History Creator / GilbertAndSullivan

* BusCrash: Depending on the performance of ''Utopia, Limited''. If Ralph, now under his birth name of Corcoran, is part of the PairTheSpares, it means (given that he's supposed to be respectable) that Josephine has died.

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (November 18, 1836 - May 29, 1911) and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (May 13, 1842 - November 22, 1900) were a {{Victorian|London}} 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'', or "little book" in English), 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 ''Thespis'' in 1871 to ''The Gondoliers'' in 1889. The partnership then broke up, partly because of the legendary irascibility of Gilbert, partly because Sullivan ({{e|xecutiveMeddling}}ncouraged by none other than UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria'''!'''), 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.

** An almost literal one occurred on the first night of ''Iolanthe''; when BigNameFan Sir Eyre Massey Shaw, head of London's fire department, who was an inveterate first-nighter, attended the première, the Fairy Queen (Alice Barnett) stretched out her arms to him as she sang, "Oh, Captain Shaw, type of true love kept under!" ([[HilariousInHindsight Four years later, ironically]], Shaw was involved in a messy adultery case.)

* [[PrecisionFStrike Precision D Strike]]: Captain Corcoran in ''HMS Pinafore'', though saying he "never swears a big, big, D" in Act 1, is driven to swear in Act 2 when he learns that his daughter Josephine and crewman Ralph mean to elope. The use of this trope at all is itself a parody, given that the Captain (and in fact all but one of the male characters) are sailors who never swear (well, hardly ever).
** [[spoiler:"In uttering a reprobation/ To any British tar/ I've tried to speak with moderation,/ But you have gone too far./ I'm very sorry to disparage/ A humble foremast lad,/ But to seek your captain's child in marriage,/ Why, damme, it's too bad!]] Luckily, there is indeed a consequence for ill-advised asperity.
** Interestingly enough, in the 1968 D'oyly Carte recording of ''Pirates'', at the end of "When the Foeman Bares His Steel", General Stanley exclaims: "Damme, you don't go!" So the Pirates equivalent of Sir Joseph, who deplored strong language, actually used it this time!

* BritishRoyalGuards: In ''Iolanthe'', Private Willis is one of these, and he sings a solo while no one's looking.

* {{Bowdleri|se}}zation: Passages that used to contain the N-word have been altered.
** Also, Bowdlerization itself is mentioned in ''Princess Ida'' and alluded to in ''Thespis''.
** Amazingly enough, played straight in ''Ruddigore'', which had its very title changed due to the apparent offensiveness of the original title, ''Ruddygore'' (since ruddy is a synonym for bloody, which was tremendously offensive at the time). Gilbert found this just as absurd as anyone, and suggested re-titling it ''Kensington Gore, or, Not So Good As The Mikado''. He responded to one critic who brought this up, saying: "that would mean that if I said that I admired your ruddy countenance, which I do, I would be saying that I liked your bloody cheek, which I don't."

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

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (November 18, 1836 - May 29, 1911) and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (May 13, 1842 - November 22, 1900) were a {{Victorian|London}} 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'', or "little book" in English), 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 ({{e|xecutiveMeddling}}ncouraged by none other than UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria'''!'''), 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.

* ''Theatre/TrialByJury'' (1876; in one act)

** Nearly all 'villains' in G&S are actually [[SubvertedTrope subversions]], [[PlayedForLaughs parodies]] [[PlayingWithATrope and the like]], but the only real or 'straight' villains, Scaphio and Phantis in ''Utopia Limited'', do get a villain duet.

** ''The Yeomen of the Guard'': Subverted. After Elsie and Fairfax get together, Phoebe (who had pursued Fairfax) marries someone else -- not for love, but to protect Fairfax. And Jack Point (who had pursued Elsie) doesn't marry anybody, but drops dead on the spot.

