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89-542: During its first two decades of existence, the theatre played host to many of the finest plays and works of musical theatre of the times, including several of the authorized American premieres of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the 1880s, often starring Geraldine Ulmar , Fred Billington , George Thorne and Courtice Pounds . Other notable performers on its stage in these years included Marie Fedor , Emily Stevens and Tyrone Power, Sr. Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience

178-527: A Japanese village exhibition opened in Knightsbridge, London, making the time ripe for an opera set in Japan. Gilbert said, "I cannot give you a good reason for our... piece being laid in Japan. It... afforded scope for picturesque treatment, scenery and costume, and I think that the idea of a chief magistrate, who is... judge and actual executioner in one, and yet would not hurt a worm, may perhaps please

267-404: A Japanese setting. Gilbert initially proposed a story for a new opera about a magic lozenge that would change the characters, which Sullivan found artificial and lacking in "human interest and probability", as well as being too similar to their earlier opera, The Sorcerer . As dramatised in the film Topsy-Turvy , the author and composer were at an impasse until 8 May 1884, when Gilbert dropped

356-460: A ballet, L'Île Enchantée (1864) and incidental music for a number of Shakespeare plays. Other early pieces that were praised were his Symphony in E , Cello Concerto , and Overture in C (In Memoriam) (all three of which premiered in 1866). These commissions were not sufficient to keep Sullivan afloat. He worked as a church organist and composed numerous hymns , popular songs, and parlour ballads . Sullivan's first foray into comic opera

445-850: A fashion that Gilbert later condemned. The musical score to Thespis was never published and is now lost, except for one song that was published separately, a chorus that was re-used in The Pirates of Penzance , and the Act II ballet music. Over the next three years, Gilbert and Sullivan did not have occasion to work together again, but each man became more eminent in his field. Gilbert worked with Frederic Clay on Happy Arcadia (1872) and Alfred Cellier on Topsyturveydom (1874) and wrote The Wicked World (1873), Sweethearts (1874) and several other libretti, farces, extravaganzas, fairy comedies, dramas and adaptations. Sullivan completed his Festival Te Deum (1872); another oratorio, The Light of

534-453: A fictional kingdom ruled by a pair of gondoliers who attempt to remodel the monarchy in a spirit of "republican equality." Gilbert recapitulates a number of his earlier themes, including the satire of class distinctions figuring in many of his earlier librettos. The libretto also reflects Gilbert's fascination with the "Stock Company Act", highlighting the absurd convergence of natural persons and legal entities, which plays an even larger part in

623-538: A grand opera, the new libretto provided Sullivan with the opportunity to write his most ambitious theatre score to date. The critics, who had recently lauded the composer for his successful oratorio, The Golden Legend , considered the score to Yeomen to be Sullivan's finest, including its overture, which was written in sonata form , rather than as a sequential pot-pourri of tunes from the opera, as in most of his other overtures. The Daily Telegraph said: The accompaniments... are delightful to hear, and especially does

712-421: A new comic opera on six months' notice. Princess Ida (1884) spoofed women's education and male chauvinism and continued the theme from Iolanthe of the war between the sexes. The opera is based on Tennyson 's poem The Princess: A Medley . Gilbert had written a blank verse farce based on the same material in 1870, called The Princess , and he reused a good deal of the dialogue from his earlier play in

801-590: A pair of strolling players – a jester and a singing girl – who are caught up in a risky intrigue at the Tower of London during the 16th century. The dialogue, though in prose, is quasi- Early Modern English in style, and there is no satire of British institutions. For some of the plot elements, Gilbert had reached back to his 1875 tragedy, Broken Hearts . The Times praised the libretto: "It should... be acknowledged that Mr. Gilbert has earnestly endeavoured to leave familiar grooves and rise to higher things". Although not

890-529: A play which had been written for her. ( The New York Idea is the only play by Mitchell to have survived his era and is occasionally performed in regional theaters. It was revived off-Broadway in New York in 1977, in a production starring Blythe Danner , and again in 2011, in an adaptation by David Auburn, the author of Proof. ) Theater critic and historian Brooks Atkinson wrote in 1970 of The New York Idea,

