English as Shakespeare... and the Beatles Print E-mail
Written by Bernard Lockett, 2008   
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Gilbert and Sullivan's theatrical 'pieces' took Victorian England by storm and they are still relevant and enjoyable today. Bernard Lockett explores the continuing popularity of this creative partnership
Between the years 1871-1896, William Schwenck Gilbert, librettist, and Arthur Sullivan, composer, together wrote 14 comic operas that gave to the English-speaking world its very own works of musical theatre. They created what was nothing less than a social revolution by appealing equally to top society in the stalls and circle, as well as to the lower classes in the gallery. All were captivated.

Before the 1870s, 'grand operas' and the lighter music of composers like Offenbach had been performed in London, but neither to general appeal. At the other end of the scale was the crudeness of the music hall. In many respects, musical theatre, even theatre in general, was hardly socially acceptable, but Gilbert and Sullivan changed all that.

Their work, according to a commentator of the day, "rescued popular musical entertainment from the vulgar fooleries of burlesque and rid the smell of orange peel and lamp oil from the old Music Hall".

The works - or 'pieces' as both Gilbert and Sullivan referred to them - set a new standard and taste, while their musical technique was infinitely higher than anything that had gone before.

Gilbert and Sullivan operas are rather hard to categorise precisely because they are not 'real opera'. Neither are they 'light opera' in the Strauss/Offenbach/Lehar European sense (Gilbert's dialogue is far more sophisticated and meaningful), and this is why the term 'musical theatre' is so appropriate.

Without doubt the 'pieces' have stood the test of time due to the brilliance of Sullivan's melodious and exquisitely constructed music and Gilbert's crisp, often impish and satirical dialogue.

Forgotten beginnings

Their first collaboration did not herald success. Thespis was produced at the Gaiety Theatre in London on 26 December 1871 and ran for only 64 performances. The opera had been put together in just three weeks, without the precise and strict stage directions that was to be Gilbert's forte for all future productions. The experience most likely was valuable for them both.

Thespis has now been almost entirely forgotten, other than one chorus 'Climbing over rocky Mountain' that was used in The Pirates of Penzance, plus one song, 'Little Maid of Arcadee', which had some success at the time as a Victorian ballad.

It was then nearly four years before there was to be another collaboration by Gilbert and Sullivan, this time in a short piece to fill in at the Royalty Theatre in Soho, London where Offenbach's La Perichole was playing and which was considered too short for a full evening's entertainment.

The theatre's manager, Richard D'Oyly Carte, remembered Thespis and was instrumental in bringing the librettist and composer together to write Trial by Jury.

On the first night, 25 March 1875, they were very well received, and it soon became apparent that audiences were coming to enjoy Trial by Jury more than to see the Offenbach work.

Trial by Jury was the start of their successes. It also marked the important involvement of Richard D'Oyly Carte as the theatrical impresario whose vision and guidance ensured not only the development of the series of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, but established the opera company that would be forever linked with the works - The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

They went on to perform the works both at home and abroad continuously for 107 years until 20th-century economics caused the original company's demise in 1982.

It was Richard D'Oyly Carte who built the original Savoy Theatre (and later the Savoy Hotel) in London's Strand, which from 1882 became the home of the operas, hence the frequently used name for G&S as 'The Savoy Operas'. With its electric light - a first for any London theatre - the Savoy Theatre was as much an innovation as the shows it produced.
 
In 1877, two years after Trial, came the first full length opera, The Sorcerer, to be followed by HMS Pinafore one year later. The Pirates of Penzance followed at the end of 1879.

Mania spreads

With both a London-based company and one or more touring D'Oyly Carte companies, G&S mania quickly spread throughout the country and in America and Canada, too; even further afield, the first performance of HMS Pinafore in Australia was at the Theatre Royal, Sydney in 1879.

During the 1880s, a total of seven new Gilbert and Sullivan 'pieces' were produced, including what are undoubtedly the most popular of all - The Mikado (1885 - with an initial run of 672 performances) and The Gondoliers (1889 - 554 performances). Such is the lasting appeal of the operas, there is always a risk of upsetting people by even beginning to talk about 'most popular', especially when failing to mention all the rest of the works including Patience (1881) or The Yeomen of the Guard (1888).

Incredibly, Gilbert's dialogue has as much relevance today as when it was written and there is little need to update the operas for today's audiences. For example, here is a comment about parliament, from Iolanthe (1882):

When in that House MPs divide,
If they've a brain and cerebellum, too.
They've got to leave that brain outside
And vote just as their leaders tell 'em to.

Or from The Gondoliers:

When every one is somebodee
Then no one's anybody!

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