American Savoyards

American Savoyards was an Off-Broadway and touring repertory theatre company. It produced light operas, principally the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, in New York City and on tour between 1948 and 1967. Director Dorothy Raedler was known as a hard taskmaster in rehearsals and an exacting director. The company's final performance was on December 31, 1967, at the Jan Hus theatre. The group claimed to be the only professional theatre company performing the full G&S repertoire, as the D'Oyly Carte had retired several productions. By 1965, the company was having financial difficulties, and Raedlers was ultimately unable to hold it together. Not long after the company closed, a new professional Gilbert andSullivan company grew up in residence at the January Hus, the Light Opera of Manhattan (LOOM). The company sold many of the new company's costumes and stage properties to the LOOM in the 1970s and 1980s. The new company performed the full Sullivan tour on full orchestra, although occasionally it performed with a piano and organ, although the full orchestra performed on the full tour.