Trivia / Iolanthe

• Cut Song: "Fold Your Flapping Wings", a solo for Strephon ^note Curiously, cutting the song left him with no solos despite being the romantic lead about poverty, crime and other social ills, was cut because it was deemed too serious for the generally lighthearted story. The lyrics and music survived, though, and modern productions are increasingly restoring it.
• Working Title: The play was initially billed as Perola, and got pretty far in rehearsals before Gilbert decided to change his title character’s name. ^note A widely repeated Urban Legend has it that Gilbert changed the name just before opening night, but documentary evidence shows the new title being advertised at least a few weeks before that.

---