Gilbert attempts to get a disenchanted Sullivan interested in his new libretto:
Gilbert: Now, the local alchemist is killed in an explosion, and there, amongst his effects, a chorus of villagers discover a potion.
Sullivan: Magic, no doubt.
Gilbert: Indeed.
Sullivan: I thought as much.
Gilbert: The effect of this magic potion is to transform the character who takes it into whatever he or she is pretending to be.
Sullivan: [good-humoured, but exasperated] Oh, Gilbert! You and your world of topsy-turvydom. In 1881 it was a magic coin, and before that it was a magic lozenge, and in 1877 it was an elixir.
