[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Topsy_Turvy_4688.jpg]]

''Topsy-Turvy'' is a 1999 film written and directed by MikeLeigh that focuses on the partnership of GilbertAndSullivan when they reach a crossroads in their career.

After earning disappointing reviews for ''PrincessIda'', Sir Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) decides to unilaterally dissolve his partnership with William Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) creating comic operas for the Savoy Theatre. To get his mind off his troubles, Gilbert's wife, Kitty, drags him to the Japanese Village in Knightsbridge and he is inspired to write ''TheMikado''.

''Topsy-Turvy'' was nominated for four AcademyAwards and won for Best Costume Design and Makeup.

!!Tropes Associated With This Work:
* ComedyGhetto: In universe. Sullivan's motive for wanting to move away from comic operas to more serious fare, such as symphonies.
* CreativeDifferences: This is the essential problem for Gilbert and Sullivan with the latter tired with the fantasy musical comedies Gilbert keeps writing, while Gilbert doesn't see what the problem is with his creations.
* CostumeDrama
* EurekaMoment: Gilbert is inspired to write ''The Mikado'' when a mounted samurai sword falls off his wall.
* GirlFriday: Helen Lenoir to Richard D'Oyly Carte.
* LastNameBasis: By the time of the film, Gilbert and Sullivan have worked together for thirteen years but still refer to each other by their surnames (this was [[TruthInTelevision normal]] in Victorian Britain).
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In-universe. Actor Durward Lely is a Scotsman who affects a posh Southern English accent on stage and in most of his public dealings. Except when angered.
* PottyEmergency: Two actors get food poisoning from bad oysters and feel the effects during separate meetings with the owner of the Savoy Theatre.
* ThePrimaDonna: While many of the senior members of the acting troupe have prima donna tendencies, the worst offender is the troupe's choreographer.
* SexlessMarriage: William and Kitty Gilbert is portrayed as sexless and rather strained, particularly as she wants children and he's not prepared to have any. It's questionable how much of this was true in real life, where the Gilberts were reportedly a doting couple. By contrast, Sullivan and his lover, Fanny Ronalds, are highly sexual as well as affectionate, and arrange an abortion when she accidentally falls pregnant.
* ScifiGhetto: Sullivan was also tired of the fantasy plot devices Gilbert used in his stories and wanted something something more "probable."
* ShowWithinAShow : Type 1, the production of the Mikado
* SophisticatedAsHell:
--> '''Temple''': One should be rewarded on one's merits, not on one's ability to ingratiate oneself with the management, particularly when the management have difficulty in locating the relative whereabouts of the arse and the elbow.
* TheShowMustGoOn: Despite painful kidney disease, Sullivan rouses himself out of bed to conduct the orchestra on ''Princess Ida'''s opening night.
* VictorianLondon
----