Annual Gilbert and Sullivan Production

Friday, March 6 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, March 8 at 2 PM

Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th St.

Presented by the Department of Music and The Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company.  

Two Venetian brothers, Marco and Giuseppe, are happy with their lives as gondoliers and newlyweds when the arrival of a stranger turns their world upside down. One brother is secretly the heir to a far-off foreign throne—except that nobody knows which brother is the king. To complicate matters, the king was married as an infant to a princess, meaning one of the gondoliers has two wives! All is wrapped up happily, though, thanks to a trademark Gilbertian twist. 

Shane Valenzi, Stage Director
Matthew Sheppard, Music Director
Music by the UChicago Chamber Orchestra

Learn about the 2026 cast and crew.

Tickets: $25-50 general, $10 students (with student ID) and children. 

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, January 20, at noon.

Tickets for The Gondoliers can be purchased from the Court Theatre / UChicago Arts Box Office:

• Online anytime at tickets.uchicago.edu
• In advance via phone (773)702-2787) - Mon-Sat, Noon to 5 PM
• In person at the Court Theatre Box Office (5535 S Ellis) - Mon-Sat, Noon to 5 PM
• One hour prior to performance time at the Box Office table in the lobby outside of Mandel Hall (1131 E 57th St)

Ticket fees

• Ticket transactions will incur a $2-$4 box office fee per ticket purchased.
• Ticket exchanges are subject to a $5 per ticket fee.
• Ticket fees are waived when purchased in person at the Court Theatre/UChicago Arts Box Office, or purchased at the box office table one hour prior to the performance. 

The Company’s association with the Hyde Park community and The University of Chicago goes back to its beginning in 1960, and subsequent incorporation in 1964. In 1962 it began a 21-year relationship with the Parents’ Association of The University of Chicago Laboratory School. Proceeds from the shows benefited the Lab School’s Adventurers in the Arts Program. Since 1984, the University’s Department of Music has sponsored the Company’s productions, with net proceeds helping to fund the Department’s Performance Programs. In 1991 the University Chamber Orchestra began playing for the performances.

Over its 60 years, the Company has performed every work in the Gilbert and Sullivan canon. The Company has a policy of alternating the signature operas with the obscure, taking into consideration anniversary years and programming by other local companies. H.M.S. Pinafore has been produced eight times. Iolanthe, The Mikado, The Gondoliers, and The Yeomen of the Guard have been produced seven times each. The Pirates of Penzance and Ruddigore, six times each; Princess Ida and Patience, four times; The Sorcerer, three times; Trial By Jury, twice; and Utopia, Limited and The Grand Duke, once each. In 2019, the Company produced Merrie England, by Edward German and Basil Hood, the designated successors of Gilbert and Sullivan.