Missed Sal Ammoniac’s post – but I think mine has the right lyrics. Read them in a collection of G&S librettos annotated by Isaac Asimov.
I’ve gotten a bit of mileage out of my Pirates of Penzance DVD (the one with Kevin Klein and Linda Ronstadt in it–the live performance, not the actual movie, which wasn’t as good) in recent years due to the “pirate craze”. Great stuff–people are always a bit startled at how damn funny it is. I think a lot of people immediately equate “Victorian” with “stuffy” and “boring”.
Ah, well. Now that I have a thread to bug you guys in (and I’m too damn lazy to start my own)…
If I were looking to expand my collection of G&S plays, where would be a good place to start? I’ve heard mixed reviews of the widely available BBC versions. I personally lean towards recordings of live performances, since they usually tend to feel less “canned”.
Only when the director told me it was a requirement for the role. 
“There is grandeur in the growling of the gale…”
anyrose, for years I have loved you with a white-hot passion that is slowly but surely consuming my very vitals! Ah, shrink not from me!
As anyrose correctly stated, G&S became permanently associated with the name “Savoy” when the Savoy Theater was built specifically for them in London through the efforts of their impresario, Richard D’Oyly Carte. Completed in 1881, it occupied a site that had formerly been the location of the Palace of Savoy. Henceforth, the technical category to which Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations should be assigned is called “Savoy opera”, and devotees or habitual performers of the works are called Savoyards.
It is indeed traditional to update lyrics of certain patter songs in the G&S canon. Part of this is, as mentioned, due to the inclusion of words and references no longer considered to be in good taste for a lighthearted operetta. But there is another factor at work. Much of Gilbert’s satire is targeted at persons or institutions that were easily familiar to the Londoners of the time, but obscure at best and often incomprehensible to modern audiences. Remember that this was, at its own time, local humor. Gilbert himself authorized occasional rewrites of verses when his works were revived, knowing that the use of dated references would detract from the potency of his wit.
As an example, during Act II of Iolanthe, the Fairy Queen sings a heartfelt appeal to someone named Captain Shaw, begging him to quench the fires of her passion. Captain Shaw was, of course, the actual name of the chief of the London Fire Brigade…and was in attendence at the opera’s premier. History does not record what he made of this instant of immortality. Keeping the lyrics to this song intact in a modern performance may please the purists, but will confuse everybody else.
Any connection to the Savoy Hotel?
One possible obstacle to any modern G&S revival: Many Americans (including some of my acquaintance, I have no doubt) would view a single scene and react with: “You gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’ me! That shit’s fuckin’ GAY!”
rats - I only remember the music, nto the dialogue - I was 13 when I played Katishaw :o
I used to be the resident makeup artist with a local Savoyards group for a couple years, if that counts. Working behind the scenes was fun.
Yes. They’re neighbours. Both were built by Richard D’Oyly Carte (the theatre first, followed by the hotel).
My sister and I grew up immersed in G&S. Our parents met in the chorus of a college production of Ruddigore, so you might say I owe my life to Gilbert and Sullivan.
Mom and Dad were members of Baltimore’s Comic Opera Society (which performed G&S exclusively) for about a quarter of a century. My father has directed or performed in every one of the operettas, and directed the U.S. premiere of Thespis in the early 1960s. (I played Cupid in that production, and the Lord High Drummer Boy in The Gondoliers around the same time.)
So I have more than a passing familiarity with most of the operettas, and enjoy them when I occasionally attend performances (once or twice a decade). But I don’t have anything close to the all-consuming passion or encyclopaedic knowledge of the works and their creators that my father possesses.
[slight hijack]
Roderick Femm: The producer (not director) of largest number of Goon Shows was Peter Eton. Later producers included Pat Dixon and Charles Chilton.
To date the BBC has released 22 four-show CD sets of Goon Shows. So 88 of the 156 total extant shows are now commercially available. If you didn’t like the ones in the set you happened to buy, keep trying. Unless your sense of humor has been atrophying, you will find some hilarious ones.
You may also want to check out the U.S. Goon Show Archives, run by my friend, Dick Baker.
And if there’s a Goon Show thread somewhere on SDMB, I’ll meet you there.
[/slight hijack]
True enough, but you know what they say about casting one’s pearls before swine…
Ah. Presumably not a Snarfquest fan, then. 
I have the unique distinction of presenting two G&S “firsts.”
In 2002, the first ever opera performed at a science fiction convention (Trial by Jury, at Arisia) was conducted by me.
In 2004, the world premier of the latest version of Thespis was not only conducted by me, but orchestrated by me as well.
Oh, and the MIT Gilbert and Sullivan Players have never performed The Gondoliers with anyone but me as music director.
:smack:
It’s been a loooooooong week.
And you’re only the second person in two years to catch the reference (or at least to bring it up).
I doff my humble patter-baritone’s cap to you, sirrah. Whence, may I ask, came the score for your production of Thespis? Did it consist of other Sullivan tunes reworked for the libretto, or entirely new compositions in Sullivan’s style?
And Gondoliers is my very favorite (at least musically). Last month at my job I processed a set of documents belonging to someone from Italy whose surname actually was Palmieri. Nobody in my office could understand why I thought the name was a source of amusement.
Hey, I saw that show. Good stuff.
Or of innocent merriment?
Oh hell no! I looked at the score for that and rejected it as a choice immediately. We ended up finding a guy, Colin Johnson, who wrote a score for it back in the 50s. He was stationed in Beiruit back then, and during blackouts he would compose. He then put it away for decades, having never heard it. He then found some software that would let him hear it, and he put the files up on the 'Net. When we asked him if we could use it, he said yes. But it was all piano music, and he was inexperienced with orchestral music. So I orchestrated it, and we gave it its world premier in April '04.
So after about 60 years, Colin got to hear his score. Since he hasn’t contacted me about it, I can only assume that he was disappointed. But I thought it was quite good, and it got some critical acclaim. I’m very proud of it.
Betcha it never gets played again, though.
Really? Wow, cool!
So what did you think of our alternate opening, where the bailiff was singing “Silence in court” to an empty court? Surreal, eh?