History Creator / GilbertAndSullivan

** Prates of Penzance: everybody except Mabel and possibly General Stanley's other daughters

** In ''The Mikado'', the titular character acknowledges that it was a complete mistake that his son was beheaded (they were JustFollowingOrders that somebody be put to death, and Nanki-Poo was in disguise, and entirely despondent on loosing the love of his life to Ko-Ko). Still, the law is the law, and [[LawfulStupid there's nothing he can do]], despite being TheEmperor of all Japan, whose word is law.

* {{Crossdresser}}: Princess Ida. Just Princess Ida.
** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Mostly Hilarion and his friends, actually]].

* EitherOrTitle: All but two of the operas have one.

* PublicDomainSoundtrack

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Archibald Grosvenor in ''Patience''

** Some of their {{Villain Song}}s have been very effectively covered by ChristopherLee, which should tell you quite a bit.

*** Rose Maybud tends to speak in FloweryElizabethanEnglish .

--> Isn’t generally heard and if it is it doesn’t matter!

* PunchClockVillain: ''The Pirates of Penzance'', particularly the song "A Policeman's Lot is Not a Happy One." Also a source of MemeticMutation.

* MedievalJapan: ''The Mikado''
** This is debateable, as reference is made to the Knightsbridge "Japanese village" exhibition of 1885.
** [[WordOfGod Word of Gilbert]] explains that setting the show in an admittedly [[ThemeParkVersion fictional version]] of MedievalJapan (namely, the version popularized in the Knightsbridge exhibition, "On many a screen and fan") enables it to more freely satirize contemporary ''British'' institutions.

'''Sir William Schwenck Gilbert''' (18 November 1836–-29 May 1911) and '''Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan''' (13 May 1842-–22 November 1900) were a [[VictorianLondon Victorian]] duo who together wrote a number of hugely popular and influential comic operas, which served as forerunners of TheMusical (most people today think of them as musicals), Gilbert writing the book and lyrics (what's known as a librettist, because he writes the ''libretto''), and Sullivan the scores. Their most famous works are the so-called Savoy operas (from the Savoy Theatre where their operas were produced by entrepreneur Richard D'Oyly Carte), stretching from ''Trial By Jury'' in 1871 to ''The Gondoliers'' in 1889. The partnership then broke up, partly because of the legendary irascibility of Gilbert, partly because Sullivan ([[ExecutiveMeddling encouraged]] by none other than [[QueenVicky Queen Victoria]]'''!'''), wished to devote himself to serious music, mostly over a carpet. Two later works, ''Utopia, Ltd.'' and ''The Grand Duke'', came after the reunion of the team; they have not generally been considered successes.

* ''The Sorcerer'' (1877; slightly revised 1884)

-->When [[TheDukeOfWellington Wellington]] thrashed [[NapoleonBonaparte Bonaparte]],

Though both of the pair were eventually knighted, Queen Victoria refused the honour to Gilbert (possibly having been offended by one of his works, but more likely simply because she thought knighthood more suitable for SeriousBusiness like Sullivan's (now mostly forgotten) serious works such as ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}''). This was likely a contributory cause to their quarrel. The honours would eventually be evened by King Edward VII. Their royal patronage was not restricted to Britain, either; reportedly [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany Kaiser Wilhelm II]] knew ''The Mikado'' off by heart, and on the one occasion Sullivan met him, he regarded him as a LoonyFan.

The operas tend to include a number of characters intended to show off what might be called the Savoy's "stock company": a light baritone playing a (generally not very pleasant) character who wishes (usually without success) to marry the heroine and who will almost certainly at some point sing a PatterSong; a soprano heroine, sometimes sympathetic, but often selfish and scheming; a pompous bass-baritone; and a contralto (with, as the great AnnaRussell described her, "a voice like a foghorn"), whose attempts to marry a man who desperately does '''not''' want to marry her form the basis of quite a few of Gilbert's jokes. However, these roles are also regularly subverted: For example, in half the operas [[note]]''Sorcerer'', ''Pinafore'', ''Iolanthe'', ''Ruddigore'', ''Utopia'', ''The Grand Duke'', and, arguably, ''Gondoliers''[[/note]], the contralto's love interest ''is in love with her from the start'', and in ''Ruddigore'', she has ''two'' men after her.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The ''Series/DoctorWho'' BigFinish audio play ''Doctor Who and the Pirates, Or The Lass that Lost A Sailor'' is one long Gilbert and Sullivan pastiche. Especially in Act 3, where it [[CrowningMomentOfFunny turns into a musical]], with music ripped straight from ''Penzance'', ''Mikado'', and ''Pinafore''.