* PairTheSpares: ''Patience'', ''Ruddigore''...and even in the ones where Gilbert doesn't, there's a good chance the director will. This is basically three-quarters of the plot of "The Sorcerer". ''Yeomen of the Guard'', on the other hand, is largely famous for not doing this.
** Not so often as people think, though:
*** ''Thespis'': '''None''': No pairing off happens outside of the Sparkeion/Nicemis/Daphne LoveTriangle.
*** ''Trial by Jury'': '''None''' Resolved by the Judge agreeing to marry Angela, which is the only pairing-off in the entire opera.
*** ''The Sorcerer'': '''[[HandWave Handwaved]]''' -- Everyone's paired off at the end, though the pairings are supposedly the ones that existed before the love potion caused everyone to pair up randomly, but they were too shy to admit to them before. Mind, ''The Sorcerer'' is considered one of the weakest in terms of plot.
*** Mrs Partlet and the Notary don't get any ShipTease in the libretto. As such, their pairing off for the finale pretty much counts as pairing the only remotely age-appropriate spares.
*** ''H.M.S. Pinafore'': '''No''' The plot is about class prejudice and issues related to it preventing people who love each other from getting together. Once the Captain is demoted and Ralph raised, they immediately pair off with the people they selected. Hebe becomes the VictoriousChildhoodFriend, in the only pairing that ''might'' be considered PairTheSpares The chorus do not pair off, as that would go against every single aspect of the plot: after an entire opera on the difficulty of marrying across class lines, resolved by redefining the class lines, an entire ship of lower-class sailors are ''not'' going to pair off with a nobleman's entire family, even if that did happen in one of Gilbert's less realistic satirical poems.
*** ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'' '''Yes''': When the Pirates are revealed to be noblemen, Major General Stanley immediately encourages the whole chorus to pair off. The whole thing is a parody of opera tropes, though.
*** ''Patience'': '''Not exactly''': The soldiers and the women were engaged before the opera, but the women broke it off so they can FanGirl Bunthorne. In the end, everyone pairs off (except Bunthorne), but one of the jokes is that noone in the cast has the faintest understanding of what love really is, so there's a sort of rapid-fire fiancée-swapping set to music ("If Saphir I choose to marry..."), and the Duke chooses to marry the ChristmasCake because she's the only woman there who isn't drop-dead gorgeous, and he's quite aware he's completely dull and average.[[spoiler: Interestingly enough, Patience is the only G&S play where the principal tenor actually selects the "plain and old" woman, as opposed to Frederic shunning Ruth in Pirates, or Nanki-Poo shunning Katisha in The Mikado.]]
** ''Iolanthe'': '''No''': We see the growing relationship between the male and female choruses throughout most of an entire act, and it's part of the main plot. Further, every main cast pairing has at least one entire song setting them up, most far more.
** ''Princess Ida'': The girl scholars have been kept completely isolated from men. Ooh, look, men have appeared! They decide to further their education.
** ''Theatre/TheMikado'': '''No''': In most of the G&S operas, the chorus has a distinct personality and plays a major role in the plot. Not here. As such, it only pairs up in the hands of a fairly strange director. Half the main cast is unpaired in the end too. (Koko and Katisha pairing off is important to the plot, so doesn't really apply)
** ''Ruddigore'': '''Yes''': The female chorus is paired off with either the revivified ghosts, or the visiting gentlemen from the city, depending on version. It's kind of set up in Act I, where the women gush over the visiting gentlemen because "The sons of the tillage / Who dwell in this village" ... "Though honest and active, / They're most unattractive". Also, Richard and Zorah, who he's had no lines with before then. Mind, the opera's a deconstruction of bad melodrama plots, so...
** ''Theatre/TheYeomenOfTheGuard'': '''No'''. There's some pairing off near the end, but most of it's portrayed as a huge mistake. The resolution of the LoveTriangle results in tragedy for the unpaired one.
** ''Theatre/TheGondoliers'': '''Not at the end''' -- but the female and male choruses ''do'' decide to PairTheSpares ''in the opening chorus''.
** ''Utopia, Limited'': '''No'''. The chorus doesn't pair, and, despite LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, only a tiny handful pair off.
** ''The Grand Duke'': '''Not the Chorus''': The chorus doesn't PairTheSpares. However, Prince of Monte Carlo / Baroness Krakenfeldt? Only the Prince's ability to make money, and Krakenfeldt's love of money excuses that.

The Savoy operas were a reaction, in part, to the scandalous operettas popular in mid-19th century Europe, particularly France (as most famously done by Music/JacquesOffenbach). Gilbert and Sullivan wanted to write family-friendly light operas that were just as uproariously funny and deliciously satirical as the raunchier productions that preceded them. They succeeded. The Savoy operas are characterised by the topsy-turvy logic of their plots, which often achieve their ''dénouement'' on the basis of some paradoxical ("Gilbertian") legalistic quibble (Gilbert had trained as a lawyer), as well as by their satire of English institutions. Gilbert's lyrics are masterpieces of complicated and difficult rhymes, often employing obscure and topical allusions, as well as three or four foreign languages; Sullivan's serious and romantic music adds emotional depth and tenderness to their often cynical frivolity.

* ObliviousToLove: Dr. Daly to Constance in ''The Sorcerer''; Sir Joseph to Hebe in ''Pinafore''; Robin and Rose to each other in ''Ruddigore''; Fairfax to Phoebe in ''[[Theatre/TheYeomenOfTheGuard Yeomen]]'' (unless [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation the director decides]] that he notices but [[JerkAss doesn't care]]).

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836–29 May 1911) and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842-22 November 1900) were a {{Victorian|London}} 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'', or "little book" in English), 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 ({{e|xecutiveMeddling}}ncouraged by none other than UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria'''!'''), 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.