979-454: A revival of Tess of the D'Urbervilles at the theatre. Emily Stevens was among the players in a recreation of this production of Mrs. Fiske first staged in 1897. Stevens became a permanent member of the company of Mrs. Fiske in 1904, following three seasons on stage. Emily Stevens acted the role of Miriam for all 105 performances of Mary of Magdala in 1904. In that same production, which was written by William Winter, Tyrone Power, Sr. played

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1068-467: A revival of Thespis for the 1875 Christmas season, which Gilbert and Sullivan would have revised, but he was unable to obtain financing for the project. In early 1876, Carte requested that Gilbert and Sullivan create another one-act opera on the theme of burglars, but this was never completed. Carte's real ambition was to develop an English form of light opera that would displace the bawdy burlesques and badly translated French operettas then dominating

1157-458: A surprise twist changes everything dramatically near the end of the story. Gilbert oversaw the designs of sets and costumes, and he directed the performers on stage. He sought realism in acting, shunned self-conscious interaction with the audience, and insisted on a standard of characterisation in which the characters were never aware of their own absurdity. He insisted that his actors know their words perfectly and obey his stage directions, which

1246-477: A tart comedy about divorce, that "the dialogue is still lively and the idiocies of the character are still pertinent," securely placing it in the long tradition of drawing-room comedy. Some reviewers at the time sanctimoniously took issue with the idea of a comedy about a socially questionable topic such as divorce, but others praised Mitchell for writing in the spirit of British playwrights Arthur Wing Pinero and Henry Arthur Jones . Mitchell taught playwriting at

1335-465: A version of the "lozenge" plot for their next opera, and Sullivan reiterated his reluctance to set it. While the two men worked out their artistic differences, and Sullivan finished other obligations, Carte produced revivals of such old favourites as H.M.S. Pinafore , The Pirates of Penzance , and The Mikado . The Yeomen of the Guard (1888), their only joint work with a serious ending, concerns

1424-477: A year, with strong New York and touring productions. During the run, on 12 March 1889, Sullivan wrote to Gilbert, I have lost the liking for writing comic opera, and entertain very grave doubts as to my power of doing it... You say that in a serious opera, you must more or less sacrifice yourself. I say that this is just what I have been doing in all our joint pieces, and, what is more, must continue to do in comic opera to make it successful. Sullivan insisted that

1513-421: Is more even, and maintained at a higher standard, than in any of his earlier works..." Iolanthe is one of several of Gilbert's works, including The Wicked World (1873), Broken Hearts (1875), Princess Ida (1884) and Fallen Fairies (1909), where the introduction of men and "mortal love" into a tranquil world of women wreaks havoc with the status quo. Gilbert had created several "fairy comedies" at

1602-443: Is taken to its logical conclusion: fairies rub elbows with British lords, flirting is a capital offence, gondoliers ascend to the monarchy, and pirates emerge as noblemen who have gone astray. Sullivan, six years Gilbert's junior, composed the music, contributing memorable melodies that could convey both humour and pathos. Their operas have enjoyed broad and enduring international success and are still performed frequently throughout

1691-465: Is to fuse opposites with an imperceptible sleight of hand, to blend the surreal with the real, and the caricature with the natural. In other words, to tell a perfectly outrageous story in a completely deadpan way. Gilbert developed his innovative theories on the art of stage direction, following the playwright and theatrical reformer Tom Robertson . At the time Gilbert began writing, theatre in Britain

1780-470: The German Reeds ): the heroic protagonist ( tenor ) and his love-interest ( soprano ); the older woman with a secret or a sharp tongue ( contralto ); the baffled lyric baritone – the girl's father; and a classic villain ( bass-baritone ). Gilbert and Sullivan added the element of the comic patter-singing character . With the success of H.M.S. Pinafore , the D'Oyly Carte repertory and production system

1869-563: The Haymarket Theatre in the early 1870s. These plays, influenced by the fairy work of James Planché , are founded upon the idea of self-revelation by characters under the influence of some magic or some supernatural interference. In 1882, Gilbert had a telephone installed in his home and at the prompt desk at the Savoy Theatre so that he could monitor performances and rehearsals from his home study. Gilbert had referred to

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1958-595: The House of Lords and made much of the war between the sexes. The critics felt that Sullivan's work in Iolanthe had taken a step forward. The Daily Telegraph commented, "The composer has risen to his opportunity, and we are disposed to account Iolanthe his best effort in all the Gilbertian series." Similarly, The Theatre judged that "the music of Iolanthe is Dr Sullivan's chef d'oeuvre . The quality throughout

