The dramatist and author W. S. Gilbert wrote approximately 80 dramatic works during his career, as well as light verse, short stories and other works. He is best remembered for his series of 14 libretti for his joint operatic works with the composer Arthur Sullivan, but many of his other dramatic works were popular successes. [1]
In the following list, the title of each work appears in the first column, along with any further information (such as the source of an adaptation). The genre appears in the second column, and if the piece had music, the composer's name is listed in parentheses. The theatre and date of first performance appear in the third and fourth columns. All theatres were in London, unless otherwise stated. The works are listed in the approximate order of composition. (In a few cases, the first performance was many years after the work was first published.)
| Title | Genre | Theatre | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uncle Baby | One-Act Comedietta | Lyceum Theatre | 1863-10-31 |
| Ruy Blas [published in Warne's Christmas Annual, 1866, based on the Victor Hugo drama, Ruy Blas .] | Burlesque | unperformed | N/A |
| Hush-a-Bye, Baby, on the Tree Top; or, Harlequin Fortunia, King Frog of Frog Island, and the Magic Toys of Lowther Arcade [written with Chas. Millard] | Pantomime | Astley's | 1866-12-26 |
| Dulcamara! or, The Little Duck and the Great Quack [parody of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore ] | Extravaganza | St. James's Theatre | 1866-12-29 |
| La Vivandière; or, True to the Corps! [parody of Donizetti's La fille du régiment ] | Extravaganza | St. James's Hall, Liverpool | 1867-06-15 |
| Robinson Crusoe; or, The Injun Bride and the Injured Wife [written with H. J. Byron, Tom Hood, H. S. Leigh and Arthur Sketchley] | Burlesque | Haymarket | 1867-07-06 |
| Allow Me to Explain | One-Act Farce | Prince of Wales's Theatre | 1867-11-04 |
| Highly Improbable | One-Act Farce | Royalty Theatre | 1867-12-05 |
| A Colossal Idea [first pub. 1932] | One-Act Farce | unperformed | N/A |
| Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren ; or, Fortunatus and the Water of Life, the Three Bears, the Three Gifts, the Three Wishes, and the Little Man who Woo'd the Little Maid | Pantomime | Lyceum | 1867-12-26 |
| The Merry Zingara; or, The Tipsy Gipsy and the Pipsy Wipsy [parody of Balfe's The Bohemian Girl ] | Extravaganza | Royalty | 1868-03-21 |
| Robert the Devil; or, The Nun, the Dun, and the Son of a Gun [parody of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable ] | Extravaganza | Gaiety Theatre | 1868-12-21 |
| No Cards | One-Act Musical Entertainment (Thomas German Reed/"Lionel Elliott"?) | Gallery of Illustration | 1869-03-29 |
| The Pretty Druidess; or, The Mother, the Maid, and the Mistletoe Bough [parody of Bellini's Norma ] | Extravaganza | Charing Cross Theatre | 1869-06-19 |
| An Old Score [revived as Quits] | Three-Act Comedy | Gaiety | 1869-07-26 |
| Ages Ago | One-Act Musical Entertainment (Frederic Clay) | Gallery of Illustration | 1869-11-22 |
| A Medical Man [published in Clement Scott's Drawing-Room Plays (1870)] | One-Act Farce | St. George's Hall | 1872-10-24 |
| The Princess [based on Tennyson's poem] | Blank-Verse Parody | Olympic Theatre | 1870-01-08 |
| The Gentleman in Black | Two-Act Musical Play (Frederic Clay) | Charing Cross | 1870-05-26 |
| Our Island Home | One-Act Musical Entertainment (Thomas German Reed) | Gallery of Illustration | 1870-06-20 |
| The Palace of Truth | Three-Act Fairy Comedy | Haymarket | 1870-11-19 |
| The Brigands [translated and adapted from Les brigands by Meilhac and Halévy; published by Boosey, 1871] | Three-Act Comic Opera (Jacques Offenbach) | Theatre Royal, Plymouth | 1889-09-02 |
| Randall's Thumb | Three-Act Comedy | Court Theatre | 1871-01-25 |
