The UTM Department of Music presented the Lyric Opera Theatre “An Evening with Gilbert and Sullivan” at 8 p.m., April 9 and at 3 p.m., April 10 in the Harriet Fulton Theatre.

The Lyric Opera Theatre included musical excerpts from three operas: The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance and Iolanthe. Musical accompaniment was provided by Scott Roberts and the performance was directed by Dr. Amy Yeung.

“I love the musical choices and it sounded great all around,” said Ben Martin, a junior Music Education major from McKenzie.

The program began with excerpts from The Mikado, an opera about Nanki-Poo, the son of the royal Mikado and his quest to marry the beautiful Yum-Yum. Unfortunately, Yum-Yum is betrothed to Ko-Ko, the High Executioner. Nanki-Poo eventually succeeds in marrying Yum-Yum by faking his own execution.

Among the songs the Lyric Opera Theatre students performed from The Mikado were “Three Little Maids from School” and “Young Man, Despair,” which was performed by Matt Emison, Nathan Harrison and Vannie Williamson and illustrated Nanki-Poo’s misery at his beloved’s engagement to the executioner.

The excerpts from The Pirates of Penzance included “Poor Wandering One” and “When You had Left our Pirate Fold.” In The Pirates of Penzance, Frederic, an apprentice pirate played by Vannie Williamson, learns that he has been mistakenly apprenticed to the pirates after he falls in love with the Major-General’s daughter, Mabel, played by Allison Butner. Frederic also learns that, because he was born during a Leap Year, the pirates can force him to remain an apprentice with them.

“Allison Butner was incredibly good,” said Bryan Winningham, a senior Music Education major from Murpheesboro, about her performance as Mabel and the piece “Poor Wandering One.”

The final opera included in the performance was Iolanthe, which tells the story of the son of a fairy who broke the law and married a human, Strephon, who was played by Sean Campbell and Phyllis, played by Heather Cheatham. The lovers express their feeling in “None Shall Part Us from Each Other.” Strephon desperately wants to marry Phyllis, but The House of Lords forbid it.

“Tripping Hither, Tripping Thither” was performed by Allison Butner, Sarah Lemons, Rachel Cook and Lorie Jenkins as the fairies. Phyllis and Strephon are eventually permitted to marry after Iolanthe, played by Butner, reveals that Phyllis’s other suitor, The Lord Chancellor, played by Williamson, is her husband.

In the finale “Soon as We May,”all the members of Parliament, who have fallen in love with the fairies, become fairies themselves when the Queen marries a human as a means of sparing the lives of the other fairies for breaking the law.

“It was a lot of hard work, but it was great being a fairy. Working with Dr. Yeung is amazing. She put a lot of hard work into it,” said Rachel Cook of Martin and Lorie Jenkins of Munford, two of the performers in the Lyric Opera Theatre who played fairies in the final opera.