History Theatre / TheGrandDuke

* TheMagicPokerEquation: The cards drawn in the Statutory Duel are a king and an ace. However, this is because of cheating to rig the game beforehand, and since CheatersNeverProsper, it turns out [[spoiler: the ace is officially the ''lowest'' card]].

* ShesGotLegs: Discussed in song as one of an actress's demands on a theatrical company:
-->And G must show herself in tights\\
For two convincing reasons –\\
Two very well-shaped reasons!

* SecretHandshake: Spoofed. The conspirators' secret sign is to eat a sausage roll. Unluckily, Ludwig assumes that ''anyone'' who eats a sausage roll must be a co-conspirator, causing him to spill the details of their plot. The actual conspirators say that he should have known better: you should be able to tell any real member of the conspiracy because by now they are all completely sick of having to eat sausage rolls.

* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: The winner of a Statutory Duel takes the loser’s place in society, with all attached obligations.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Songs and words occur in at least four different languages, including Latin, Greek, Italian, and German. Words use in song lyrics include "hyporchematic", "Dithyramb", "Corybantian", "Diergeticon", "periphrastic", "choreutæ", "choregus", "drachmæ", "ariston", and "trepestai pros ton poton". Whew.

* CheatersNeverProsper: In each Statutory Duel, characters cheat by hiding an ace up their sleeves. As it turns out, [[spoiler:according to the official rules, the ace is the ''low'' card]].

* GameOfCards: The Statutory Duel is decided by a card game, albeit literally the simplest possible game of High Card Wins.

The last collaboration of Creator/GilbertAndSullivan, and one of the least known, ''The Grand Duke; [[EitherOrTitle or, The Statutory Duel]]'' pokes fun at [[ImpoverishedPatrician impoverished rulers]] and German words, among other things. After its initial run of only 123 performances, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company did not revive it for almost 90 years.

%% Note to editors: In the libretto, the term "Statutory Duel" is a formal title, not
&& a generic description, so it is always in proper case.

#the Statutory duel, a nonlethal successor to old-fashioned sword/pistol duels in which the antagonists duel with playing cards. (No, this [[Anime/YuGiOh isn't an anime]].) The loser is physically unharmed, of course, but is [[LegallyDead considered dead for all legal purposes]].

** The winner of a Statutory duel assumes not only [[KlingonPromotion the loser's position in society]], but also [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt all of the loser's obligations]]--including, as it turns out, marriage commitments.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The winner of a Statutory duel assumes the loser's obligations as well as his place in society, so it behooves a prospective duelist to know what those potential obligations are.

* ExpositionCut: When Rudolph and Ludwig announce their intention to have a Statutory Duel in the Act I finale, the Notary says "[[GratuitousLatin verbum sat]]"[[labelnote:meaning]]short form for a Latin phrase translating to "A word to the wise is sufficient" and meaning "wise men don't require lengthy explanations"[[/labelnote]] to skip over repetitive explanation, because the audience has already had the concept of a Statutory Duel explained to them in "About a century since".

* KlingonPromotion: Ludwig supplants his boss Ernest as head of the theatre company by defeating him in a Statutory duel, because the winner of such a duel takes the loser's place--with [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt all its obligations]]. Both men expect the Statutory Duel law to expire the next day, and neither considers the possibility of an unexpected renewal...
* LegallyDead: The statutory duel is meant to be a duel to the death without the bloodshed, so the loser is considered dead for all legal purposes.

* QuarrelingSong: A staged "devil of a quarrel", sung in duet with chorus, kicks off the finale to Act I. This sets up an equally staged Statutory duel that in turn sets the stage for the events of Act II.

* UnwantedHarem: Ludwig [[KlingonPromotion ascends to power]] by [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt winning multiple Statutory duels]], but [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor finds himself an unwitting party]] to multiple [[ArrangedMarriage marriage commitments]] as a result.
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: The winner of a Statutory duel takes the loser’s place in society, with all attached obligations.

* LegallyDead: The Statutory duel is meant to be a duel to the death without the bloodshed, so the loser is considered dead for all legal purposes.

* ExpositionCut: When Rudolph and Ludwig announce their intention to have a Statutory Duel in the Act I finale, the Notary says "[[AltumVidetur verbum sat]]"[[labelnote:meaning]]short form for a Latin phrase translating to "A word to the wise is sufficient" and meaning "wise men don't require lengthy explanations"[[/labelnote]] to skip over repetitive explanation, because the audience has already had the concept of a Statutory Duel explained to them in "About a century since".

