commenting on the journey through song and nonsense to recall the "old" days with an eye on the future.

Gutzman reminisces, "We are all siblings in the arts in this town, and I feel a closeness that has filled a long vacant hole. Thank you, Skylight."

In addition to being the founder and artistic director for Off The Wall Theatre, Gutzman is an associate director of the Odessa Russian Drama Theatre in the Ukraine. As Resident Playwright at the Performing Arts Center in Thailand, he is one of the few Midwest artists to have had an audience with the Royal Family of Thailand. He was named one of the most gifted directors of Stephen Sondheim shows by the Sondheim Review, and is the only director to be twice honored as Director of the Year by Theatre Week Magazine.

An Evening with Gilbert and Sullivan will be performed in the Broadway Theatre Center Studio Theatre from May 28 through June 20, 2010. Tickets are on sale now.