The Sault Opera Legacy

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1978

The year 1978 has been a busy one for Sault Opera, and a successful one both artistically and financially. Among its accomplishments, the company staged three productions: "Kismet", "HMS Pinafore", and "Calamity Jane", and they entered a float in the Rotary Community day parade that summer, too. Each was a memorable event and a worthy achievement in its own right.

Karen Zaffini as the Princess Samaris of Banglore dancing before the court of the Caliph in "Kismet"

Sault Opera opened the year with the musical Arabian night "Kismet" starring David Walsh as the poet Hajj, Steve Budge as the Wazir, Judi Morgan as his favourite wife Lalume, Jo-Ann Morgan as the poet's daughter Marsinah, and Larry Whalen as the Caliph of Baghdad.

Tim Murphy as Rafe Rackstraw (in Botswain's chair) along with the sailors of the HMS Pinafore

In the spring, the company hired professional director Robert Gailbrath with the financial assistance of a Community Theatre Training Grant from Theatre Ontario and a new music director, Albert Furtney, to put on Gilbert and Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore", starring Judi Morgan as Buttercup, Dave McDougall as Captain Corcoran, Karen McLean as Josephine, Tim Murphy as Rafe Rackstraw, Hans Geenan as Sir Joseph Porter KCB, Hilda Richardson as Cousin Hebe, and Terry McPhee as Dick Deadeye, along with many others.

Judi Morgan as Buttercup and Terry McPhee as Dick Deadeye in "HMS Pinafore"

The Full Company of "HMS Pinafore"

Sault Opera ended the year and began the new theatre season with a bang - the rip-roaring rootin' tootin' western musical "Calamity Jane" directed, designed, and costumed by Arno and Vilma Ambel starring Cheryl Heslop as Calamity Jane, Terry McPhee as Wild Bill Hickock, Michael and Joan Eldred as Lt. Danny Gilmartin and Katie Brown, David Walsh as Francis Fryer, Barbara Johnston as Susan, and many others.

The wedding scene with three new couples who just got hitched: Lt. Danny Gilmartin and Katie (Michael and Joan Eldred), Calamity and Wild Bill (Cheryl Heslop and Terry McPhee), and Francis and Susan (David Walsh and Barbara Johnston)

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