Cox and Box Dinner

Open Event

Tickets: £99 (includes a three course dinner)
Ticket deadline: 6 May 2024

Schedule:
6.30pm Drinks Reception
7.00pm Cox and Box Operetta (35- 40 mins) followed by Three Course Dinner
10.45pm Carriages

Cox and Box, the gem of comic opera

Stationers’ Hall is renowned for its outstanding acoustics so there can be no finer setting for a sparkling evening of musical entertainment and fine dining. You are advised to book early for the event on May 13 as tickets will be snapped up very quickly.

Five years before Arthur Sullivan wrote the music for any of his many redoubtable collaborations with W.S. Gilbert, he created the score for Cox and Box, his first successful comic work. The libretto is by F. E.Burnand.

A review in The Times of 1866 described it as “full of sparking tune and real comic humour." We are delighted that The Master has invited a top-class group of performers to showcase Cox and Box at Stationers’ Hall,  because it’s a classic gem of Victoriana.

The evening will include a three-course dinner with wine. The company will also perform some old favourites from Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular operettas – so feel free to sing along!.

Our highly-experienced performers are:

Margaret Johnson, musical director and pianist

Margaret trained at the Royal College of Music, studying piano with Angus Morrison and Bernard Roberts and worked as a répétiteur in the Opera School as part of her Advanced Studies.  She has worked with numerous operatic societies, musical theatre groups, choirs, orchestras and soloists as conductor, musical director, accompanist and repetiteur and is Founder and Musical Director of Felici Opera. She is equally at home in opera, operetta, art song and musical theatre and works as vocal coach and repetiteur.

Margaret is a passionate advocate of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and has musically directed many of their operas – including Iolanthe, Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, Mikado, Patience, The Sorcerer, Ruddigore, Princess Ida and Utopia. She believes Sullivan to be an underrated composer and that his partnership with W S Gilbert is unique.

As a footnote, Margaret met her husband, Peter in Imperial College Operatic Society, when she was the accompanist and he was the Chairman!

Graham Breeze, director and tenor

Graham trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and has since had an extensive career in theatre, TV and radio. He has performed in plays, musicals, operas and pantos. He has also directed all of the Savoy operas by Gilbert and Sullivan for several theatre companies and has performed most of the tenor and baritone roles, his favourites include Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore and King Paramount in Utopia Limited.

Robert Little, tenor

Having studied singing at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and then, with former Royal Opera principal tenor, Edgar Evans, at the Royal College of Music, Robert has sung principal tenor roles with many companies - most recently, with St Albans Chamber Opera and Felici Opera. His G&S repertoire, in productions and concerts, covers all but a few of the tenor roles. His most frequently-performed roles are Marco (The Gondoliers), Colonel Fairfax (The Yeomen of the Guard), Lord Tolloller (Iolanthe), Hilarion (Princess Ida) and Alexis Pointdextre (The Sorcerer). When not singing, Robert is a writer, author and speaker.

David Crew, bass baritone

David has been performing on stage for over 50 years, having joined his father and uncle in his first show in 1969, whilst he was still at school - and now he performs alongside his daughters! He has played most of the G&S baritone leads and has performed in a wide variety of other shows - ranging from Monty Python’s Spamalot to Bizet’s Carmen.  David has also performed at The Edinburgh Fringe and the International G&S Festival at Harrogate, where he was nominated as Best Character actor for Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers. Last year he was honoured to receive a third NODA area award for “Best Performance in a Musical” - the previous awards were for Pooh Bah in The Mikado and for Molokov in Chess; this time it was for Sergeant Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard.

The dress code is business attire.  Please note that this event is open to anyone so demand for tickets will be high and early booking is essential.