Search results for ""Author William S Gilbert""

Iolanthe (Libretto)

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The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It opened on November 17, 1877 at the Opera Comique in the Strand in London, where it ran for 178 performances. For the 1884 revival, Gilbert and Sullivan abridged the ending to Act I, and provided a new opening to Act II, and it is in this form that the work is usually presented today.The first American production was at the Broadway Theatre in New York on February 21, 1879, for a run of just 20 performances. There were later professional revivals in New York, none of them under D'Oyly Carte auspices, in 1879, 1882, and 1883.

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The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty, is a comic opera in two acts. One of the Savoy Operas, the official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York on December 31, 1879, where it was a hit with audiences and critics. The London premiere was on April 3, 1880, at the Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances, having already been playing successfully for over three months in New York. Pirates remains popular today, taking its place along with The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore as one of the most frequently played Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Its successful 1981 Broadway revival by Joseph Papp refreshed its popularity.

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W.S. Gilbert's complete libretto for H.M.S Pinafore, which opened May 28, 1878, at the Opera Comique and ran for 571 performances. Subtitled 'The Lass That Loved A Sailor', the story concerns a captain's daughter and a common sailor that fall in love.

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Ruddigore is a dark and haunting tale of dastardly deeds and gruesome ghosts whose evil plans get scuppered by a troupe of bridesmaids, a roguish sailor and a 'little book of etiquette'.

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Gilbert & Sullivan’s second most successful comic opera of its day, and now the most performed Savoy opera by amateur societies.

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Utopia Limited, or The Flowers of Progress, is the second-to-last of Gilbert and Sullivan's fourteen collaborations, premiering on October 7, 1893. Gilbert's libretto satirises limited liability companies, and particularly the idea that a bankrupt company could leave creditors unpaid without any liability to its owners. It also lampoons the "Stock Company Act" by imagining the absurd convergence of natural persons and legal entities. Utopia is performed much less frequently than most other Gilbert and Sullivan operas, mainly because the subject-matter and plot are too obscure for modern audiences.

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Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience was the first to be performed at the Savoy Theatre, and thus the first theatrical production in the world to be lit entirely by electric light. Thereafter, the G&S operas were to be referred to as the Savoy Operas.

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Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is Gilbert and Sullivan's seventh opera, first performed in 1882. The satirical work concerns the fairy Iolanthe, who has been exiled for her choice to marry a mortal. Misunderstandings within her family eventually lead to a dramatic clash between the Fairies and the House of Peers. This score is for voice and piano.

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Rivaled in its success only by The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera HMS Pinafore continues to rank among the most popular works by the famed duo of librettist and songwriter. Popular from the start, the work contains some of Gilbert's most clever flashes of wit and a number of Sullivan's most charming melodies. Moreover, Gilbert's satirical attitude toward matters nautical during England's Victorian era and Sullivan's parody of "sea music" are enjoyed and appreciated today as much as they were over 100 years ago.

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The Grand Duke was the last of the Savoy operas by Gilbert and Sullivan. The plot hinges on the mis-interpretation of a 100 year-old law regarding statutory duels, decided by drawing cards. The baffled central character, Ludwig, becomes engaged to four different women before the plot is resolved.

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