| A Sensation Novel | Musical Entertainment in Three "Volumes" (Thomas German Reed) | Gallery of Illustration | 1871-01-30 |
| Creatures of Impulse | One-Act Musical Play (Alberto Randegger) | Court | 1871-04-28 |
| Great Expectations [adapted from the Dickens novel] | Drama | Court | 1871-05-29 |
| On Guard [2] | Three-Act Melodramatic Comedy | Court | 1871-10-28 |
| Pygmalion and Galatea | Three-Act Fairy Comedy | Haymarket | 1871-12-09 |
| Thespis ; or, The Gods Grown Old | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Gaiety | 1871-12-26 |
| Happy Arcadia | One-Act Musical Entertainment (Frederic Clay) | Gallery of Illustration | 1872-10-28 |
| The Wicked World | Three-Act Fairy Comedy | Haymarket | 1873-01-04 |
| The Happy Land [written as F. Tomline, with Gilbert à Beckett] | Two-Act Burlesque of The Wicked World | Court | 1873-03-03 |
| The Realm of Joy [written as F. Latour Tomline: freely adapted from Le Roi Candaule by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy; title changed after a few nights to The Realms of Joy] | One-Act Farce | Royalty | 1873-10-18 |
| The Wedding March [written as F. Latour Tomline: translated from Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie by Eugène Labiche] | Three-Act Farce | Court | 1873-11-15 |
| Charity | Four-Act Drama | Haymarket | 1874-01-03 |
| Ought We To Visit Her? [adapted from the novel by Annie Edwardes] [3] | Three-Act Drama | Royalty | 1874-01-17 |
| Committed For Trial [written as F. Latour Tomline: translated from Le Réveillon by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy] | Two-Act Farce | Globe Theatre | 1874-01-24 |
| The Blue-Legged Lady [no author named: translated from La Dame aux Jambes d'Azur by Eugène Labiche and Marc-Michel] | One-Act Farce | Court | 1874-03-04 |
| Topsyturveydom | One-Act Extravaganza (Alfred Cellier) | Criterion Theatre | 1874-03-21 |
| Sweethearts | Two-Act Comedy | Prince of Wales's Theatre | 1874-11-07 |
| Rosencrantz and Guildenstern [published in Fun, December 1874] | Burlesque in Three Short "Tableaux" | Vaudeville Theatre | 1891-06-03 |
| Trial by Jury | One-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Royalty | 1875-03-25 |
| Tom Cobb; or, Fortune's Toy | Three-Act Farce | St. James's | 1875-04-24 |
| Eyes and No Eyes ; or, The Art of Seeing | One-Act Musical Entertainment (Thomas German Reed) | St. George's Hall | 1875-07-05 |
| Broken Hearts | Three-Act Verse Drama | Court | 1875-12-09 |
| Princess Toto | Three-Act Comic Opera (Frederic Clay) | Theatre Royal, Nottingham | 1876-06-24 |
| Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith | Three-Act Drama | Haymarket | 1876-09-11 |
| On Bail [revised version of Committed for Trial] | Three-Act Farce | Criterion | 1877-02-03 |
| Engaged | Three-Act Farcical Comedy | Haymarket | 1877-10-03 |
| The Sorcerer | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Opera Comique | 1877-11-17 |
| The Forty Thieves [written with Robert Reece, F. C. Burnand, and H. J. Byron; three performances for charity] | Pantomime | Gaiety | 1878-02-13 |
| The Ne'er-Do-Weel [rewritten and restaged three weeks later as The Vagabond] | Three-Act Drama | Olympic | 1878-02-25 |
| H.M.S. Pinafore ; or, The Lass that Loved a Sailor | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Opera Comique | 1878-05-25 |
| Gretchen [based on Goethe's Faust ] | Four-Act Verse Tragedy | Olympic | 1879-03-24 |
| Lord Mayor's Day [translated from La Cagnotte by Eugène Labiche. Gilbert translated the first two acts, but was not credited.] | Three-Act Farce | Folly Theatre | 1879-06-30 |
| The Pirates of Penzance ; or, The Slave of Duty | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Bijou, Paignton; Fifth Avenue, NY; and Opera Comique | 1879-12-30 & 1879-12-31 |
| Patience ; or, Bunthorne's Bride | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Opera Comique | 1881-04-23 |