2047-622: The Savoy Theatre in 1881 to present their joint works (which came to be known as the Savoy Operas ) and founded the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company , which performed and promoted Gilbert and Sullivan's works for over a century. Gilbert was born in London on 18 November 1836. His father, William , was a naval surgeon who later wrote novels and short stories, some of which included illustrations by his son. In 1861, to supplement his income,

2136-421: The dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S. Pinafore , The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado are among the best known. Gilbert, who wrote the libretti for these operas, created fanciful "topsy-turvy" worlds where each absurdity

2225-539: The "Gilbertian" style as follows: With great fluidity and freedom, [Gilbert] continually challenges our natural expectations. First, within the framework of the story, he makes bizarre things happen, and turns the world on its head. Thus the Learned Judge marries the Plaintiff, the soldiers metamorphose into aesthetes , and so on, and nearly every opera is resolved by a deft moving of the goalposts... His genius

2314-423: The "respectability" of civilisation and the peerage, and the relevance of a liberal education. The story also revisits Pinafore ' s theme of unqualified people in positions of authority, in the person of the "modern Major-General" who has up-to-date knowledge about everything except the military. The Major-General and his many daughters escape from the tender-hearted Pirates of Penzance, who are all orphans, on

2403-511: The English-speaking world. Gilbert and Sullivan introduced innovations in content and form that directly influenced the development of musical theatre through the 20th century. The operas have also influenced political discourse, literature, film and television and have been widely parodied and pastiched by humorists. The producer Richard D'Oyly Carte brought Gilbert and Sullivan together and nurtured their collaboration. He built

2492-480: The First World War, and the piece was regularly performed by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company thereafter. Some of the plot elements of Ruddigore were introduced by Gilbert in his earlier one-act opera, Ages Ago (1869), including the tale of the wicked ancestor and the device of the ghostly ancestors stepping out of their portraits. When Ruddigore closed, no new opera was ready. Gilbert again proposed

2581-457: The Gaiety, but no one at the time foresaw that this was the beginning of a great collaboration. Unlike the later Gilbert and Sullivan works, it was hastily prepared, and its nature was more risqué, like Gilbert's earlier burlesques , with a broader style of comedy that allowed for improvisation by the actors. Two of the male characters were played by women, whose shapely legs were put on display in

2670-502: The London stage. He assembled a syndicate and formed the Comedy Opera Company, with Gilbert and Sullivan commissioned to write a comic opera that would serve as the centrepiece for an evening's entertainment. Gilbert found a subject in one of his own short stories, "The Elixir of Love", which concerned the complications arising when a love potion is distributed to all the residents of a small village. The leading character

2759-497: The Manhattan Theatre was no longer in demand as a playhouse, so a new owner, Willaim Gane, switched to showing movies instead. The theatre had just one screen, and to justify a 10-cent admission charge, several acts of vaudeville were added to the programs. This was reportedly the first time that a New York theatre had shown movies as the main attraction. Previously, movies had just been supplements to vaudeville. In 1909,

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2848-519: The Manhattan was demolished to make way for Gimbels department store, a structure that still stands today but has been converted into a shopping mall, Manhattan Mall . 40°44′57″N 73°59′20″W  /  40.74930°N 73.98878°W  / 40.74930; -73.98878 Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of

2937-507: The Mikado will be visiting the town, Ko-Ko assumes that he is coming to ascertain whether Ko-Ko has carried out the executions. Too timid to execute anyone, Ko-Ko cooks up a conspiracy to misdirect the Mikado, which goes awry. Eventually, Ko-Ko must persuade Katisha to marry him to save his own life and the lives of the other conspirators. With the opening of trade between England and Japan, Japanese imports, art and styles became fashionable, and

3026-526: The World (1873); his only song cycle , The Window; or, The Song of the Wrens (1871); incidental music to The Merry Wives of Windsor (1874); and more songs, parlour ballads, and hymns , including " Onward, Christian Soldiers " (1872). At the same time, the audience for theatre was growing because of the rapidly expanding British population; improvement in education and the standard of living, especially of

