10 Gilbert and Sullivan operettas

I'm not in the main an opera fan, as I find the stories a little trite, although the music can ofttimes be fantastic. Gilbert and Sullivan operettas though, are quite interesting, as I particularly enjoy the plotting and the stories in addition to the music. Gilbert and Sullivan put their characters into situations quite difficult to get out of, unless they applied a little logical reasoning. Some of the resolutions are fairly funny, as well as intriguing. So I'm going to share the plots of 10 operettas (Gilbert and Sullivan only wrote 14 or 15, if you count the lost one, Thespis).

1. Ruddigore

Ruddigore tells the story of the Murgatroyd family, the baron of whom, due to the indiscretions of an ancestor, is cursed to commit a crime each day, or die a horrible death. All previous barons have eventually succumbed. Through various shenanigans, a reluctant heir takes up the baronetcy, and has to face his curse. After experimenting with committing silly crimes (e.g. forging his own will) he has a bright idea, and reasons that if he were to intentionally not commit a crime, he would be attempting suicide. Since that is a crime in itself, he is therefore fulfilling the conditions of the curse, and all his ancestors need never have died.

2. The Pirates of Penzance

This one is slightly confusing. Frederic, an orphan pirate boy, is nearing the end of his apprenticeship as a pirate, which finishes on his 21st birthday. He happens upon some young women and captures them, but releases them when their father, the Major-General, pleads with him, for he has no family except the girls. This is a lie, and the Major-General wrestles with his conscience while the police attempt to capture the pirates. Frederic then discovers that since he was born on 29 February, his 21st birthday does not occur until he is in his eighties, and that he is to be a pirate all his life. The police burst in but the Major-General and the women plead for the pirates. Asked to yield in the name of the queen, the pirates do so, and are pardoned, for they are orphan noblemen one and all.

3. The Sorceror

Isaac Asimov wrote a short story with the premise that this particular operetta should have had a different ending. A sorceror arrives in a village where a young couple are to be married, and brews a batch of love potion which works on everyone except married people. A series of mishaps ensue, which culminates in the bride falling in love with the vicar, the vicar in love with someone else, and so on. The distraught groom appeals to the sorceror, who reveals that either the groom or the sorceror will have to die. In the end, it is the sorceror who chooses to die, and all is then well. A better resolution of the paradox would have been to have everyone marry, and the ones not already in love would then be free from the effects of the potion, and could then get divorced and pair off again.

4. The Mikado

This is an operetta about love, set in Japan. Nanki-Poo, a prince in disguise, wants to marry Yum-Yum, ward of Ko-Ko, Lord High Executioner of Titipu. He almost succeeds, when Ko-Ko decides that he needs to forge Nanki-Poo's death to avoid being sacked as Lord High Executioner (for not executing anyone). So Ko-Ko reports to the Mikado that Nanki-Poo has been executed. Unfortunately, Nanki-Poo is the son of the Mikado, and his betrothed at court, elderly Katisha, is distraught at his execution. How to resolve this? Why everyone pairs off - Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum, and Ko-Ko and Katisha, and everything is right as rain again.

5. HMS Pinafore

A love story, based on class distinctions. Josephine is in love with Ralph, a common sea hand, but is due to marry Sir Joseph, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Ralph serves on the HMS Pinafore under the command of Captain Corcoran. The marriage cannot happen, for Ralph is of common stock. In the end, Little Buttercup, a "bumboat woman", confesses that years before, she had 2 charges, a commoner and a patrician. She mixed them up, and Ralph was the patrician that became a sailor and Captain Corcoran was the commoner who became a captain. The two men swap uniforms, and Captain Ralph is free to marry Josephine.

6. The Gondoliers

This one cheats a little when it comes to the resolution of the impasse. Two humble Venetian gondoliers choose two women and happily get married. At the same time, a princess arrives in Venice, married to the king of Baratravia as a child, but secretly in love with her drummer boy. It transpires that one of the gondoliers is the king of Baratravia, raised incognito when he was a little boy by the Venetian Grand Inquisitor, who got him from his wet nurse. Unfortunately he, whichever gondolier he is, is a bigamist. It is all resolved when the wet nurse appears, and announces that she raised the prince herself, giving him over eventually to service with a royal family as - you guessed it - a drummer boy.

7. Utopia, Limited

This one is quite clever, satirically speaking. King Paramount of Utopia sends his daughter, Zara, to Cambridge University to learn civilised behaviour. He does this against the wishes of 2 wise men, Scaphio and Phantis, who with the Public Exploder, have power over the king's life. Zara returns with 5 gentlemen, and together they recommend that Utopia be turned into a limited liability company. It is a great success. Scaphio, Phantis and the Public Exploder are furious at the threat to their power, but they cannot blow up a limited liability company. Instead, they convince the people of Utopia that unemployment is high - sanitation is so good that doctors have no work, there is no war so soldiers are jobless etc. Zara then decides that government by party is best. 2 parties will stymie each other so much that no progress is possible. Scaphio and Phantis are thrown into prison and everyone rejoices.

8. Iolanthe

Iolanthe, a fairy, has incurred the punishment of banishment from Faerie for marrying a mortal and having a son. The other fairies miss her, and petition the Faerie Queen to allow her back. When they meet her, they find that her son, Strephon, has grown, and is in love with Phyllis, a mortal, but is unable to marry her because the Lord Chancellor has forbade it. Phyllis bumps into Iolanthe, and because she is immortal and young looking, jumps to the conclusion that Strephon is having an affair, and chooses instead to marry one of the peers of the realm. The fairies try to help Strephon, and end up making him leader of both parties in the House of Peers. In the meantime, the fairies decide that the peers of the realm are quite attractive. Iolanthe also discovers that the Lord Chancellor is her long lost husband, and decides to marry him again. The Faerie Queen condemns her to death, only to discover that all the other faeries have married peers. She therefore changes faerie legislation to avoid killing all the faeries.

9. Patience

Bunthorne, an ascetic poet, is in love with Patience, but she loves Grosvenor, another ascetic poet. Both of them have lots of female admirers. Patience decides that she cannot marry Grosvenor, because he is so perfect that to marry him would be a selfish act. She offers herself to Bunthorne instead, who accepts happily. Later though, Patience confesses that she still loves Grosvenor instead. Bunthorne, furious, threatens Grosvenor unless he renounces ascetism and becomes an ordinary young man. Grosvenor does, but then Patience decides that it wouldn't be so selfish to marry him after all, and does. Bunthorne is left alone.

10. Trial by Jury

This one is relatively easy to resolve. Edwin is in love with someone other than his bride Angelina, and is prosecuted in the court of the Exchequer, by jury. Everyone's sympathies lie with the beautiful Angelina. The jury finds in her favour, and she asks for large damages, as Edwin's love was worth much to her. Edwin retorts that he is a drunk and a scoundrel, and that the damages should therefore be small, as he is no big loss to her. Given the impasse, the judge announces that he will marry Angelina, and everyone goes away happy.


I've only seen the Mikado so far. Many of these operettas are not performed often, the exceptions being the Mikado, the Pirates of Penzance, and probably the Gondoliers. Still, once in a long while, one may come along. Hopefully it will be Ruddigore or Utopia, Limited.