Gilbert & Sullivan

Works produced at the Savoy Theatre, especially those of Gilbert & Sullivan, are collectively known as the Savoy Operas; devotees are sometimes known as a Savoyards.

Note however that a Savoyard was originally a person from Savoy, which is an Alpine region of France; it's also the name for their dialect, and an alternative name for the Italian grape dolcetto.

The works of Gilbert & Sullivan are often described as operettas. Wikipedia, on its Gilbert and Sullivan page, describes them as comic operas, but it also mentions them in some detail on its Operetta page. I prefer 'comic operas', because the works are all sung. To me, an operetta is a work that includes spoken dialogue as well as songs, dances (etc.); indeed this is how Wikipedia itself defines an operetta.

Number of comic operas on which Gilbert & Sullivan collaborated		14
Theatrical impresario who brought Gilbert and Sullivan together to produce family–friendly comic operas to rival the risqué French works that dominated the London musical stage in the 1870s; founded, and gave his name to, the company that produced the operas until 1982 (and occasionally since then)		Richard D'Oyly Carte
Theatre built by the above to produce "comic operas" – much the most successful of which were by Gilbert & Sullivan		Savoy

The Operas

By far the most popular type of question about Gilbert & Sullivan is "Which Gilbert & Sullivan opera has the alternative title ... ?" Hence the format of the following table.

Note that the first opera listed here was never performed at the Savoy, and therefore is not, strictly speaking, one of the Savoy Operas.

	Title	First performed	Alternative title
	Thespis	1871	The Gods Grown Old
	Trial by Jury	1875	None
	The Sorceror	1877	None
	H.M.S. Pinafore	1878	The Lass that Loved a Sailor
	The Pirates of Penzance	1879	The Slave of Duty
	Patience	1881	Bunthorne's Bride
	Iolanthe	1882	The Peer and the Peri
	Princess Ida	1884	Castle Adamant
	The Mikado	1885	The Town of Titipu
	Ruddigore	1887	The Witch's Curse
	The Yeomen of the Guard	1888	The Merryman and his Maid
	The Gondoliers	1889	The King of Barataria
	Utopia, Limited	1893	The Flowers of Progress
	The Grand Duke	1896	The Statutory Duel

According to Wikipedia, The Yeomen of the Guard was Gilbert & Sullivan's most serious opera and The Gondoliers was their last great success.

The Mikado

Not only does The Mikado have several of Gilbert & Sullivan's most memorable songs (only The Pirates of Penzance can rival it in this respect– see below); its characters have the most memorable names. This makes it the question setter's favourite.

Who (which character in comic opera) let the punishment fit the crime?		The Mikado
Setting (subtitle is The Town of …)		Titipu
Son of the Mikado		Nanki–Poo
Underworked Lord High Executioner		Ko–Ko
Lord High Everything Else		Pooh–Bah
Elderly lady of the Mikado's court, with designs on Nanki–Poo, and therefore "daughter–in–law elect" to the Mikado		Katisha
Pitti–Sing, Peep–Bo and Yum–Yum are described, in the lyrics and title of a song, as		Three Little Maids from School

Titles

Set in Venice		The Gondoliers
The gallant, peerless brothers Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri are the title characters of
Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes is a song from
Captain Corcoran, Little Buttercup ("a Bumboat Woman", or dockside vendor), Ralph (pronounced Rafe) Rackstraw, Dick Deadeye, Bill Bobstay and Bob Becket all appear in		HMS Pinafore
About a group of fairies who find themselves at odds with the House of Lords (satirises British government and law); title character is a fairy who is banished from the fairies' domain after marrying a human		Iolanthe
A Wandering Minstrel I, Three Little Maids from School are We, The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring, On a Tree by a River (Tit–Willow)		The Mikado
Roles include three Officers of Dragoon Guards, two Poets (one Fleshly and one Idyllic), four Rapturous Maidens, a silent solicitor, and the title character – a Dairy Maid		Patience
With Cat–Like Tread, I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major–General, When a Felon's Not Engaged in His Employment (A Policeman's Lot is Not a Happy One)		The Pirates of Penzance
Features Major–General Stanley and his four daughters (Edith, Isabel, Kate and Mabel)
The central character, Frederic, discovers that he must remain apprenticed until the end of his 84th year, as he was born on the 29th of February and so that is when he will celebrate his 21st birthday
Concerns the trials and tribulations of Sir Ruthven (riven) Murgatroyd – disguised as Robin Oakapple, a Young Farmer – and his noble family, including the ghosts of several of his ancestors		Ruddigore
Cast also includes Sir Ruthven's elder brother, Sir Despard (the 'Bad Baronet'), a sailor named Richard Dauntless (Sir Ruthven's foster–brother), Old Adam Goodheart (Robin's faithful servant), Rose Maybud (the prettiest maid in the village) and Mad Margaret, who marries Sir Despard
Characters have no names, but are identified only by their roles in the drama		Trial by Jury
Set in the Tower of London		The Yeomen of the Guard
Sir Richard Cholmondeley, a real–life soldier and farmer during the reign of Henry VIII, is one of the central characters in
Jack Point, a strolling jester, and Wilfred Shadbolt, "Head Jailer and Assistant Tormentor", appear in
I Have a Song to Sing–O is a song from

© Haydn Thompson 2018–23