3115-441: The adjacent photograph. The work also lampoons male vanity and chauvinism in the military. The story concerns two rival aesthetic poets, who attract the attention of the young ladies of the village, formerly engaged to the members of a cavalry regiment. But both poets are in love with Patience, the village milkmaid, who detests one of them and feels that it is her duty to avoid the other despite her love for him. Richard D'Oyly Carte

3204-480: The age of eight, he was proficient with all the instruments in the band. In school he began to compose anthems and songs. In 1856, he received the first Mendelssohn Scholarship and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and then at Leipzig , where he also took up conducting. His graduation piece, completed in 1861, was a suite of incidental music to Shakespeare's The Tempest . Revised and expanded, it

3293-468: The biggest American stage success of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Opening on February 7, 1898, the play ran for 152 performances, ending in June 1898. Among other early productions was Lover's Lane , a 1901 production on rural life, that starred Lillian Lee in the role of Mrs. Jennings. The Manhattan Theatre became a frequent venue for the theatrical performances of Minnie Maddern Fiske , one of

3382-428: The cantata as an opera in 1898. Patience (1881) satirised the aesthetic movement in general and its colourful poets in particular, combining aspects of A. C. Swinburne , Dante Gabriel Rossetti , Oscar Wilde , James McNeill Whistler and others in the rival poets Bunthorne and Grosvenor. Grossmith, who created the role of Bunthorne, based his makeup, wig and costume on Swinburne and especially Whistler, as seen in

3471-420: The defendant fervently and seeks "substantial damages." After much argument, the judge resolves the case by marrying the lovely plaintiff himself. With Sullivan's brother, Fred , as the Learned Judge, the opera was a runaway hit, outlasting the run of La Périchole . Provincial tours and productions at other theatres quickly followed. Fred Sullivan was the prototype for the " patter " (comic) baritone roles in

3560-519: The drama. Its mixture of political satire and grand opera parody mimicked Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld and La belle Hélène , which (in translation) then dominated the English musical stage. Thespis opened on Boxing Day and ran for 63 performances. It outran five of its nine competitors for the 1871 holiday season, and its run was extended beyond the length of a normal run at

3649-420: The earlier collaborations with a run of 288 performances. The original title, Ruddygore , together with some of the plot devices, including the revivification of ghosts, drew negative comments from critics. Gilbert and Sullivan respelled the title and made a number of changes and cuts. Nevertheless, the piece was profitable, and the reviews were not all bad. For instance, The Illustrated London News praised

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3738-532: The evils of modern England till they had literally not a leg to stand on, exactly as Swift did... I doubt if there is a single joke in the whole play that fits the Japanese. But all the jokes in the play fit the English. ... About England Pooh-bah is something more than a satire; he is the truth." Several of the later operas are similarly set in foreign or fictional locales, including The Gondoliers , Utopia, Limited and The Grand Duke . The Mikado became

3827-535: The false plea that he is an orphan himself. The pirates learn of the deception and re-capture the Major-General, but when it is revealed that the pirates are all peers , the Major-General bids them: "resume your ranks and legislative duties, and take my daughters, all of whom are beauties!" The piece premiered in New York rather than London, in an (unsuccessful) attempt to secure the American copyright, and

3916-517: The financial security of writing for the Savoy, increasingly viewed his work with Gilbert as unimportant, beneath his skills, and repetitious. Furthermore, he was unhappy that he had to simplify his music to ensure that Gilbert's words could be heard. But paradoxically, in February 1883, just after Iolanthe opened, Sullivan had signed a five-year agreement with Gilbert and Carte requiring him to produce

4005-488: The first time in the partnership's history, no new opera would be ready when the old one closed. On 22 March 1884, he gave Gilbert and Sullivan contractual notice that a new opera would be required in six months' time. In the meantime, when Ida closed, Carte produced a revival of The Sorcerer . The most successful of the Savoy Operas was The Mikado (1885), which made fun of English bureaucracy, thinly disguised by

4094-496: The later operas. F. C. Burnand wrote that he "was one of the most naturally comic little men I ever came across. He, too, was a first-rate practical musician.... As he was the most absurd person, so was he the very kindliest...." Fred's creation would serve as a model for the rest of the collaborators' works, and each of them has a crucial comic little man role, as Burnand had put it. The "patter" baritone (or "principal comedian", as these roles later were called) would often assume