* NightmareSequence: The Lord Chancellor in ''Iolanthe'' describes his nightmare in a [[EarWorm memorable]] PatterSong. PlayedForLaughs, naturally.

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836–29 May 1911) and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842-22 November 1900) were a {{Victorian|London}} 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'', or "little book" in English), 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 UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria'''!'''), 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.

* ''Theatre/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.)

* {{Bookends}}: the finale of ''The Grand Duke'' is a reprise of the opening number.
* [[{{Bowdlerise}} Bowdlerization]]: Passages that used to contain the N-word have been altered.

*** Possibly because Sir Roderic had died recently enough that it seemed reasonable that he should still be alive, if he had not been killed, whereas the idea of, say, Zorah, paired off with a [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld 300-year-old]] Sir Rupert was just too [[{{Squick}} squicky]]. Yeah, the Victorians were odd.

* CloudCuckoolander: Several examples.

** Similarly, ''The Mikado'', which uses the mania for all things Oriental that was going on at the time to poke fun of modified British institutions, was briefly banned in 1907 for fear of offending a visiting Japanese prince -- who was rather annoyed, as [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales he'd wanted to see it.]]

* CrowdSong: All their works have them, and the fact is [[{{Lampshaded}} lampshaded]] by Mad Margaret in ''Ruddigore''.

* InterClassRomance: In ''The HMS Pinafore'', a double version of this appears. A middle class woman loves a low class man but at the same time a upper class man is in love with her.

** The Major General in ''Pirates'' brags that he "can whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense ''Pinafore''!"

* StealthPun: In ''Theatre/UtopiaLimited,'' the "Public Exploder" [[note]]whose job is to blow up the king with dynamite if he oversteps his constitutional boundaries... ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext[[/note]] is named Tarara. A popular song of the day was, "Ta-ra-ra BOOM-de-ay!"

* TakeThatUs: "That infernal nonsense ''Pinafore''!" — quite a bit of Pirates was blatant sucking up to [[ExecutiveMeddling Royal Meddling]].
** Also:
-->'''[[TheOphelia Mad Margaret]]:''' But see, they come – Sir Despard and his evil crew! Hide, hide – they are all mad – quite mad!
-->'''Rose:''' What makes you think that?
-->'''Margaret:''' Hush! [[LampshadeHanging They sing choruses in public.]] That's mad enough, I think.

* EmbarrassingInitials: The reason '''A'''rthur '''S'''eymour '''S'''ullivan stopped using his middle name: A German friend poked gentle fun of him for it.

* FunWithAcronyms: The reason '''A'''rthur '''S'''eymour '''S'''ullivan stopped using his middle name: A German friend poked gentle fun of him for it.

** At least once this was combined with ProductPlacement during an Australian performance of "The Gondoliers". The Duke and Duchess of Plaza Toro are sing about the numerous advertising deals they've made and mention the bank that sponsored the production.

** Played straight with Frederic's first appearance to the ladies, delivered as a recitative, which was is antiquated ''musical'' form:

** Rose Maybud tends to speak in FloweryElizabethanEnglish .

** Also, the eponymous Grand Duke is engaged to the princess of Monaco, (specifically, Monte-Carlo) whom he's never met.
** Let's not forget ''The Mikado'' where for once it's the man, Nanki-Poo fleeing an arranged marriage to a loathsome older woman, Katisha.

* BackForTheFinale: Rackstraw returns in ''Utopia, Limited'' as Captain Sir Edward Corcoran, K.C.B. (of the Royal Navy)

** Amazingly enough, played straight in ''Ruddigore'', which had its very title changed due to the apparent offensiveness of the original title, ''Ruddygore'' (since ruddy is a synonym for bloody, which was tremendously offensive at the time) Gilbert found this just as absurd as anyone, and suggested re-titling it ''Kensington Gore, or, Not So Good As ''The Mikado. He responded to one critic who brought this up saying: "that would mean that if I said that I admired your ruddy countenance, which I do, I would be saying that I liked your bloody cheek, which I don't."

** When the defendant (accused of BreachOfPromiseOfMarriage) enters the court in ''Trial by Jury'', he sings "Is this the Court of the Exchequer?" and then aside ''Be firm, be firm, my pecker'', as in British slang "pecker" meant "courage". This has been altered in some modern productions to "Of many a man the wrecker"

* CloudCuckoolander: Several examples
** The Sorcerer: Alexis Pointidexter
** Pirates of Penzance: everybody except Mabel and possibly General Stanley's other daughters
** Patience: Patience and Archibald Grosvenor
** Iolanthe: Chorus of Faries Chorus of Peers
** Princess Ida: Princess Ida and King Gamma
** The Mikado: Pooh Bah
** Ruddigore: Mad Margret
*** It is safe to assume Gilbert loved this trope
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: ''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... [[MilesGloriosus decided not to, just now]]. Because fighting them would be mean. Yeah, that's it.

