New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players

Beginning in New York City in 1974 by performing the Savoy operas with piano accompaniment, the company hired its first orchestra in 1979 for its seasons each year at Symphony Space theatre in Manhattan.

The company was fully professional by the 1980s and began touring, presenting its full-scale productions at such venues as Wolf Trap in Virginia, as well as its New York seasons.

In the early years of the company, singers were drawn from Columbia University and from the semi-pro New York theatre community, including Vincent La Selva's opera workshop, and sang without compensation.

Originally called "West Side Gilbert & Sullivan Players", the group originally performed scenes from Gilbert and Sullivan operas with a sound system and a cast of nine people in outdoor performances and in nursing homes and hospitals around New York City, with borrowed costumes, set pieces and an electric piano from the New York Grand Opera, the Bloomingdale School of Music and other supporters.

Beginning in the fall of 1977, the company was performing full weeks runs of the operas, and the following year it moved into the 700-seat Symphony Space theatre in New York, including a production celebrating the centenary of H.M.S.

In May 1979, NYGASP hired its first 25-piece orchestra and began to pay performance fees to principal singers as the level of professionalism of its cast continued to increase.

NYGASP attracted such loyal fans and supporters as writer Isaac Asimov and began to gain favorable and frequent reviews in The New York Times and the Daily News, among others.

At a gala benefit for the company at Symphony Space in 1987, Reed, dressed as the Lord Chancellor from Iolanthe, proposed marriage, on stage, to celebrity sex therapist and author Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

Pinafore, and The Mikado, the company enjoyed good box office results and continued to perform at City Center most seasons thereafter until 2013.

"[23] In a 2010 review of Ruddigore, the Financial Times praised the company's "roster of principals, mostly youthful, who treat the music with lilting grace, rhythmic bravado and patter virtuosity, as needed".

[24] A 2012 review called the company's Pirates "a spectacularly entertaining show that channels decades of great theatrics, a little modern humor, and a perfectly picturesque staging.

"[25][26] NYGASP tours on the East Coast, in the Midwest and in other parts of the U.S. several times each year, performing regularly at Wolf Trap's Filene Center in Vienna, Virginia; Van Wezel Hall in Sarasota, Florida; the Mann Center outside Philadelphia; McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey; the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut; and in Saratoga Springs, New York, among other venues, often earning positive reviews.

It also presented two full-scale productions (Pinafore and Pirates) and its cabaret-style revue, "I've Got a Little Twist", at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as part of the U.S. leg of the 2010 International G&S Festival.

[29] NYGASP usually presents a New Year's Eve gala and sometimes other special events, featuring pastiches or lesser-known Sullivan music or company members' favorite songs in concert, and there is sometimes a segment where spontaneous audience requests are played, with orchestra, and with singers chosen on the spot by the conductor.

[30] It also offers small groups of singers for concerts, private and corporate events and outdoor performances, under the name "Wand’ring Minstrels" and its cabaret-style revue combining Gilbert and Sullivan with musical theatre, I've Got a Little Twist, written and directed by David Auxier.

[33] In addition, NYGASP groups have often performed on the "listening room" program on WQXR radio in New York City and have been seen on The Today Show on Saturday morning on NBC.

[36] The company redesigned its production after consulting with an advisory group of Asian-American theatre professionals and journalists and debuted the new concept in December 2016, receiving a warm review in The New York Times.

[40] Each season, NYGASP offers a few full-scale performances of its main stage productions to NYC public school groups free of charge (paid for by corporate sponsors).

[41] In addition, Bergeret and small groups of performers from NYGASP travel to private schools in New York City to give concert-classes about the music and satire of Gilbert and Sullivan and other aspects of presenting G&S.