4183-458: The leading role in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas, and was usually allotted the speedy patter songs . After the success of Trial by Jury , Gilbert and Sullivan were suddenly in demand to write more operas together. Over the next two years, Richard D'Oyly Carte and Carl Rosa were two of several theatrical managers who negotiated with the team but were unable to come to terms. Carte proposed

4272-466: The leading role, but her death in childbirth cancelled the project. Not long afterwards, Richard D'Oyly Carte was managing the Royalty Theatre and needed a short opera to be played as an afterpiece to Offenbach 's La Périchole . Carte knew about Gilbert's libretto for Rosa and suggested that Sullivan write a score for it. Gilbert read the piece to Sullivan in February 1875, and the composer

4361-415: The libretto of Princess Ida . Ida is the only Gilbert and Sullivan work with dialogue entirely in blank verse and is also the only one of their works in three acts. Lillian Russell had been engaged to create the title role, but Gilbert did not believe that she was dedicated enough, and when she missed a rehearsal, he dismissed her. Princess Ida was the first of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas that, by

4450-615: The lozenge idea and agreed to provide a libretto without any supernatural elements. The story focuses on a "cheap tailor", Ko-Ko, who is promoted to the position of Lord High Executioner of the town of Titipu. He loves his ward, Yum-Yum, but she loves a musician, who is really the son of the emperor of Japan (the Mikado) and who is in disguise to escape the attentions of the elderly and amorous Katisha. The Mikado has decreed that executions must resume without delay in Titipu. When news arrives that

4539-483: The middle class; improving public transport; and installation of street lighting, which made travel home from the theatre safer. The number of pianos manufactured in England doubled between 1870 and 1890 as more people began to play parlour music at home and more theatres and concert halls opened. In 1874, Gilbert wrote a short libretto on commission from producer-conductor Carl Rosa , whose wife would have played

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4628-679: The most famous actresses of the 1890s and early 1900s, renowned for her performances in Ibsen ’s plays. Mrs. Fiske also co-managed and directed plays for the Manhattan Theatre. Among Mrs. Fiske's many performances was the leading role in Miranda of the Balcony , a play written by Anne Crawford Flexner, based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason . Produced at the Manhattan Theatre on September 24, 1901, it starred Mrs. Fiske, J.E. Dodson, Emily Stevens , Max Figman, Frank McCormack, Bessie Harris and Mary Maddern. It

4717-537: The most prominent actresses of his time, Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske , who was one of the first actresses to play Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House on the New York stage and was renowned for her Hedda Gabler. Mrs. Fiske acted one of her most lauded roles, the conniving Becky Sharp, in 1899 in Mitchell's dramatization of Thackeray's Vanity Fair, and she starred seven years later in his most famous work, The New York Idea ,

4806-543: The new technology in Pinafore in 1878, only two years after the device was invented and before London even had telephone service. Sullivan had one installed as well, and on 13 May 1883, at a party to celebrate the composer's 41st birthday, the guests, including the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII ), heard a direct relay of parts of Iolanthe from the Savoy. This was probably the first live "broadcast" of an opera. During

4895-673: The next opera must be a grand opera . Gilbert did not feel that he could write a grand opera libretto, but he offered a compromise that Sullivan eventually accepted. The two would write a light opera for the Savoy, and at the same time, Sullivan a grand opera ( Ivanhoe ) for a new theatre that Carte was constructing to present British opera. After a brief impasse over the choice of subject, Sullivan accepted an idea connected with Venice and Venetian life, as "this seemed to me to hold out great chances of bright colour and taking music." The Gondoliers (1889) takes place partly in Venice and partly in

4984-572: The next opera, Utopia, Limited . Press accounts were almost entirely favourable. The Illustrated London News reported: Langdon Mitchell Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (February 17, 1862 – October 21, 1935) was an American playwright who was popular on Broadway during the early twentieth century. Mitchell was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, on February 17, 1862. He was the son of a noted writer and neurologist , S. Weir Mitchell , and his first wife, Mary Middleton Elwyn. His elder brother

5073-555: The opera. In 1880, Sullivan's cantata The Martyr of Antioch premiered at the Leeds Triennial Music Festival , with a libretto adapted by Sullivan and Gilbert from an 1822 epic poem by Henry Hart Milman concerning the 3rd-century martyrdom of St. Margaret of Antioch . Sullivan became the conductor of the Leeds festival beginning in 1880 and conducted the performance. The Carl Rosa Opera Company staged