* AnachronismStew: Not frequently in the originals, but there is a proud tradition of rewriting parts of the (now public domain) dialog to include jokes that are relevant to modern audiences, even if they make no sense for the time period. For example, there have been performances of ''The Mikado'' in which Pooh-Bah listed "Secretary of Homeland Security" and "Husband of ElizabethTaylor" among his titles. The "Little List" song from ''The Mikado'' is particularly ripe for this, as it contained a series of then-contemporary references that would make sense to modern audiences. G&S would probably be happy to see the updates--so long as you don't mess with the music!

* HeroicSacrifice: How Gilbert met his end in RealLife. At age 74 he attempted to rescue a woman from drowning; she survived but his heart gave out from the strain.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Lots of Gilbert's misanthropic characters are at least well-intentioned. By many accounts, Gilbert fit this persona himself, being something of a good-natured curmudgeon.

** [[WordOfGod Word of Gilbert]] explains that setting the show in an admittedly fictional version of MedievalJapan (namely, the version popularized in the Knightsbridge exhibition) enables it to more freely satirize contemporary ''British'' institutions.

* AdaptationExpansion: Gilbert tended to try out ideas with a short story, poem, or the like, sell that, then expand it out into a longer work if he liked the result. Later, he began actively mining his early poems for ideas as well. Looking just at the GilbertAndSullivan works, and including only the most obvious cases:

'''Sir William Schwenck Gilbert''' (18 November 1836–-29 May 1911) and '''Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan''' (13 May 1842-–22 November 1900) were a [[VictorianLondon Victorian]] duo who together wrote a number of hugely popular and influential comic operas, which served as forerunners of TheMusical (most people today think of them as musicals), Gilbert writing the book and lyrics (what's known as a librettist, because he writes the ''libretto''), and Sullivan the scores. Their most famous works are the so-called Savoy operas (from the Savoy Theatre where their operas were produced by entrepreneur Richard D'Oyly Carte), stretching from ''Trial By Jury'' in 1871 to ''The Gondoliers'' in 1889. The partnership then broke up, partly because of the legendary irascibility of Gilbert, partly because Sullivan ([[ExecutiveMeddling encouraged]] by none other than [[QueenVicky Queen Victoria]] '''!'''), wished to devote himself to serious music, mostly over a carpet. Two later works, ''Utopia, Ltd.'' and ''The Grand Duke'', came after the reunion of the team; they have not generally been considered successes.

'''Sir William Schwenck Gilbert''' (18 November 1836–-29 May 1911) and '''Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan''' (13 May 1842-–22 November 1900) were a [[VictorianLondon Victorian]] duo who together wrote a number of hugely popular and influential comic operas, which served as forerunners of TheMusical (most people today think of them as musicals), Gilbert writing the book and lyrics (what's known as a librettist, because he writes the ''libretto''), and Sullivan the scores. Their most famous works are the so-called Savoy operas (from the Savoy Theatre where their operas were produced by entrepreneur Richard D'Oyly Carte), stretching from ''Trial By Jury'' in 1871 to ''The Gondoliers'' in 1889. The partnership then broke up, partly because of the legendary irascibility of Gilbert, partly because Sullivan ([[ExecutiveMeddling encouraged]] by none other than [[QueenVicky Queen Victoria]] (!)), wished to devote himself to serious music, mostly over a carpet. Two later works, ''Utopia, Ltd.'' and ''The Grand Duke'', came after the reunion of the team; they have not generally been considered successes.

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: ''Ruddigore'', has Richard Dauntless's "I shipped d'ye see" which sent French newspapers into such an uproar over the perceived attack on the French that Sullivan was never able to get his works performed in Paris from then on. The song is actually about a British sailor talking about their kindness when their sloop ''turned tail and fled'' from a formidable French frigate, which ''of course'' they could have taken on... but... um... decided not to, just now. Because fighting them would be mean. Yeah, that's it.

