I find it extremely self centered when anyone expresses shock that another hasn’t heard of some bit of knowledge or pop culture that they hold dear. It’s also no way to fight ignorance. “Wow, you’ve never heard of …!” is just rude.
Besides, this is a first year theater student who, since this is November, has been at it what? Three months? She’s probably 19 years old and hasn’t been exposed to over-rated Victorian crap yet.
You know, cultural barabarian that I am, I have minimal interest in either musicals or musical theatre.
But I love that film :). Just a splendid piece of work.
Cultural literacy. I have no interest in baseball, but I know who Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were. I have no interest in opera, but I know who Maria Callas and Enrico Caruso were.
I’m not horrified or angry, mind you; I’ve been dealing for *decades *with people not knowing what the hell I am talking about.
Has she never heard of G&S, or does she just not realize that she’s heard of them? Does the quote “I have a little list” mean anything to her? Does she recognize the tune of the Major General Song?
You may be right – their music may be familiar even though they don’t know the name or origin.
I was in my 30s before I actually saw G&S performed. The first time I saw The Mikado was only ten years ago, where I saw Itzhak Perlman in the title role.
I remember many years ago I was talking to an attractive young lady. I mentioned my fondness for G&S. She also mentioned liking his songs.
His?
After several minutes talking at cross purposes, confusing the hell out of each other, I realised that she liked Gilbert O’Sullivan. And had never heard of the originals.
I wasn’t being rude,by being surprised, just, you know, surprised! She’s a bright young lady, and has been in a number of plays and musicals in high school. It’s just that the music is so pervasive in our culture I figured she would know of them. Heck, John Wayne sang a line out of “Tit Willow” in The Shootist!
I mentioned in another thread seeing a production of The Mikado about a year and a half ago, at Washburn University here in Topeka, Kansas. Topeka, as you may or may not know, is the city the Westboro Baptist Church hides under their rock in.
During the show one song got a rousing cheer from the audience. It was “I’ve Got a Little List” As often is done the song was updated with current cultural references, like people who talk on cell phones in the theater. But this was the best… “And those that walk Topeka streets with signs that hate insist/ I"ve got them on my list/ They never will be missed.”
That made my day. (And I didn’t need the colored type.)
We had a thread similar to this once and the winner was somebody met someone who didn’t know who Hitler was.
Not to worry- His teeth, I’ve enacted, will all be extracted by terrified amateurs.
She was likely born in the early 1990s. Cut her some slack. I’m 34, a US native with exposure to music, composers, and theater in school, and I barely am familiar with these references.
Nice one! 
Topsy Turvy was a great film. My father was a great G&S fan and he volunteered to help our 4H club compete in theater competitions if we would do G&S plays. Thus, we always did G&S plays.
When Topsy Turvy came out, I was the youngest person in the theater watching it. When it appeared on video, I sent a copy to Dad. He wore the tape out watching that movie over and over.
Good memories. Thanks.
I confess, I have no idea what The Mikado is or how even to pronounce it. I do know G&S, though…although just barely. Tom Lehrer’s Elements Song is based on a G&S tune, isn’t it?
The Mikado is a great production. My favorite part is where Chevy Chase shoots the giant albino, whose corpse gets caught in the ropes and lowers the rigging of the HMS Pinafore onto the stage…
Yes. The Major General’s Song, from The Pirates of Penzance.
(Assuming this isn’t a whoosh) Is there another Itzhak Perlman??? :eek:
Oh, and am I only person here who has seen *The Mikado *performed in Yiddish?
I’d say knowledge of, at the very least, existence of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan is nearly up there with the works of Shakespeare. I mean, Family Guy referenced it!
As a G & S fan, I’d like to feign outrage, but the reality is, in this day and age, there’s so MUCH culture (high and low, brilliant AND trashy) that we can’t expect people to be familiar with all of it.
There’s been so much music from so many artists in just the past decade that NOBODY could hope to keep up with it all. Even a very well-rounded musician with catholic tastes is BOUND to be completely unfamiliar with artists that some of us venerate.
It really isn’t. “Pervasive” would suggest that a person virtually cannot avoid hearing it. Where would a person around the age of, say, 27 have encountered the music of Gilbert & Sullivan other than through family or friends who are fans?
BTW, I’ve never seen or heard of the movie “The Shootist.” I’m 36. I was 1 when it was released. “Periodic Table iof the Elements” came out in 1959. Can you think of a G&S reference in popular culture less than 30 years old?
Just because you like it doesn’t make it universal or even mainstream. I would not call G&S mainstream in the general populace in this day and age. There is no way they are even close to an equal footing with Shakespeare in terms of recognition in the popular mind. The “average” person could at least briefly explain what “Romeo and Juliet” is about. Is there ANY G&S play that the average high school graduate could describe in even the briefest terms? I would say no.
Outside of colleges and community theatres, the aren’t terribly present.
Other than the occasional Modern Major General reference and one particular episode of The Simpsons, I don’t hear about them much.