So give three cheers, and one cheer more, for the cast and crew aboard the Pinafore! The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players have announced a full company of sailors, sisters, cousins, and aunts for their winter production of H.M.S. Pinafore, or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor, which plays January 10-18, 2026 at Hunter College's Kaye Playhouse.
Soprano Michelle Siepel leads the cast as the titular lass Josephine, who is torn between love and duty as her father Captain Corcoran has promised her hand in marriage to Sir Joseph Porter K.C.B., First Lord of the Admiralty. But Josephine secretly loves Ralph Rackstraw, a common sailor aboard Corcoran's ship, the titular Pinafore. When Sir Joseph pays a visit to the ship, his radical working-class sympathies stemming from his background as an office boy inspire Ralph to flout rank and propose to Josephine, and the two plot an elopement under the Captain's very nose, aided by Ralph's shipmates, and the mysterious bumboat woman Little Buttercup, who carries a secret that things aboard the Pinafore may not be what they seem.
Tenor Cameron Smith will play Ralph, with David Auxier as Captain Corcoran, and NYGASP Artistic Director James Mills as Sir Joseph. Victoria Devany will cousin Hebe, the leader of an adoring crowd of sisters, cousins, and aunts, who follow Sir Joseph wherever he goes. Completing the principal cast will be Angela Christine Smith as Little Buttercup, Matthew Wages as Dick Deadeye, David Wannen as the Boatswain, and Quinto Ott as the Carpenter. The chorus will include Sam Balzac, Caitlin Borek, Louis Brogna, Michael J. Connolly, Hannah Eakin, Katie Hall, Sarah Hutchison, Alexandra Imbrosci-Viera, Sabrina Lopez, John Charles McLaughlin, Jack F. Murphy, Logan Pitts, Laura Sudduth, and Tyler Tejada.
When it premiered in 1878, H.M.S. Pinafore was an instant success. Sullivan's tunes immediately caught the public's ear, and many lines of Gilbert's dialogue became popular quotations, with the iconic "What never? No, never" exchange becoming such a cultural meme that Gilbert and Sullivan called back to it 15 years later in Utopia, Limited, which NYGASP will present this spring. H.M.S. Pinafore was also the first show by Gilbert and Sullivan to catch on internationally, with multitudes of unlicensed productions popping up in the United States, where Gilbert and Sullivan's English copyright held no sway. It was in response to these pirated productions that Gilbert and Sullivan wrote their next opera, The Pirates of Penzance, for an American audience, an event which was dramatized in Pirates! The Penzance Musical last season on Broadway. H.M.S. Pinafore remains a popular cultural touchstone today, with references abounding in everything from Merrily We Roll Along to The Simpsons.
James Mills directs NYGASP's production, with musical direction by Joseph Rubin. Rubin will share conducting duties with NYGASP Founder and Artistic Director Emeritus Albert Bergeret. Choreography is by co-director David Auxier, with scenic design by Albère, costume design by Gail Wofford. and lighting design by Benjamin Weill.
For more information visit NYGASP.org.
