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5 Complete Operas
During their long and successful partnership, William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan collaborated on fourteen operas, many of which are still regularly performed throughout the English speaking world today.
The most successful of their ‘Savoy’ operas, The Mikado made fun of English bureaucracy, thinly disguised by its
Japanese setting. Enjoying over 650 performances at the Savoy Theatre, this work remains their most frequently
performed work, and has been translated into numerous languages.
(Anne-Maree Mcdonald, Graeme Ewer, Heather Begg, Peter Cousens, Gregory Yurisich, The Australian Opera Chorus,
The Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra / Andrew Greene)
HMS Pinafore was Gilbert & Sullivan’s first international hit, satirising the rise of unqualified people to positions of
authority, and poking good-natured fun at the English obsession with social status. As with many of their operas, a
surprise twist at the end of the story turned the drama on its head.
(Anthony Warlow, David Hobson, Colette Mann, John Bolton Wood, Tiffany Speight, Ali McGregor, Roxane Hislop,
Richard Alexander, Opera Australia Chorus, Orchestra Victoria / Andrew Greene)
Composed in a matter of weeks, Trial by Jury pokes humorous fun at the law and the legal profession, based on
Gilbert’s own experiences as a barrister. The outrageous antics of the characters led to the work being the toast of
London, and was a runaway success.
Patience satirises the colourful poets of the aesthetic movement including Oscar Wilde, and also lampoons male vanity
and chauvinism in the military. The story concerns two rival “aesthetic” poets, each of whom is in love with Patience,
the village milkmaid.
(Christine Douglas, Heather Begg, Anthony Warlow, Dennis Olsen, The Elizabethan Philharmonic Orchestra / David
Stanhope)
The last of Gilbert & Sullivan’s great successes, The Gondoliers, takes place partly in Venice and partly in the kingdom
of Barataria. The lilting score contains some of their most sparkling and tuneful music, and plenty of dancing.
(David Hobson, Roger Lemke, Suzanne Johnson, Christine Douglas, Robert Gard, Graeme Ewer,
The Australian Opera Chorus, The Elizabethan Philharmonic Orchestra / Dobbs Franks)