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: In ''The Mikado'' the song "My object all sublime" is completely devoted to this trope. Also in Princess Ida King Hildebrand punishing King Gama with nothing whatever to grumble at. [[spoiler:Oh, but he DOES have something to grumble at. He's grumbling that he has nothing whatever to grumble at!]]

** What King Gama complains about being subject to in the by act III of "Princess Ida", as he's in a misanthrope's hell: a place where there is never anything to complain about and everything suits him.

* DastardlyWhiplash: The Murgatroyd family of ''Ruddigore'', especially Sir Ruthven, parody this character, which was still played straight in the "Transpontine" theatres of the time.)

* DeusExMachina: There is usually a twist or revelation at the end of the story that allows all to live happily ever after (barring ''The Yeomen of the Guard'')

* 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 Creator/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!

Arguably, ''The Martyr of Antioch'' (1880, sacred cantata), Sullivan's setting of a poem by Millman, could also be included in this list, as Gilbert abridged and rearranged it, wrote some new material (including a couple of songs) to replace what was cut and simplify over-long scenes, and generally worked to make the libretto to count as a good example of AdaptationDistillation.

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, who made Gilbert the first playwright ever to be knighted[[note]]or at least the first to be knighted for his actual writings rather than for something else[[/note]]. 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.

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

* EvolvingMusic: It's somewhat traditional for certain songs to be updated to poke fun of current topical references. Ko-Ko's "[[ListSong I've Got a Little List]]" from ''Theatre/TheMikado'' and "The MajorGeneralSong" from ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'' are particularly vulnerable. Gilbert himself sanctioned some of this when he realized that "the lady novelist" on Ko-Ko's list wouldn't always be seen as "[[MostWritersAreMale a singular anomaly]]" and let singers suggest their own alternatives. The lyrics explicitly give permission to fill out the list as they wish.[[note]]The task of filling up the blanks, I'd rather leave to you. But it really doesn't matter whom you put upon the list, for they'd none of 'em be missed -- they'd none of 'em be missed.[[/note]] The most popular replacement? "[[NatureAbhorsAVirgin The girl who's not been kissed]]" and "[[RoaringTwenties the Prohibitionist]], although more recently, lady novelists have come back into range, either "[[Creator/AnneRice the vampire]] [[Creator/StephanieMeyer novelist]]" or "[[Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey the fetish novelist]]", under the belief that Sir William would find the abilities of both rather lacking.

* EvolvingMusic: It's somewhat traditional for certain songs to be updated to poke fun of current topical references. Ko-Ko's "[[ListSong I've Got a Little List]]" from ''Theatre/TheMikado'' and "The MajorGeneralSong" from ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'' are particularly vulnerable. Gilbert himself sanctioned some of this when he realized that "the lady novelist" on Ko-Ko's list wouldn't always be seen as "[[MostWritersAreMale a singular anomaly]]" and let singers suggest their own alternatives. The lyrics explicitly give permission to fill out the list as they wish.[[note]]The task of filling up the blanks, I'd rather leave to you. But it really doesn't matter whom you put upon the list, for they'd none of 'em be missed -- they'd none of 'em be missed.[[/note]] The most popular replacement? "[[NatureAbhorsAVirgin The girl who's not been kissed]]" and "[[RoaringTwenties the Prohibitionist]], although more recently, lady novelists have come back into range, either "[[{{Franchise/Twilight}} the vampire novelist]]" or "[[Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey the fetish novelist]]", under the belief that Sir William would find the abilities of both rather lacking.

** Similarly, ''The Mikado'', which uses the mania for all things Oriental that was going on at the time to poke fun of modified British institutions, was briefly banned in 1907 for fear of offending a visiting Japanese prince -- who was rather annoyed, as he'd wanted to see it.

** In ''The Gondoliers'', the Duke of Plaza-Toro boasts about how valiantly he was the first in front of his regiment as they ran away from battle and hid. In fact, he hid the most bravely of all of them!

** Sir Joseph Porter in ''HMS Pinafore'' "snaps his fingers at a foeman's taunts" but later admits that he has no nautical experience whatsoever, and also that he gets seasick.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The ''Series/DoctorWho'' Creator/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'', complete with Creator/ColinBaker singing "[[MajorGeneralSong I Am the Very Model of a Gallifreyan Buccaneer]]".

* VillainSong: Subverted in ''Ruddigore'' with "Oh, why am I moody and sad?" -- Despard is ''complaining'' about being the DesignatedVillain because of his {{curse}}. Also [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome "When the night wind howls"]] and "Henceforth all the crimes" (er, sort of).