5162-419: The partnership's longest-running hit, enjoying 672 performances at the Savoy Theatre, and surpassing the runs of Pinafore and Patience . It remains the most frequently performed Savoy Opera. It has been translated into numerous languages and is one of the most frequently played musical theatre pieces in history. Ruddigore (1887), a topsy-turvy take on Victorian melodrama , was less successful than most of

5251-506: The partnership's previous standards, was not a success. A particularly hot summer in London did not help ticket sales. The piece ran for a comparatively short 246 performances and was not revived in London until 1919. Sullivan had been satisfied with the libretto, but two months after Ida opened, Sullivan told Carte that "it is impossible for me to do another piece of the character of those already written by Gilbert and myself." As Princess Ida showed signs of flagging, Carte realised that, for

5340-443: The pen name "John Philip Varley." Along with Clyde Fitch , William Vaughn Moody , Percy MacKaye , Ned Sheldon and Rachel Crothers , Langdon Mitchell was regarded as one of the more serious American dramatists in an era (c. 1900-1910) not notable for weighty plays. He was considered a solid craftsman whose plays provided good parts for talented actors and actresses. Mitchell enjoyed an especially productive relationship with one of

5429-606: The performers, writing their operas for ensemble casts rather than individual stars. The repertory system ensured that the comic patter character who performed the role of the sorcerer, John Wellington Wells, would become the ruler of the Queen's navy as Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore , then join the army as Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance , and so on. Similarly, Mrs. Partlet in The Sorcerer transformed into Little Buttercup in Pinafore , then into Ruth,

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5518-647: The piratical maid-of-all-work in Pirates . Relatively unknown performers whom Gilbert and Sullivan engaged early in the collaboration would stay with the company for many years, becoming stars of the Victorian stage. These included George Grossmith , the principal comic; Rutland Barrington , the lyric baritone; Richard Temple , the bass-baritone; and Jessie Bond , the mezzo-soprano soubrette . The Pirates of Penzance (New Year's Eve, 1879) also poked fun at grand opera conventions, sense of duty, family obligation,

5607-459: The players. In 1905, the Manhattan Theatre produced The Proud Laird , a comedy by Charles Cartwright and Cosmo Hamilton . It starred Robert Loraine, Hubert Hassard-Short , J.H. Bunny, Sydney Smith, Ida Vernon and Dorothy Donnelly. It was directed by Harrison Grey Fiske, husband of Minnie Maddern Fiske. The Fiske company managed the Manhattan Theatre for eight years, until 1907, when the theatre switched to vaudeville and motion pictures. By 1907,

5696-533: The production with no return, staged a public fracas, sending a group of thugs to seize the scenery during a performance. Stagehands managed to ward off their backstage attackers. This event cleared the way for Carte, in alliance with Gilbert and Sullivan, to form the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, which then produced all their succeeding operas. The libretto of H.M.S. Pinafore relied on stock character types, many of which were familiar from European opera (and some of which grew out of Gilbert's earlier association with

5785-404: The programme, and the definition is attractive." Under Harrison Grey Fiske's management (assisted quite regularly by Mrs. Fiske), the Manhattan Theatre enjoyed its most productive years. Starting with Miranda of the Balcony , it produced many great dramas. In Miranda of the Balcony , Emily Stevens had the part of Lady Ethel Mickleham, while Mrs. Fiske played Miranda Warriner, a role for which she

5874-498: The public." Setting the opera in Japan, an exotic locale far away from Britain, allowed Gilbert and Sullivan to satirise British politics and institutions more freely by clothing them in superficial Japanese trappings. Gilbert wrote, "The Mikado of the opera was an imaginary monarch of a remote period and cannot by any exercise of ingenuity be taken to be a slap on an existing institution." G. K. Chesterton compared it to Swift 's Gulliver's Travels : "Gilbert pursued and persecuted

5963-637: The role of Judas Iscariot . Conflicting records claim that this production was staged either in November 1902 or in 1904. The Manhattan Theatre presented Becky Sharp in September 1904. Based on Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery , the comedy in four acts was written by Langdon Mitchell . Mrs. Fiske and the Manhattan Company brought it before audiences with Stevens and George Arliss as cast principals. A revival of Hedda Gabler