* EitherOrTitle: As with most of the GilbertAndSullivan operettas, the secondary title ("The Statutory Duel") is more descriptive than the primary.

* ExpositionCut: When Randolph and Ludwig announce their intention to have a Statutory Duel, the Notary says "[[AltumVidetur verbum sat]]"[[labelnote:meaning]]short form for a Latin phrase translating to "A word to the wise is sufficient" and meaning "wise men don't require lengthy explanations"[[/labelnote]] to skip over repetitive explanation, because the audience has already had the concept of a Statutory Duel explained to them.

* GoldDigger: Julia agrees to marry Ernest even though she hates him, because she wants to be Grand Duchess. When Ludwig becomes Grand Duke instead she insists on marrying him instead.

* TyingUpRomanticLooseEnds: When it comes to light that [[spoiler:a misreading of the Statutory Duel law renders the results invalid]], Ludwig's UnwantedHarem evaporates and everyone is free to marry the person they'd rather marry - mostly. Ludwig is free to marry Lisa and only Lisa, and Ernest is free to marry Julia, but Rudolph ends up having to go through with his marriage to the Princess of Monte Carlo, while her father, the Prince, ends up marrying Caroline von Krakenfeldt.[[note]] Some directors re-work the final scene to have Rudolph marrying the Baroness after all, while the Prince and Princess of Monte Carlo are left fuming.[[/note]]

The last collaboration of GilbertAndSullivan, and one of the least known, ''The Grand Duke; [[EitherOrTitle or, The Statutory Duel]]'' pokes fun at [[ImpoverishedPatrician impoverished rulers]] and German words, among other things. After its initial run of only 123 performances, the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company did not revive it for almost 90 years.

The story is set in the year 1750, in pre-unification Germany. A theatre troupe is plotting to overthrow the titular Grand Duke of [[{{Ruritania}} Pfennig Halbpfennig]] [[note]]“Penny Half-penny”[[/note]], a miserly man who is in chronically poor health from years of living as cheaply as possible.

#the Statutory duel, a nonlethal successor to old-fashioned sword/pistol duels in which the antagonists duel with playing cards. (No, this [[Anime/YuGiOh isn’t an anime]].) The loser is physically unharmed, of course, but is [[LegallyDead considered dead for all legal purposes]].

** The winner of a Statutory duel assumes not only [[KlingonPromotion the loser’s position in society]], but also [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt all of the loser’s obligations]]—including, as it turns out, marriage commitments.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The winner of a Statutory duel assumes the loser’s obligations as well as his place in society, so it behooves a prospective duelist to know what those potential obligations are.
* EitherOrTitle: As with most of the GilbertAndSullivan operettas, the secondary title (“The Statutory Duel”) is more descriptive than the primary.
* KlingonPromotion: Ludwig supplants his boss Ernest as head of the theatre company by defeating him in a Statutory duel, because the winner of such a duel takes the loser’s place—with [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt all its obligations]]. Both men expect the Statutory Duel law to expire the next day, and neither considers the possibility of an unexpected renewal…

* QuarrelingSong: A staged “devil of a quarrel”, sung in duet with chorus, kicks off the finale to Act I. This sets up an equally staged Statutory duel that in turn sets the stage for the events of Act II.

* TyingUpRomanticLooseEnds: When it comes to light that [[spoiler:a misreading of the Statutory Duel law renders the results invalid]], Ludwig’s UnwantedHarem evaporates and everyone is free to marry the person they’d rather marry.

The last collaboration of GilbertAndSullivan, and one of the least known, ''The Grand Duke; [[EitherOrTitle or, The Statutory Duel]]'' pokes fun at impoverished rulers and German words, among other things. After its initial run of only 123 performances, the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company did not revive it for almost 90 years.

Among the curious laws of this tiny Grand Duchy are:

The last collaboration of GilbertAndSullivan, and one of the least known, ''The Grand Duke; [[EitherOrTitle or, The Statutory Duel]]'' pokes fun mainly at impoverished rulers and German words. After its initial run of only 123 performances, the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company did not revive it for almost 90 years.

The story is set in the year 1750, in pre-unification Germany. A theatre troupe is plotting to overthrow the titular Grand Duke of Pfennig Halbpfennig [[note]]“Penny Half-penny”[[/note]], a miserly man who is in chronically poor health from years of living as cheaply as possible.