“Nancy Rhodes directed the action with imagination and effectiveness.”
- Anthony Tommasini, The Boston Globe
Set Design by Michael Anania
Costume Design by Mimi Maxmen
Lighting Design by Jeffrey Schissler
Choreographed by Susan Chase
Characters in order of vocal appearance
The Poets
Gray (Ron Edwards)
Thomson (Louis Turner)
Spenser (Kenneth Shaw)
Dryden (Ned Barth)
Milton (Nicholas Solomon)
Johnson (Bruce Kramer)
John Hobhouse (Herbert Perry)
John Murray (Charles Walker)
Augusta Leigh, Lord Byron’s sister (Karen Beardsley)
Thomas Moore (John Cimino)
Lady Byron, née Annabella Milbanke (Donna Stephenson)
Contessa Guiccioli (Frances Ginsberg)
Count Gamba (Eric Allen Hanson)
Lord Byron (Paul Spenser Adkins)
Lady Charlotte (Sally Stevens)
Lady Jane (Candice Burrows)
Lady Mary (Kathryn Monahan)
Lady Melbourne (Jane Bunnell)
Nobleman No. 1 (Nicholas Solomon)
Nobleman No. 2 (Ned Barth)
John Ireland, Dean of Westminster Abbey (Bruce Kramer)
Shelly (Kenneth Shaw)
Ensemble Members
Chris Goeke
Harold Discher
Scott Wilde
The New York Repertory Theatre Orchestra
New York City Children’s Choir
Paul Halley, Director
Scenic components built and painted by Adirondack Scenic, Inc. Produced by permission of the Peer-Southern Corporation, New York
NEW YORK OPERA REPERTORY THEATRE
ORCHESTRA
VIOLINS
Davis Brooks, Concertmaster
Liz Field
Neil Blackman
B. J. Johnson
Victoria Noyes
Carol Minor
Phil Coonce
Heidi Carney
Carol Sadowski
Ann Bolen
Mary Whitaker
Tom Swarez
Fran Post
Greg Singer
VIOLA
Valerie Diamond, Principal
Tina Pelikan
Daniel Seidenberg
Adria Benjamin
CELLO
Scott Ballantyne, Principal
Bernie Tamisitis
Roberta Cooper
BASS
Judith Sugarman, Principal
Marji Danilow
FLUTE
Sheryl Henze, Principal
Wendy Stern
CLARINET
Laura Flax, Principal
Mitchell Kriegler
OBOE
Diane Lesser, Principal
David Rowland
BASSOON
Charles McCracken, Principal
Atsuko Sato
FRENCH HORN
Joe Anderer, Principal
Allen Spanger
Cynthia Jersey
Sandra Walker
TRUMPET
Lee Soper, Principal
Susan Radcliff
TROMBONE
Vernon Post, Principal
Kenneth Finn
BASS TROMBONE
John Rojak
TUBA
Carl Kleinsteuber
HARP
Debra Hoffman
PERCUSSION
Richard Fitz
Louis Oddo
Benjamin Herman
NOTES ON LORD BYRON
George Gordon Byron was born on January 22, 1788, and ten years later inherited the barony, becoming Lord Byron. He spent his early childhood in Scotland with his mother. His father squandered their money, deserted the family, and died young, probably a suicide. In 1805, Byron went to Trinity College, Cambridge. His first collection of poetry was not well-received, but with the publication of the first two cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage in 1812, he became famous overnight.
In 1815 Byron married the heiress Annabella Milbanke, a mathematician who did not understand his emotional complexities, and they separated after a year. They had a daughter, Allegro. Byron shocked society by the rumored relationship with his half-sister, Augusta, whom he loved more than any other woman, and one of whose many children he considered to be his. In 1816, he left England because of the moral indignation aroused by his private life.
Eventually the poet settled in Italy, where for some time he lived with Teresa, Countess Guiccioli. He supported Italian revolutionary movements and in 1823 went to Greece to fight in its struggle for independence. He contracted a fever and died at Missolonghi in 1824. With all the scandal surrounding his short life–he did at age thirty-six–Byron to most of his contemporaries as a luminary and dynamic force. His works were translated into all the European languages. He was an aristocrat who rebelled against social injustice, a man who not only spoke about liberty but worked for it, an affectionate and loyal friend, a lively correspondent, and a formidable satirist. All his life he spoke, wrote, and worked on behalf of the politically oppressed.