| Foggerty's Fairy | Three-Act Farce | Criterion | 1881-12-15 |
| Iolanthe ; or, The Peer and the Peri | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Savoy Theatre | 1882-11-25 |
| Princess Ida ; or, Castle Adamant [revised version of The Princess] | Three-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Savoy | 1884-01-05 |
| Comedy and Tragedy | One-Act Drama | Lyceum | 1884-01-26 |
| The Mikado ; or, The Town of Titipu | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Savoy | 1885-03-14 |
| Ruddygore ; or, The Witch's Curse [retitled Ruddigore after a few days] | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Savoy | 1887-01-22 |
| The Yeomen of the Guard ; or, The Merryman and his Maid | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Savoy | 1888-03-10 |
| Brantinghame Hall | Four-Act Drama | St. James's | 1888-11-29 |
| The Gondoliers ; or, The King of Barataria | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Savoy | 1889-07-12 |
| The Mountebanks | Two-Act Comic Opera (Alfred Cellier) | Lyric Theatre | 1892-01-04 |
| Haste to the Wedding [operatic version of The Wedding March] | Three-Act Comic Opera (George Grossmith) | Criterion | 1892-07-27 |
| Utopia (Limited) ; or, The Flowers of Progress [retitled Utopia Limited after a few days] | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Savoy | 1893-10-07 |
| His Excellency | Two-Act Comic Opera (F. Osmond Carr) | Lyric | 1894-10-27 |
| The Grand Duke ; or, The Statutory Duel | Two-Act Comic Opera (Arthur Sullivan) | Savoy | 1896-03-07 |
| The Fortune Hunter | Three-Act Drama | Theatre Royal, Birmingham | 1897-09-27 |
| Harlequin and the Fairy's Dilemma [retitled The Fairy's Dilemma after a few days] | Two-Act Domestic Pantomime | Garrick Theatre | 1904-05-03 |
| Fallen Fairies; or, The Wicked World [operatic version of The Wicked World] | Two-Act Comic Opera (Edward German) | Savoy | 1909-12-15 |
| The Hooligan | One-Act Drama | London Coliseum | 1911-02-27 |
| Trying a Dramatist; [published in Original Plays, Fourth Series (1911)] [4] | One-Act Sketch | unknown | unknown |
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado are among the best known.
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan was an English composer. He is best known for 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. His works include 24 operas, 11 major orchestral works, ten choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous church pieces, songs, and piano and chamber pieces. His hymns and songs include "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "The Lost Chord".
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer, and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era. He built two of London's theatres and a hotel empire, while also establishing an opera company that ran continuously for over a hundred years and a management agency representing some of the most important artists of the day.
Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house the Gilbert and Sullivan pieces, and later those by other composer–librettist teams. The great bulk of the non-G&S Savoy Operas either failed to achieve a foothold in the standard repertory, or have faded over the years, leaving the term "Savoy Opera" as practically synonymous with Gilbert and Sullivan. The Savoy operas were seminal influences on the creation of the modern musical.
Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old, is an operatic extravaganza that was the first collaboration between dramatist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. No musical score of Thespis was ever published, and most of the music has been lost. Gilbert and Sullivan went on to become the most famous and successful artistic partnership in Victorian England, creating a string of enduring comic opera hits, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado.
