WHO WE ARE
VLOG is a non-profit organization that brings New Yorkers together over an appreciation for the roots of the modern musical, from classic operettas to Golden Age theatre. Our all-volunteer membership spans generations, professions and walks of life. Through concerts, cabarets and full-scale performances, our members hone their performing, producing and creative skills while making keeping a rich musical history alive within the community.
THEATRE FAMILY
Our membership is the backbone of all off-stage activity. We take great pride in the network of friends and family we have built throughout our 80 years of merry-making. Nearly 70 couples have met and married within VLOG. It is no longer unusual to see three generations of one family in a performance!
OUR HISTORY
The Village Light Opera Group was founded in 1935 as an amateur theatre group called The Sulliberts, meeting and performing at the East Village landmark Christodora House at 9th Street and Avenue B. Under founding directors Allen and Elizabeth Hinckley, veteran singers of the Metropolitan Opera and D'Oyly Carte company, the group filled a gap as one of few groups performing Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire to New York City.
The group's first production, The Pirates of Penzance, performed in June of 1936 at the Christodora House for an admission cost of fifty cents. In 1937, renamed The Village Light Opera Group, the company came of age as the premier producer of Gilbert and Sullivan operas in New York, and in 1938 it began community singing in Greenwich Village, and brought Gilbert and Sullivan productions to the community for the next 3 decades.
VLOG began modernizing its signature style in the 1970s, expanding its repertoire to additional composers and creative reimaginings. At its production of Offenbach's “La Belle Hélène”, the week of December 10, 1973 was designated “Village Light Opera Group Week” by New York Mayor John Lindsay for its “high standard of professional excellence that has become its hallmark.” Other notable adaptations included a Wild West version of Trial by Jury, the out-of-this-world Princess Ida in Space and an American fable staging of Oklahoma.
Into the 21st century, VLOG has continued to honor its heritage by reviving and reimagining operettas, Golden Age musicals and a growing list of modern classics that have entered the theatre canon.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Casey Keeler, President
Laura Kroh, Vice President
Jessica Brams-Miller
Rachel Goodman
James Higgins
Alice Lambert
Joe Levine
Pam Palmieri
Andrew Roberts
Noelle Teagno