6052-435: The run of Iolanthe , in 1883, Sullivan was knighted by Queen Victoria . Although it was the operas with Gilbert that had earned him the broadest fame, the honour was conferred for his services to serious music. The musical establishment, and many critics, believed that this should put an end to his career as a composer of comic opera – that a musical knight should not stoop below oratorio or grand opera . Sullivan, despite

6141-470: The team. Gilbert and Sullivan scored their first international hit with H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), satirising the rise of unqualified people to positions of authority and poking good-natured fun at the Royal Navy and the English obsession with social status (building on a theme introduced in The Sorcerer , love between members of different social classes). As with many of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas,

6230-471: The treatment of the woodwind compel admiring attention. Schubert himself could hardly have handled those instruments more deftly, written for them more lovingly.... We place the songs and choruses in The Yeomen of the Guard before all his previous efforts of this particular kind. Thus the music follows the book to a higher plane, and we have a genuine English opera.... Yeomen was a hit, running for over

6319-420: The two first collaborated, Gilbert continued to write humorous verse, stories and plays, including the comic operas Our Island Home (1870) and A Sensation Novel (1871), and the blank verse comedies The Princess (1870), The Palace of Truth (1870) and Pygmalion and Galatea (1871). Sullivan was born in London on 13 May 1842. His father was a military bandmaster, and by the time Arthur had reached

6408-415: The work and both Gilbert and, especially, Sullivan: "Sir Arthur Sullivan has eminently succeeded alike in the expression of refined sentiment and comic humour. In the former respect, the charm of graceful melody prevails; while, in the latter, the music of the most grotesque situations is redolent of fun." Further changes were made, including a new overture, when Rupert D'Oyly Carte revived Ruddigore after

6497-530: The world's first public building) to be lit entirely by electric lighting. Patience moved into the Savoy after six months at the Opera Comique and ran for a total of 578 performances, surpassing the run of H.M.S. Pinafore . Iolanthe (1882) was the first of the operas to open at the Savoy. The fully electric Savoy made possible numerous special effects, such as sparkling magic wands for the female chorus of fairies. The opera poked fun at English law and

6586-611: The younger Gilbert began writing illustrated stories, poems and articles of his own, many of which would later be mined as inspiration for his plays and operas, particularly Gilbert's series of illustrated poems, the Bab Ballads . In the Bab Ballads and his early plays, Gilbert developed a unique "topsy-turvy" style in which humour was derived by setting up a ridiculous premise and working out its logical consequences, however absurd. Director and playwright Mike Leigh described

6675-492: Was Cox and Box (1866), written with the librettist F. C. Burnand for an informal gathering of friends. Public performance followed, with W. S. Gilbert (then writing dramatic criticism for the magazine Fun ) saying that Sullivan's score "is, in many places, of too high a class for the grotesquely absurd plot to which it is wedded." Nonetheless, it proved highly successful, and is still regularly performed today. Sullivan and Burnand's second opera, The Contrabandista (1867)

6764-665: Was John Kearsley Mitchell, a neurologist. After his mother died in 1862, his father married Mary Cadwalader . His paternal grandfather was writer and physician John Kearsley Mitchell . Mitchell studied in Dresden , Germany, and Paris , France. He attended the Harvard University and then Columbia Law School , and was admitted to the New York bar in 1886. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters , he wrote plays under his own name and poetry under

6853-559: Was a Cockney businessman who happened to be a sorcerer, a purveyor of blessings (not much called for) and curses (very popular). Gilbert and Sullivan were tireless taskmasters, seeing to it that The Sorcerer (1877) opened as a fully polished production, in marked contrast to the under-rehearsed Thespis . While The Sorcerer won critical acclaim, it did not duplicate the success of Trial by Jury . Nevertheless, it ran for more than six months, and Carte and his syndicate were sufficiently encouraged to commission another full-length opera from

6942-530: Was another big success with both critics and audiences. Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte tried for many years to control the American performance copyrights over their operas, without success. Nevertheless, Pirates was a hit both in New York, again spawning numerous imitators, and then in London, and it became one of the most frequently performed, translated and parodied Gilbert and Sullivan works, also enjoying successful 1981 Broadway and 1982 West End revivals by Joseph Papp that continue to influence productions of

