The Grand Duke LIVESTREAM

PLEASE NOTE: This listing is for the online livestream of The Grand Duke. After purchasing your ticket, you will be emailed a link to view the stream to the email you used to register for Showclix. Please be patient; this process may take up to 5 minutes to complete. If you have still not received your email after 10 minutes, please check your spam/junk mail folder. If you are still having trouble, please contact information@pittsburghsavoyards.org and we will be happy to assist you.

After the livestream is finished, an archive recording of the performance will be available at the same link.

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Set in the tiny Grand Duchy of Pfennig‑Halbpfennig in 1750, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Grand Duke follows a scrappy theatrical troupe led by theatrical manager Ernest Dummkopf, blundering lead comedian Ludwig, his sweetheart Lisa, and the imperious leading lady Julia Jellicoe, as they conspire to topple the miserly, hypochondriacal Grand Duke Rudolph. On the eve of the company’s latest opening night production, Ludwig is to be married to Lisa, but all the parsons in the town are unavailable because they have been summoned by the Grand Duke. Both the company and the people of the town have grown to hate the Grand Duke, so a scheme is concocted to oust him from power. A fantastical plot then unfolds, involving the company’s secret signal (the eating of a sausage roll); an obscure legal oddity (the “statutory duel” of drawing playing cards, which declares the winner take the place of the loser, and the loser legally dead); a spin of the roulette wheel by an unexpected visitor; and not one, not two, not three, but FOUR prospective brides for the Grand Duke! Hijinks, mistaken identities, and Gilbert’s witty dialogue propel the troupe from rehearsal to courtroom‑style machination, while Sullivan’s jaunty, satirical score punctuates every bit of comic absurdity until at last, in true topsy‑turvy fashion, everything is finally and satisfactorily resolved.