The Yeomen of the Guard

Laura Schatz — Dame Carruthers

          Artistic Director, Producer

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Despite Laura's successes as a director, she is first and foremost a performer. She is known as the soprano who can (and does) sing any role Gilbert and Sullivan wrote. Laura does not often venture into the realm of musicals, but she was overjoyed to be cast as the Mother Abbess in Scarborough Music Theatre’s sold-out production of The Sound of Music this past November. MADS has always been a part of Laura’s life, as her parents were among the founders of the group, and she started performing in it at the age of 5. She feels honoured to be able to carry on this important tradition in memory of both of her amazing parents, without whom MADS would not exist.

Jennie Garde — Mathilda Cholmondeley

          Assistant Director/Choreographer

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Jennie did her very first on-stage performing with MADS when she was just a teen, and over the years graduated to play all the saucy young woman roles, which have been lots of fun. By now, she has graduated to playing a saucy old mother or any other role that can be found! Jennie loves devising dance and movement for our fantastic cast and seeing her vision come to life. She’s very proud of her son Phil, who plays Jack Point. She also now does a lot of acting in plays without music. Her last plays in this vein were playing 5 different characters (!) in A Christmas Carol with Stage Centre Productions, and then playing both Princess Alexandra and a sideshow pinhead in The Elephant Man.

Risa de Rege — Kate

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Risa’s past roles with MADS include Constance (The Sorcerer), Angelina (Trial By Jury), and Casilda (The Gondoliers). She is a regular at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in England, sings early music with the Toronto Chamber Choir, and plays several instruments. An active academic, Risa has a master’s in book history and library science and is currently a graduate student in history at the University of Toronto, studying secular music in early modern England. Having now been in all of the extant G&S shows, Risa looks forward to planning a Toronto revival of their lost work, Thespis, and hopefully pursuing other hobbies.

Benjamin Done — Colonel Fairfax

         The participation of this Artist is arranged

         by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity

         Association

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Benjamin Done, tenor, completed his Master of Music degree at the University of Toronto Opera School. His operatic roles include Mr. Splinters in The Tender Land, Babylas in Monsieur Choufleuri, Ein Weiser in Hin und Zurük, Hamlet in the student-composer-collective Disobedience, Charles Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities, John Adams in The Mother of Us All, “Casey” Baldwin in The Bells of Baddeck, and Marco Palmieri from The Gondoliers. On the concert stage Ben has been featured as tenor soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. In the 2024/25 season, Benjamin will perform the tenor solos from Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Haydn’s Paukenmesse, and begin his first season with the Canadian Opera Company Chorus.

Josh Gibson — Wilfred Shadbolt

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Josh is very excited to make his MADS debut as Wilfred Shadbolt in this year's production of The Yeomen of the Guard and hopes to bring many laughs, cheers, and smiles for he has a most delicate wit! He is currently in the final year of his undergraduate degree at U of T for vocal performance. He has enjoyed the past 4 years pursuing as many opportunities as possible. Josh has appeared as Count Almaviva in SOLT’s The Marriage of Figaro, Pirate King in COSA’s The Pirates of Penzance in Concert, Captain Corchoran in COSA’s H.M.S Pinafore, Kromov in TOT’s The Merry Widow, and Captain of Police in SOLT’s The Consul.

Emma Lavigne — Phoebe Meryll

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Emma is overjoyed to be joining MADs for the first time as Phoebe. She started performing musical theatre at age five and began her classical training at age 12. In 2023, she completed her Associates Diploma with the Royal Conservatory of Music. Emma is in her second year of Voice Performance at the University of Toronto where she has a full tuition scholarship and is studying with Elizabeth McDonald. While at U of T, Emma covered the role of Kate in The Pirates of Penzance with COSA Canada, attended SongFest, attended Canto Vocal Programs 2024 on full scholarship, covering Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, and performed in an opera outreach program with Canto.

Kate Carver — Musical Director

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Kate is so happy to be able to join MADS again this year for Yeomen. She is a Vocal Coach at University of Toronto’s Opera Division, Opera Music Director/Conductor at Wilfrid Laurier University, and has been a frequent conductor with Toronto Operetta Theatre. Other positions have included Music Staff with the Canadian Opera Company, the voice program at the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, New York, and the University of Montreal; as well as Music Director for Essential Opera, Maritime Concert Opera, and Opera by Request. Kate received her Bachelor and Masters degrees in Music from McGill University, and studied in London, England at The Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Britten-Pears School, and The National Opera Studio.

Beth Armstrong-Chauvin — Elsie Maynard

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For Beth’s 10th show with MADS she is delighted to return as the winsome Elsie Maynard. Favourite past roles include: Phyllis (Iolanthe), Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance) and Gianetta (The Gondoliers). Although G&S sopranos are her speciality, Beth is determined to one day play the Pirate King — baritones, you've been warned! To train for all the legal humour in Gilbert's libretti, Beth spends her off-stage time practising law. This year, Beth is proud to continue the MADS tradition of rehearsing and performing with a baby backstage. Her performance is dedicated to her son and to her husband, Nick, without whom her adventures on and off-stage would not be possible.

Brian Dearden — Sir Richard Cholmondeley

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Brian is thrilled to return to St. Anne’s for The Yeomen of the Guard, his eighth production with MADS. Last year he performed in The Gondoliers as Giuseppe Palmieri, one of his favourite roles, and this year he’s excited to tackle a new role as Sir Richard Cholmondeley, the only character in Gilbert & Sullivan canon who was a real person! Some of Brian’s other favourite roles include The Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance (Toronto Operetta Theatre), and Marcello in La Boheme (Summer Opera Lyric Theatre). When he’s not on stage, Brian enjoys gardening, pro wrestling (as a viewer, not a participant), metal concerts, and meeting new cats.

Philip Garde — Jack Point

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Phil has been performing with MADS for an unseemly length of time, during which he’s gone from a glorified piece of cargo (in infant form) to a decidedly un-glorified aesthetic poet (in adult form) and just about everything in between (various ages). Perhaps his favourite aspect of performing is connecting to a character through one’s own lived experiences and learning the ways in which your personalities align, in this case: Dullness, dreariness, broken-heartedness, and sorrow. When not prancing around in tights and bells, Phil works as a civil engineer, plays in a metal band, enjoys raucous D&D sessions with his pals, and tends to his ever-growing plant collection.

Sean Hutchins — Sergeant Meryll

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Sean was introduced to the world of Gilbert & Sullivan through blind fortune upon accidentally auditioning for the McGill Savoy Society in his first year of grad school. After working both in the spotlight and behind the scenes, he left the stage to focus on his family. But now that his children are sufficiently mature, he’s pleased to share the stage with his whole family. This is Sean’s fourth season with MADS, having performed as the Major in Patience, Sir Marmaduke in The Sorcerer, and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers. In his day job, Sean works as the Director of Research at the Royal Conservatory of Music, and in his free time, he likes to chase plastic.

Evan Morin — Leonard Meryll

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Evan has been singing since the age of 10 and recently completed his bachelor of voice performance at Wilfrid Laurier University, studying with Canadian soprano Leslie Fagan. A lover of both musical theatre and opera, Evan grew up performing in musicals with various community ensembles. Highlights include roles ranging from Oliver in Lionel Bart’s Oliver! to Mike in Marvin Hamlisch’s A Chorus Line. More recently, Evan has performed in various operas within the Waterloo and Toronto areas including Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, Massenet’s Cendrillon, Poulenc’s Dialogue des Carmelites and Copland’s The Tender Land.