The Blue Hill Troupe, Ltd. (often referred to as the Troupe or BHT), is a musical theatre performing company and charitable organization based in New York City. The Troupe is the only musical theatre company in the city that donates all the net proceeds of its performances to charity."Blue Hill Troupe to Stage Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe", Playbill, March 10, 2016
Formed in 1924 in Blue Hill, Maine, the Troupe moved to New York City in 1926 and has continued to mount annual performances ever since. It began by staging Gilbert and Sullivans' comic operas, becoming the first performing group in the United States to produce all 13 extant Savoy operas. The Troupe also began to give concerts, an annual gala and "out-of-town" performances. Since 1984, it has also produced a second fully-staged work of musical theatre annually.
Each year, the Troupe selects a New York City charity as the principal object of its philanthropy, seeking to have the greatest charitable impact with the funds it raises through its performances. Over the decades, it has donated an inflation-adjusted total of more than $12 million. For more than a century, the Troupe has also served as a social outlet for its hundreds of members, who volunteer their time and talents towards its theatrical and charitable activities.
Early history The Troupe was founded in the summer of 1924 near the country estate of Dr. Seth Minot Milliken (1875–1957), a member of the Milliken textile family, and his wife, Alida Lesse (1879–1975), in Blue Hill, Maine,"Seth M. Milliken, Surgen, 82, Dead; Polio Victim Devoted Himself to Helping Handicapped – Active in Civic Groups", The New York Times, November 19, 1957, p. 33; and "Alida Milliken, 95, Aided Social Units", The New York Times, February 14, 1975, p. 40 when the couple was searching for ways to keep their teenage children busy and away from the cinema and other "pernicious influence[s] of the roaring twenties".Emerson, Brad. "The Pinafore Sails Down East", New York Social Diary, January 25, 2011 A musically talented friend who was staying with them, Elsie Goddard,Alida Milliken Camp, the eldest of the Millikens' five children, later recalled that Goddard was a music and drama teacher from a school in New Jersey. See Wiggins, John R. "The Humble Beginnings of a Gilbert & Sullivan Company", The Ellsworth American, February 1979, pp. 1 and 6 suggested recruiting their children and neighboring summer residents to perform Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore. After several weeks of rehearsal, with Goddard directing,Johnston, Laurie. "Theatrical Company With a Pedigree Plays Pirates for Charity", The New York Times, April 17, 1984, pp. B1 and B20 the show took place that August on the deck of the Millikens' 103-foot schooner, Shawna, moored offshore."The Blue Hill Troupe: Gilbert and Sullivan with Unflagging Zest", Vogue, August 15, 1957 Smaller boats delivered Sir Joseph with his sisters, cousins and aunts, to the Pinafore, and floating docks held brave musicians who battled rising winds and waves sloshing over their feet including, precariously, Mrs. Walter Sullivan at the piano."Blue Hill Troupe: Less Society and a Lot More Professionalism", The New York Times, March 12, 1972 The audience sat on the shore, the stone porches of the boathouse and the docks of the local yacht club as darkness fell, with a full moon, various spotlights and car headlights illuminating the show. Proceeds from ticket sales were donated to the East Blue Hill Library.Wiggins, John R. "The Humble Beginnings of a Gilbert & Sullivan Company", The Ellsworth American, February 1979, pp. 1 and 6
The performance was deemed a success, and the next summer, the Millikens and friends produced The Mikado, this time on dry but foggy land, in front of the Millikens' nearby home. The funds raised were given to a hospital and a church in Blue Hill.Filichia, Peter. "Stagestruck by Peter Filichia: The Blue Hill Troupe: 75 Years of G&S, and More", Playbill, April 28, 1999 The following spring of 1926, the Troupe moved to New York City where, at the Millikens' Upper East Side house, it presented The Pirates of Penzance. The Gondoliers followed the next year, with performances in both Manhattan and Maine, and since then the Troupe has been based in New York City, with a mission to raise money for charity. The Blue Hill Troupe was not officially named until 1930. Seth Milliken was the Troupe's first president, from 1924 to 1934.Blue Hill Troupe program for Anything Goes, The Theatre at St. Jean's, November 3–11, 2023, p. 19 In 1952 the company filed a Certificate of Incorporation in New York State; its "Purpose" clause, written in Gilbertian verse, begins:
Description
Productions
