Opera Picciona to Stage Gilbert and Clay's 'Ages Ago' in New York

Opera Picciona will present W.S. Gilbert and Frederic Clay's "Ages Ago" at Grace & St. Paul's Church in New York on Oct. 23 and 24, 2026. Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m.

The work carries a decisive place in operetta history. "Ages Ago" was first produced on a double bill with Arthur Sullivan's "Cox and Box," and it was at a rehearsal for that production that Gilbert and Sullivan met — the beginning of the partnership that would produce the Savoy operas. Opera Picciona's staging gives New York audiences a rare chance to hear the piece where that history began.

Each performance will be preceded by a concert of Sullivan songs, including three settings of Gilbert's texts written in 1874 and 1875.

The cast is built on doubling. Alice J. Lambert sings Rosa and Lady Maud de Bohun. Manya Gaver Holmes takes Mrs. MacMotherly and Dame Cherry Maybud. Robert Farruggia performs Columbus Hebblethwaite and Sir Aubrey de Beaupré, while Richard Holmes covers Sir Ebenezer Tare and Lord Carnaby Poppytop. Martin Everall rounds out the principals as Steward and Brown.

Thomas Baker, Alyssa Mener, Merrill Mitchell and Renee Ricevuto serve as covers and concert singers. Mitchell performs on Oct. 23; Mener performs on Oct. 24.

Natan Zamansky directs. Marisa Green is music director, with Kevin Hull at the piano.

The engagement signals Opera Picciona's continued commitment to chamber-scale revivals of rarely staged Victorian operetta, presented in an intimate Upper West Side church venue.