Notes from the Archives of Peter Zavon: Pirates '69

Mikado '69 having been successful, and there having been no personality conflicts with the director, the Board wished to offer the directorship of Pirates '69 to Connie Miller. Connie, however, had been most vocal about the fact that she would be loath to direct another show in Room 12. For two years the Savoyards had been trying to get out of Room 12, and now the group had reached the point where it could not grow except by leaving Room 12 for a larger stage. Therefore, during the summer of 1969, Jeff Chester tried to get another stage for the Savoyards. He spoke with Dean Stein of SFAA, President Christ-Janer, and numerous other high administrative officials of the University. SFAA was unsympathetic to the Savoyards because, as an amateur group not connected with SFAA, the Savoyards were not involved in the School's goal of training professionals. It was rumored that they were upset because the Savoyards put on better shows and drew larger houses than SFAA did. Eventually, however, Jeff obtained permission for the Savoyards to use the Concert Hall of SFAA for the production of Pirates '69. In common with Room 12, the concert Hall had no fly space, no wings, and no pit. It had the two great advantages, however, of being much larger than Room 12 and of having much better acoustics. There was also room to fit a larger orchestra on the floor between the edge of the stage and the first row of seats. The house had a total capacity of 485, more than twice Room 12's 190 capacity. During the summer, while Jeff Chester was obtaining the use of the Concert Hall, many of the Savoyards who stayed in Boston worked on the MIT Classical Musical Society's production of Guys and Dolls. There were essentially people from three groups working on this production. They were from the BUS, the MIT G&S Society, and the Pilgrims Players. The contacts made here enhanced the BU-MIT G&S Complex and also brought to the Savoyards one Jane Graham. Jane was the director of the Pilgrims Players, who performed at Old South Church in Copley Square. Apart from designing the set, she arranged for the Savoyards to use the Pilgrim's work area, in the basement of Old South, to build the set. Thus, the Savoyards got out of the flood-prone boiler room. Unfortunately, the Savoyards now moved into a flood-prone basement. The set for Pirates '69 was primarily rocks built of styrofoam bolted to 1x3 frames, although the stairs from Mikado '69 were also used. The stage could be entered only by means of two doorways, which for this production were insufficiently masked by styrofoam rocks. The organ pipes at the back of the stage were not masked. For the first time in Savoyard history, set construction did NOT involve pulling all-nighters!!! As a result of Jeff Chester's conversations with President Christ-Janer, the Savoyards were enabled to call upon a truck and driver from the Buildings and Grounds Department to haul wood and to move the set to the Concert Hall. In Room 12, the lighting equipment had been hung from a pipe suspended from the ceiling and supported by lighting booms. In the Concert Hall, this was not possible because of the wide expanse of stage to be lit and the low-hanging acoustical clouds. A lighting bar was made from 2x4's bolted together and supported at each end by a horizontal I-beam which ran perpendicular to the front of the stage. Auditions for this production were announced by the usual mailings, posters, and advertisements. In addition, flyers were passed out in the Union link and in front of SFAA and the two Conservatories. As a result, 101 people auditioned. This was the greatest audition turnout in the memory of the staff and five years later had not yet been equaled. It was reported that Conservatory voice students were turned down because they couldn't sing well enough, and the casting of the women's chorus was so difficult that, at the end, decisions turned on whether a girl's hair was the right color or whether her name could be easily remembered! Two people who signed up for crews at this audition were Peggy Lundin and Mimi Vincent. They both got dumped into the set crew, but in later semesters gravitated to the costume crew and the Executive Board, where they contributed mightily for some years. With this production, the Savoyards instituted the use of co-ed dressing and make-up rooms. This was because the only room available for such functions was room 171. The setup was accepted with equanimity by all the members of the cast. The production was a rousing success and was recorded on high quality SFAA equipment which was usually used for recording recitals. "Poor Wandering One" was consistantly encored, as was the Major General's song and "With Catlike Tread." The latter was encored, sometimes as many as five or six times, as much for the excellent choreography as anything else. It was with this production, also, that the BU-MIT G&S Complex came to fruition. By the close of auditions for (M)Utopia '69, not enough people had shown up to cast the show. Auditions were extended, and the end result was that a good many nominally BU people were cast. Most of these people simultaneously worked on Pirates, as did such nominally MIT people as Nancy Greene and Lisa Hall. During Mikado'69, although the quality of the production rose, cast morale declined. The executive staff and the Board spent a good many hours discussing the why's and wherefore's of this, and came to the conclusion that officially sponsored activities other than rehearsals might help. As a result, during Pirates '69, an effort was made to have a party every Friday night after rehearsal. Although it was later not as regular, nor as officially sponsored, this became standard operating procedure, and continued five years later. A Halloween costume party for the casts of Pirates and Utopia was held in McCormick Hall, an MIT girl's dorm, as well. Because of the increased size of the cast and the many contacts with the MIT G&S Society, even the cast party was held at the McCormick dorm. (It should be noted that cast parties could not be held on BU property because hard drinks were forbidden there.) The recording of the production was made on a ten inch reel in half track stereo. After many trials and tribulations, copies were made for the cast on seven inch reels in quarter track stereo. (This followed the usual practice of the MIT G&S Society.) The master was donated to the Music Section of the Mugar Library, where it was made available for listening. It was during this production that it was learned that the Constitution then in force was not being followed. That document called for elections at the end of the academic year, and, since Pinafore '67, elections had been held at the end of the calendar year. Movement began toward re-writing the Constitution. After the production, it was estimated that the Savoyards had made a profit on the order of $100. Surprisingly, the largest house had been the Sunday matinee. This was because the students of George Fulginiti, Connie Miller, and Jeffrey Weisenfreund, all of whom were public school teachers, came on that day. At the general meeting, officers were elected and two constitutional amendments were passed. The first abolished membership dues, which had been $2 since 1966. The second amendment redefined membership. Henceforth, anyone who had worked on any one of the last three major productions was a voting member.

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