The Troupe has performed every year since 1924, except for 1929 and 2020 (during the COVID-19 pandemic theatre shutdown).Patience was planned for the spring of 1928, but the death of the son of the conductor, Edouard Dethier, caused the group to postpone the performance until November at the Heckscher Theatre in New York. With the production taking place so late in the year, and with a turnover among the members of the group responsible for show-planning and production, the Troupe did not produce a show in 1929. See Azoy, A. C. M. (Editorial Chairman). The Blue Hill Troupe: 25th Anniversary, Blue Hill Troupe: New York (1949), pp. 16–17 (OCLC: 05141296). The 2020 productions and the spring 2021 production were canceled during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company presents a Gilbert and Sullivan opera each year, generally in the spring. It was the first American company to produce all 13 extant Savoy operas, completing the canon in 1946,Berns, David "Blue Hill Troupe Will Present Ruddigore to Aid City Cancer Committee April 25–27", The New York Times, March 31, 1946, p. 42 and some of its members were the first Americans to appear in all of them. The Troupe has even produced a version of the "lost" Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Thespis, with a score by Sullivan and Thomas Z. Shepard.Jones, Kenneth. "Thespis, Lost G&S Operetta, Gets New Score by Thomas Z. Shepard", Playbill, 28 May 2008 In the 1930s and 1940s, its director and music director were Benjamin T. Hoogland and Edmond W. Rickett,Rickett had composed incidental music for W. S. Gilbert's The Fairy's Dilemma in 1904: The Times, 21 April 1904, p. 11. He also edited Gilbert and Sullivan operas for G. Schirmer's Gilbert and Sullivan editions. who together wrote the book Let's Do Some Gilbert and Sullivan, a handbook used by many companies in producing the operas.Rothermel, Dan. "Swan Song: The Music of The Grand Duke", Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, August 29, 2011 Later, Charles Dodsley Walker, music director of the Church of the Heavenly Rest, conducted the Troupe for 35 years.Newman, Andy. "Public Lives; Musical M.C. for the Silk Stocking District", The New York Times, February 23, 2000 In 1984, the Troupe began to perform a second fully-staged work of musical theatre each November.Nutt, Bill. "NYC's Blue Hill Troupe to stage Iolanthe from April 8 to 16", MyCentralJersey.com, April 2, 2016
The group also organizes its members to sing Christmas carols in hospital wards and at fire stations,Eisenhart, Douglas. "Music is a healing force at the hospital", The Boston Globe, December 30, 2019 and gives concerts, as well as an annual gala and additional out-of-town performances;Melvin, Tessa. "Gilbert, Sullivan Aid Theater", The New York Times, May 1, 1983, Section 11, p. 24Davidson, Spencer. "The Blue Hill Is Alive with the Sound of Savoyards", Avenue, April 1982, pp. 136–140 during World War II, it sang concerts at West Point. For many years in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Troupe performed annual concerts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art."Blue Hill Troupe", NYC Arts. Retrieved October 27, 2022Jones, Kenneth. "NYC's Blue Hill Troupe Goes Into the Woods for a Good Cause Nov. 7-15", Playbill, October 15, 2008 It has twice performed concerts in Carnegie Hall accompanied by The New York Pops. Other concerts are given annually at such venues as university alumni clubs and nursing homes. The Troupe has also twice performed at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in England, once winning the festival with its production of Patience.Chalmers, Graham. "Three more years: G&S Festival’s pledge to Harrogate", Harrogate Advertiser, September 5, 2015; "The 24th International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival Newsletter", International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, November 2016, p. 20; and Davis, Carol E. "TravelBlog: Buxton's Gilbert & Sullivan Festival", Opera News, August 2005 During the 21st century, the Troupe has usually performed its spring shows at the theatre of El Museo del Barrio.Gardner, Ralph Jr. "Theater Group Is Tonic for Our Times", The Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2016; Cristi, A. A. "Blue Hill Troupe Closes Its 99th Season With The Pirates of Penzance, April 26–30", BroadwayWorld, April 24, 2023; and "Brooklynites play key roles in The Grand Duke, topsy-turviest of Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas", Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 24, 2025
Vogue judged the Troupe "very, very good, even by professional standards". A New York Times critic, Theodore W. Libbey Jr., called the Troupe's Iolanthe "flawless from a technical standpoint and showed polish on all levels. Aside from a few overly busy scenes ... stage business went smoothly. ... The musical preparation of the chorus was impressive, as was the work of many of the principals."Libbey, Theodore Jr. "Operetta: Iolanthe", The New York Times, April 10, 1982, p. 16 In National Review, John O'Sullivan thought the Troupe's production of Utopia, Limited "sparkling, witty, and thoroughly entertaining".O'Sullivan, John. "Utopia, Limited at New York’s El Museo del Barrio", National Review, April 28, 2012 Tim Page, writing in The New York Times, commented that a Troupe production of Princess Ida showed "a remarkable flair for the impeccably proper lunacy that is the soul of the Savoy operas."Page, Tim. "The Blue Hill Troupe Presents Princess Ida", The New York Times, March 31, 1983 Times critic John Rockwell's review of Pirates said that the company's "productions are actually quite lavish, even quasi-professional. ... There was also some stalwart acting".Rockwell, John. "Operetta: Penzance by Blue Hill", The New York Times, April 19, 1984, p. C17 The Troupe's 100th anniversary production in 2024 was H.M.S. Pinafore, the same opera with which it had debuted in 1924.Salazar, David. "Blue Hill Troupe to Present H.M.S. Pinafore", Opera Wire, April 4, 2024Schulman, Michael. "H.M.S. Pinafore Uptown, on Repeat", The New Yorker, June 10, 2024 Also in 2024, the Troupe and two of its conductors, Marisa Green and Eric Peterson, were recognized by The American Prize in the opera conducting category.Katz, David. "National winners: Conductors (opera), 2024", The American Prize, August 16, 2024
Charity