In Praise of Gilbert and Sullivan

This week, I’ve been up to my elbows in Gilbert and Sullivan. My youngest son is producing an abridged version of Pirates of Penzance in the park. And I’ve been helping with shortening some of the songs. It’s a fun exercise to be spending so much time with the Victorian era geniuses who revitalized British theatre and laid a solid foundation for what would later become the Broadway musical. 

It’s been fun to discover that they were innovators who noticed that the theatres of their time were neglecting a vital market: families. In the words of a contemporary, “stilted tragedy and vulgar farce were all the would-be playgoer had to choose from, and the theatre had become a place of evil repute to the righteous British householder.”

A German Reed "Entertainment"

Early in his career, William Gilbert was taken under the wing of Thomas and Priscilla German Reed, who had launched a 500-seat theatre (which they called a “Gallery of Illustration” because “theatre” had such a bad reputation) to put on “entertainments” including music, character sketches, and even some mini operas that were intelligent, humorous and appropriate for even innocent young women. 

Arthur Sullivan was a rising classical composer who supplemented his income by writing parlour ballads and hymns. He’d written a ballet, a symphony, a concerto and a concert overture before he and Gilbert were commissioned to write an operatic extravaganza together in 1871. Sullivan wanted to write grand operas and oratorios. But the collaboration led to a partnership that lasted almost two decades, produced 14 operettas, transformed the British stage, and fathered what would later become the modern musical. Their witty work has inspired not just librettists and composers, but also politicians, comics, and novelists, and others ever since.

Sullivan (L) and Gilbert (R)

So, I’m leaning hard on Gilbert and Sullivan for a little bit of fun. Here’s a very brief summary of the information from my last two newsletters, to be sung to the tune of “A Modern Major General,” a song that apparently poked fun at Sir Garnet Wolseley, who was a popular general. Sir Wolseley didn’t seem to mind, but privately sang the song for his family and friends. 

Gilbert's illustration of his "Modern Major General"

There is a basic model for a classic Broadway musical

That more or less applies to even modern shows like Seussical

With reasons for each type of song and why they show up when they do

Pay very close attention, and I will explain it all to you

The opening numbers set the stage and introduce the world we’re in,

They give us all the context needed for the action to begin. 

Yes, Curly did a solo but, in truth, to make it optimal

Some tension is a bonus and the overture is optional 

What’s next? We need to care about our hero and the quest they’re on.

That’s why we get the glimpse into their heart that’s called an “I Want” song. 

And if the thing they’re longing for’s enduring love that they can trust,

A song that shows they are, but claims they’re not at all, in love’s a must. 

Now we need a booming song that makes our calming heart rates race,

And then? Well, it depends upon our story and the stakes we face,

Perhaps we’ll get a villain song, a sub-plot, or a rival’s air.

With roller-coaster ups and downs that give us hope and then despair. 

Another rousing number’s next to keep us firmly in our seats.

Let’s watch the whole cast dancing, maybe doing acrobatic feats, 

Then, wait! The dream we thought was almost in our grasp is cruelly nixed,

The world tilts, the curtain falls, and we will stay to see this fixed. 

The curtains up, with song or dance that pulls us back into the plot, 

It’s often light, to contrast with the previous song that sure was not. 

Next we get a change of pace, a novel sound, a small surprise

The hero changes just a bit, the story shifts before our eyes. 

Then, all the plots are winding up and heading to some shared event. 

Suddenly they’re face to face, the sound explodes, the air is rent. 

The bait was set, the trap was sprung, the moment we’ve been waiting for

Is dancing out upon the stage. It’s not the end. Just wait, there’s more. 

At last, we get a quiet scene, it may not even have a song,

But puts to rest the central questions we’ve been asking all along.

And now, it’s time for one last song, triumphant, plaintive, or resigned. 

We’re on our feet applauding, because that’s the way it was designed.

And that’s the basic model of a classic Broadway musical 

That more or less applies to even modern shows like Seussical. 

A pattern to engage the senses, visual and acoustical,

And make us all devotees of the entertaining musical 

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