7031-400: Was cemented, and each opera would make use of these stock character types. Before The Sorcerer , Gilbert had constructed his plays around the established stars of whatever theatre he happened to be writing for, as had been the case with Thespis and Trial by Jury . Building on the team he had assembled for The Sorcerer , Gilbert no longer hired stars; he created them. He and Sullivan selected

7120-401: Was delighted with it; Trial by Jury was composed and staged in a matter of weeks. The piece is one of Gilbert's humorous spoofs of the law and the legal profession, based on his short experience as a barrister . It concerns a breach of promise of marriage suit. The defendant argues that damages should be slight, since "he is such a very bad lot," while the plaintiff argues that she loves

7209-402: Was directed by Mrs. Fiske and Max Figman. The New York Times review of the opening said: "The opening of the Manhattan Theatre under the management of Harrison Grey Fiske was effected last night, and a new drama entitled "Miranda of the Balcony" was performed for the first time on any stage. The occasion was one which may possibly prove to be significant. The new manager defines his policy in

7298-414: Was in disrepute. Gilbert helped to reform and elevate the respectability of the theatre, especially beginning with his six short family-friendly comic operas, or " entertainments ", for Thomas German Reed . At a rehearsal for one of these entertainments, Ages Ago , in 1870, the composer Frederic Clay introduced Gilbert to his friend, the young composer Arthur Sullivan . Over the next year, before

7387-468: Was not as successful. In 1871, producer John Hollingshead brought Gilbert and Sullivan together to produce a Christmas entertainment, Thespis , at his Gaiety Theatre , a large West End house. The piece was an extravaganza in which the classical Greek gods, grown elderly, are temporarily replaced by a troupe of 19th-century actors and actresses, one of whom is the eponymous Thespis , the Greek father of

7476-568: Was performed at the Crystal Palace in 1862 and was an immediate sensation. He began building a reputation as England's most promising young composer, composing a symphony, a concerto, and several overtures, among them the Overture di Ballo , in 1870. His early major works for the voice included The Masque at Kenilworth (1864); an oratorio , The Prodigal Son (1869); and a dramatic cantata , On Shore and Sea (1871). He composed

7565-430: Was praised for her interpretation of the principal character. In November 1901, the company of Mrs. Fiske staged The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch at the Manhattan Theatre. The author of the play is either Constance Cary Harrison or David Belasco . The theme of the work has to do with a woman who becomes a social outcast because of marital problems. Emily Stevens played the role of Gladys Lorimer. In May 1902, Mrs. Fiske put on

7654-576: Was something new to many actors of the day. Sullivan personally oversaw the musical preparation. The result was a crispness and polish new to the English musical theatre. Jessie Bond wrote later: H.M.S. Pinafore ran in London for 571 performances, an exceptional run for the period. Hundreds of unauthorised, or "pirated", productions of Pinafore appeared in America. During the run of Pinafore , Richard D'Oyly Carte split up with his former investors. The disgruntled former partners, who had invested in

7743-576: Was staged in November 1904 with Mrs. Fiske in the title role and Emily Stevens as Berta. The Henrik Ibsen work played for one week in 1903 with near capacity attendance for each performance. Leah Kleschna was written especially for Mrs. Fiske by C.M.S. McLellan (Hugh Morton). The Manhattan Theatre presented the play about the daughter of a thief in December 1904. The production marked the first original role Fiske had depicted in two years. Stevens, George Arliss, John Mason , and Marie Fedor were among

7832-417: Was the booking manager for Oscar Wilde , a then lesser-known proponent of aestheticism, and dispatched him on an American lecture tour in conjunction with the opera's U.S. run, so that American audiences might better understand what the satire was all about. During the run of Patience , Carte built the large, modern Savoy Theatre , which became the partnership's permanent home. It was the first theatre (and

7921-502: Was the theatre's biggest money spinner of the 1880s, running for 177 performances in 1881–82 and earning $ 100,000. Charlie's Aunt opened at the theatre in 1893. In 1898, William Brady and Florenz Ziegfeld took over the theatre, renaming it the Manhattan Theatre. Possibly the Theatre's biggest coup was the world premiere of Way Down East , the melodramatic stage play written by Charlotte Blair Parker , which proved to be one of

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