Though one of their less-performed operas, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers nonetheless boasts a well-crafted and amusing score, a deft wordplay, and as whimsy-laden a plot as Pirates of Penzance. It is difficult, however, to sell tickets to a 19th-century comic operetta modern audiences know little-to-nothing aboutâunless, of course, you are the Averill Park Kayakerâs Club! Still smarting from the abrupt cancellation of their creative-but-flawed water-safety play some months ago, group director Sal Devroie pitched a project more ambitious by far: A staging of Gondoliers entirely from an assortment of kayaks, canoes, and paddleboats. Though delayed by Grafton State Park's uncertainty as to whether it could, in fact, issue a performance license for a portion of the Long Pond, the intersection of boating enthusiasts and Savoyards encompassed more than enough people to perform, accompany, and finagle permits for the production. The gimmick proved attractive, drawing in several hundred attendees over the course of the week's engagementâthough an unexpectedly high number of children attending with free tickets meant that even these levels of attendance couldn't quite recoup Sal his personal investment in the show.










