Acclaimed comic opera company Opera della Luna returns to British theatres in spring 2010 with its new production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s first success — The Sorcerer.

Pembrokeshire fans of the great musicians have a chance to see The Sorcerer at Theatr Mwldan, on Tuesday, March 16th and Wednesday 17th.

Opera della Luna has earned itself a matchless reputation for its productions of Gilbert and Sullivan.

This smart new production moves the story from its quaint Victorian setting to sleepy rural Britain in the 1970s.

John Wellington Wells, the celebrated dealer in ‘magic and spells’, spreads chaos and havoc in an unsuspecting country village, when he places a powerful aphrodisiac in the village hall teapot.

The resulting revelations are indeed ‘a marvellous illusion, a terrible surprise’!

Opera della Luna is the UK’s finest comic opera company, now celebrating 15 years of acclaimed productions of Gilbert and Sullivan, Offenbach and Johann Strauss, touring to theatres all over Britain. Its recent production of Die Fledermaus played to sell out houses and gained rave reviews.

As ever, Jeff Clarke’s stylish direction updates and adds new twists to a well-loved story in this fun and unstuffy production.

Choreographer Jenny Arnold has worked on many Opera della Luna productions, including HMS Pinafore, The Merry Widow and The Mikado. She is delighted to be back on board for The Sorcerer and her skill of movement brings the production to life.

Design is by Graham Wynne, of BBC’s Changing Rooms fame. Graham also has a string of theatrical design credits to his name.

The cast features acclaimed Gilbert and Sullivan patter song performer Simon Butteriss, who is delighted to reprise the role of John Wellington Wells that he created for a production at the Buxton International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in summer 2009.

The Sorcerer was first performed at London’s Opera Comique in 1877 and has grown in popularity ever since.

As well as relocating the story to a different period, Opera della Luna has extended the finale and reworked some of the material, but purists need not worry, Gilbert and Sullivan’s masterpiece remains.