Sir Francis Cowley Burnand, usually known as F. C. Burnand, was an English comic writer and prolific playwright, best known today as the librettist of Arthur Sullivan's opera Cox and Box.
The patter song is characterised by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note. It is a staple of comic opera, especially Gilbert and Sullivan, but it has also been used in musical theatre and elsewhere.
Carl August Nicholas Rosa was a German-born musical impresario best remembered for founding an English opera company known as the Carl Rosa Opera Company. He started his company in 1869 together with his wife, Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa, and popularised opera in Britain and America, performing standard repertory in English, as well as operas by English composers.
Alfred Cellier was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor.
The German Reed Entertainments were founded in 1855 and operated by Thomas German Reed (1817–1888) together with his wife, Priscilla German Reed (1818–1895). At a time when the theatre in London was seen as a disreputable place, the German Reed family provided family-friendly entertainments for forty years, showing that respectable theatre could be popular.
A Sensation Novel is a comic musical play in three acts written by the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, with music composed by Thomas German Reed. It was first performed on 31 January 1871 at the Royal Gallery of Illustration. Only four of German Reed's songs survive. Nearly 25 years later, the music was rewritten and published by Florian Pascal. The story concerns an author suffering from writer's block who finds that the characters in his novel are dissatisfied.
Thomas German Reed, known after 1844 as simply German Reed was an English composer, musical director, actor, singer and theatrical manager of the Victorian era. He was best known for creating the German Reed Entertainments, together with his actress wife, a genre of musical plays that made theatre-going respectable at a time when the stage was considered disreputable.
Ages Ago, sometimes stylised as Ages Ago! or Ages Ago!!, is a musical entertainment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Frederic Clay that premiered on 22 November 1869 at the Royal Gallery of Illustration. It marked the beginning of a seven-year collaboration between Gilbert and Clay. The piece was a critical and popular success and was revived many times, including at St. George's Hall, London in 1870 and 1874, and in New York in 1880.
No Cards is a "musical piece in one act" for four characters, written by W. S. Gilbert, with music composed and arranged by Thomas German Reed. It was first produced at the Royal Gallery of Illustration, Lower Regent Street, London, under the management of German Reed, opening on 29 March 1869 and closing on 21 November 1869. The work is a domestic farce of mistaken identities and inept disguises, as two men desperately compete to marry a wealthy young lady. One is young and poor, and the other is a rich miser. Each disguises himself as her guardian.
This is a selected list of W. S. Gilbert's works, including all that have their own Wikipedia articles. For a complete list of Gilbert's dramatic works, see List of W. S. Gilbert dramatic works.
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most famous of these include H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre, The Mikado. The popularity of these works was supported for over a century by year-round performances of them, in Britain and abroad, by the repertory company that Gilbert, Sullivan and their producer Richard D'Oyly Carte founded, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. These Savoy operas are still frequently performed in the English-speaking world and beyond.
Harlequin and the Fairy's Dilemma, retitled The Fairy's Dilemma shortly after the play opened, is a play in two acts by W. S. Gilbert that parodies the harlequinade that concluded 19th-century pantomimes.
The Gentleman in Black is a two-act comic opera written in 1870 with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Frederic Clay. The "musical comedietta" opened at the Charing Cross Theatre on 26 May 1870. It played for 26 performances, until the theatre closed at the end of the season. The plot involves body-switching, facilitated by the magical title character. It also involves two devices that Gilbert would re-use: baby-switching and a calendar oddity.
The Fortune Hunter is a drama in three acts by W. S. Gilbert. The piece concerns an heiress who loses her fortune. Her shallow husband sues to annul the marriage, leaving her pregnant and taking up with a wealthy former lover. The piece was produced on tour in Britain in 1897, never playing in London.
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its popular companion piece, Jacques Offenbach's La Périchole. The story concerns a "breach of promise of marriage" lawsuit in which the judge and legal system are the objects of lighthearted satire. Gilbert based the libretto of Trial by Jury on an operetta parody that he had written in 1868.
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