This June 5, 6, 7, and 8, Sail into the Sunset is coming to Boston.  It's a mini-convention/raiding party/informal booze-up/weekend slumber party for Pirates of the Caribbean fans and Age of Sail buffs.  It's been held almost every year since the first PotC movie came out in 2003, and this year I volunteered to be host.  As there are a lot of people on my flist who (a) like piracy and (b) live in the greater Boston area or could drive in for the day, I want to spread the word. 

We are going to spend the weekend going out and swashbuckling in the daytime and watching pirate movies in the evenings in my hotel room.  There are presently about fourteen people coming.  There is no entry fee.  I'm renting a projector, though, and we're going to pass the hat to pay for that (no more than $15/person).  Right now, it looks like we'll be going on a day sail out of Boston Harbor and spending an afternoon at the US Constitution.  Movies include: all three PotC movies, the Disney Treasure Island, Master and Commander, and possibly the Hornblower miniseries. The SitS livejournal community is sunset_sailors, and my overall explanation post is here.  Go join up if you'd like to receive update posts.  Feel free to link this on your own LJ. 

For anyone who's going to be in the Cambridge area next Saturday afternoon.  Cross-posted from negass

The MIT Gilbert and Sullivan Players will host a joint meeting with NEGASS on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 2:00 p.m., in Twenty Chimneys, on the third floor of the MIT Student Center.  We'll sing through a series of finales together.  Our program:

Act 1 finale of Ruddigore
Act 1 finale of Iolanthe
Act 1 finale of Patience

(interval for rest and refreshment)

Act 1 finale of H. M. S. Pinafore
Act 2 finale of Pirates of Penzance

Afterwards, the floor will be open for any other G&S singing.  Mike Bromberg will be our accompanist.  

There are many small solos available, so it's a great time to try out a role if you've never done one before.  Everyone's invited; you don't have to be a NEGASS member to ask for a role, although we'll do our best to get you to join up when you're there.  Our Company Promoter will tell you more about that. 
We recently suffered a sad loss in the death of T. Skyler Wrench, longtime newsletter editor and NEGASS board member, who sang in several MIT shows.  A favorite chorus of his was "Sighing softly to the river", so we'll sing the Pirates finale in his honor.
Ethan Tyndall, of the MIT G&S Players, is in charge of casting the Ruddigore and Patience finales.  Perhaps MITG&SP could post to let everyone know how their casting is coming.  There are still several roles available in the Iolanthe and H. M. S. Pinafore finales: 

In Iolanthe:
Strephon (taken)
Iolanthe (taken)
Phyllis (taken)
Tolloller (available; tenor role)
Mountararat (taken)
The Lord Chancellor (taken)
The Fairy Queen (available; contralto role)
Leila (available; soprano or mezzo role)
Celia (available; soprano or mezzo role)

In H. M. S. Pinafore: 

Ralph (taken)
Josephine (available; soprano role)
Dick Deadeye (taken)
Cousin Hebe (available; mezzo role)
Little Buttercup (available; contralto role)
Boatswain (available; baritone or bass)

Solos in The Pirates of Penzance will be divided between MITG&SP and NEGASS.  Here are the roles NEGASS still needs to fill:
Ruth (available; contralto role)
Major-General (available; baritone role)


The street address of the MIT Student Center is: 
84 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA. 
Twenty Chimneys is on the third floor of the building.  We will post signs at the door.  For better directions, role requests, or other questions, leave a comment here or e-mail our program chair, April Grant, at aprilcath (at) yahoo (dot) com.