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Norwalk & Stamford Singers to Star in 'HMS Pinafore'

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Bob Scrofani of Norwalk and Wendy Falconer of Stamford will join other Norwalk and Stamford singers when the Troupers Light Opera puts on the first performance at the refurbished Wall Street Theatre: Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore and Victor Herbert’s The Magic Knight. 

Wendy Falconer of Stamford is Little Buttercup in the upcoming Troupers Light Opera production of HMS Pinafore at Wall Street Theatre in Norwalk. Joining her are Brett Kroeger of Riverside (center), as Josephine) and Suzanne Rossini as Cousin Hebe.

Wendy Falconer of Stamford is Little Buttercup in the upcoming Troupers Light Opera production of HMS Pinafore at Wall Street Theatre in Norwalk. Joining her are Brett Kroeger of Riverside (center), as Josephine) and Suzanne Rossini as Cousin Hebe.

Photo Credit: Contributed

Showtimes 7:30 p.m. for Saturdays April 1 and 8, and 2:30 for Sundays April 2 and 9. Tickets available at www.trouperslightopera.org.

Now included in the National and State Registers of Historic Places, the Wall Street Theatre building went up in 1915, when it opened as the Regent Theatre. Over the ensuing 100 years, as times changed and the economy fluctuated, the theatre repeatedly changed its ownership, its name, and its focus, while remaining a cultural icon for Fairfield County. Recently refurbished by the non-profit Wall Street Theatre organization, it will host a wide variety of cultural activities for the benefit of the greater Norwalk community.

Scrofani, a Norwalk resident since 1978, has sung leading roles with Troupers on three previous occasions, as the Governor in Victor Herbert’s The Red Mill in 2013, as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance in 2014, and as Private Willis in Iolanthe, 2015. He sang for many years with the Connecticut Grand Opera chorus, and also soloed in the roles of Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro and the High Commissioner in Madama Butterfly. He is currently with Music on the Hill in Weston, and the Mendelssohn Choir in Fairfield. He studies voice with the renowned Metropolitan Opera bass John Macurdy.

Falconer is a longstanding veteran of Troupers Light Opera performances, having performed first as a bassoon player in the orchestra during the 1990s, then joining the chorus, and finally starring in solo roles, most recently in the title role of the Troupers’ 2015 production, Iolanthe and as Lady Sangazure in last year’s production of The Sorcerer. She has served two terms as the group’s president, and in a host of other administrative capacities. Ms. Falconer is also a member of New York’s Blue Hill Troupe, which like Troupers Light Opera specializes in Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera.

Falconer and Scorfani will be joined on stage by John Hoover of Norwalk and Rosa Parrotta and Marian Shulman of Stamford. Shulman is also the Stage Director for The Magic Knight, which Troupers is using as a “curtain raiser” for HMS Pinafore. 

HMS Pinafore was W.S. Gilbert’s and Arthur Sullivan’s first major opera, and it took the world by storm after its 1879 London premiere. Although the talented pair would follow it with a string of other fine operas, Pinafore remains, to this day, the definitive Gilbert and Sullivan opus. Ostensibly a satire on the Victorian class system and the British Navy, it also deals with the timeless themes of love, money, and human folly.

Troupers Light Opera Company has been performing Gilbert and Sullivan in Fairfield County for 72 years. Each year Troupers welcomes new members, both onstage and behind the scenes.

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