Opera Queensland will shine the spotlight on local singers around the sunshine state in 2018 with Project G&S, which will see community choruses from the Gold Coast, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns and Toowoomba performing alongside professional opera singers in Lindy Hume’s production of Ruddigore, or the Witch’s Curse.

Jason Barry-Smith and chorus in Opera Queensland’s Ruddigore. Photo © Stephen Henry

Ten men and ten women from each region will sing and dance in the community chorus and take part in a free, intensive development programme. They will attend eight weeks of rehearsals, working with local chorus master and Assistant Director Sean Andrews, before performing the show at The Arts Centre on August 3 and 4 alongside Bryan Probets, Christine Johnson, Natalie Christie Peluso, Jason Barry-Smith and Kanen Breen.

Lindy Hume’s production, described as a “sparkling new interpretation” by Limelight‘s Suzannah Conway when it opened earlier this year in Brisbane, saw the lesser-known Savoy opera steeped in the English humour of the Goons and Monty Python. While not as often performed as dream team Arthur Sullivan and WS Gilbert’s hits like The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and HMS Pinafore, Ruddigore, or...