-->--'''Creator/TomLehrer'''

'''Sir William Schwenck Gilbert''' (18 November 1836 –- 29 May 1911) and '''Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan''' (13 May 1842 -– 22 November 1900) were a [[VictorianLondon Victorian]] duo who together wrote a number of hugely popular and influential comic operas, which served as forerunners of TheMusical (most people today think of them as musicals), Gilbert writing the book and lyrics (what's known as a librettist, because he writes the ''libretto''), and Sullivan the scores. Their most famous works are the so-called Savoy operas (from the Savoy Theatre where their operas were produced by entrepreneur Richard D'Oyly Carte), stretching from ''Trial By Jury'' in 1871 to ''The Gondoliers'' in 1889. The partnership then broke up, partly because of the legendary irascibility of Gilbert, partly because Sullivan ([[ExecutiveMeddling encouraged]] by none other than [[QueenVicky Queen Victoria]] (!)), wished to devote himself to serious music, mostly over a carpet. Two later works, ''Utopia, Ltd.'' and ''The Grand Duke'', came after the reunion of the team; they have not generally been considered successes.

Though both of the pair were eventually knighted, Queen Victoria refused the honour to Gilbert (possibly having been offended by one of his works, but more likely simply because she thought knighthood more suitable for SeriousBusiness like Sullivan's (now mostly forgotten) serious works such as ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}''). This was likely a contributory cause to their quarrel. The honours would eventually be evened by King Edward VII. Their royal patronage was not restricted to Britain, either; reportedly [[ImperialGermany Kaiser Wilhelm II]] knew ''The Mikado'' off by heart, and on the one occasion Sullivan met him, he regarded him as a LoonyFan.

If you want see how the team was in action, see the film, ''TopsyTurvy'', which depicts how they almost broke up until they are inspired to create ''TheMikado''.

'''A complete list of their works together:'''

* ''Thespis, or, the Gods Grown Old'' (1871; score lost, except for one chorus ("Climbing over Rocky Mountains," re-used in ''ThePiratesOfPenzance''), one solo ("Little Maid of Arcadee"), and some ballet music)

* ''ThePiratesOfPenzance, or, the Slave of Duty'' (1880) (which includes the PatterSong "I am the very model of a [[ModernMajorGeneral modern major-general]]," one of the most [[TheParody parodied]] [[MajorGeneralSong songs]] ever written.)

* ''{{Iolanthe}}, or, the Peer and the Peri'' (1882)
* ''PrincessIda; or, Castle Adamant'' (1884) (described by Gilbert as "A respectful operatic perversion of [Tennyson's poem] 'The Princess'" )
* ''TheMikado, or, the Town of Titipu'' (1885)
* ''{{Ruddigore}}, or, the Witch's Curse'' (1887)
* ''TheYeomenOfTheGuard, or, the Merryman and His Maid'' (1888) (the pair's only [[SeriousBusiness serious]] opera, and still not that serious)

* The Distant Shore (1874)
* The Love that Loves Me Not (1875)
* Sweethearts (1875)

----

'''Gilbert'''

* ''Engaged'' (1877, three act farce without music. Has had several professional productions in recent years. Inspired OscarWilde's ''TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'')

Gilbert also wrote about a hundred or two hundred other works, mainly plays and short stories, not counting ephemera for magazines (e.g. brief satire of current events, a lengthy {{troperiffic}} series of parodies of bad plays, and so on). Many of these works--including ephemera--were actually trial balloons for his collaborations with Sullivan, seeing how certain ideas would play with the public and so on.


'''Sullivan'''
* ''CoxAndBox; or, the Long Lost Brothers'' (1866, Sullivan's first successful comic opera, with lyrics by F. C. Barnard. One act)

** And Ruth, though that's probably down to ThePiratesOfPenzance showing very obvious signs of being the rush job it was: Hell, in the first published scripts,[[note]]Technically, scripts for musicals and operas are called "libretti", but that's a pretty obscure word.[[/note]] she never appeared again after "Away, Away, my Heart's on Fire" in the middle of the second act, her tiny role in the finale being given to a random pirate named James. Most directors pair her with Stanley or the Pirate King.

* WithCatlikeTread: ''ThePiratesOfPenzance'' are the [[TropeNamer Trope Namers]].

-->--'''TomLehrer'''

->"''You’ll need...''
->''A handsome young couple whose voices are supple and charming, if just a bit sickly'',
->''A chorus to prance through the same kind of dance, and do everything terribly quickly''.
->''You’ll need...''
->''A small skinny guy who’s amazingly spry with a voice like a vegetable gratah'',
->''A tremendous old crone with a strange vocal tone like her mouth is all full of potatah''.
->''These operas have got an identical plot, so the narrative doesn’t much matter'',
->''But it’s great to poke fun at most everyone with your typical topical patter''."
-->--'''AnnaRussell, ''How To Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera'''''