Gilbert & Sullivan
BORING &
IRRELEVANT? We don't think so... more like a nineteenth century combination of
Have I Got News For You, Monty Python and Andrew Lloyd Webber!!!
Gilbert
persisted writing serious, non-musical plays, and Sullivan prized his now
forgotten 'serious' music but it was when these two very different men (who
were never particularly close) got together that they produced a unique form of
light entertainment who's popularity has lasted over 100 years!
They
created about a dozen popular shows ranging from Trial by Jury (1875) through
the likes of HMS Pinafore, Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado, to The
Gondoliers (1889) - nearly 15 years of smash hits!!
These shows became
known as the 'Savoy Operas' (after the Savoy Theatre that Richard D'Oyly Carte
built for them in 1881), but 'operetta' or simply 'musical comedy' would be a
better description - they're a world away from full-on opera like Wagner or
Puccini. Gilbert came-up with some wonderful caricature characters and bizzare
plots that typically involve a case of mistaken/hiden identity, or babies
swapped at birth... or both! Sullivan, on the other hand, produced some
fantastic music - his 'double-choruses' (where the male & female choruses
sing different tunes at the same time) and gorgeous lightly/unaccompanied
trios/quartets/quintets/sextets/septets/octets (etc.!) are regular
features.
But, perhaps, what has allowed their popularity to last is
their topicalness. [Is that a real word?!] Although their shows were set
in all sorts of places and times, Gilbert was always writing about things
happening at the time in society. A classic example is in HMS Pinafore where
"Sir Joseph Porter KCB" the Admiral of the Navy makes his entrance and sings a
song about how he rose-up the ranks of the Navy without knowing a thing about
boats - anyone around at the time would have known of a real chap called WH
Smith (yes, as in the shops!) who had risen-up the ranks of the Navy without
knowing a thing about boats!!!
In his life-time, Gilbert regularly
re-wrote bits of his shows, in part to keep them topical. Now that the shows
are out of copyright, professional and amateur groups around the world carry-on
the re-writing tradition either by inserting little references to current
politicians/people in the news or by wholesale changes.
Long may their
success continue!!
Over the years, BHOS has produced pretty much
all the G&S shows - some of them many times! Here's some of the recent
ones:
Pirates of
Penzance (Oct 1996)
HMS Pinafore (Mar 1998)
Hot Mikado (Nov
1999)
(a professionally created jazz/swing/blues version of "The
Mikado")
Patience
(Mar 2000)
Ruddigore (Oct 2001)
The Godfather's Gondoliers
(Oct 2003)
(our own gangster-infused adaptation of The Gondoliers, by
Barry Goodsell)
Pirates of Penzance (Oct
2005)
(PS. Did you know that some computer spelling checkers
suggest changing "Gilbert & Sullivan" to "Giblet &
Sultana"!!!)
More info on Gilbert & Sullivan can be found on
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