Time Will Tell

Time Will Tell, a musical produced in 1959, foretold the beginnings of The Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company. In November of that year, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, the University of Chicago sponsored a symposium that drew some 2,500 people from around the world, including Sir Julian and Lady Huxley. To add to the festivities the University commissioned a “musical play based on the life and times of Charles Darwin.” Its creators: Robert Ashenhurst, a new member of the faculty in Information Sciences, and Robert Pollak, a local investment broker. Despite their job descriptions, both had a long history of writing for the musical stage in their off hours. The result was Time Will Tell, an ambitious musical production with a cast of 60 drawn from the faculty, Hyde Park and the larger community. It played for three performances to packed houses in Mandel Hall (Nov. 26, 27, and 28, 1959) and garnered positive reviews in the Chicago press.

The success of the endeavor convinced Bob Ashenhurst and his sister Nancy Lorie that Hyde Park was ready to support their dream to produce the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan. The next year, along with Hyde Parker Roland Bailey, they formally launched The Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company.

To commemorate the Company’s 60th anniversary and honor its origins, the Company staged a workshop performance of Time Will Tell on November 9, 2019. The production, presented in the small theatre space of Chicago Dramatists on November 9, 2019, drew an enthusiastic response from an audience of about 80 people.