Product Description

The comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan are a performing arts phenomenon. Wildly popular when first produced, they are if anything even more popular today. The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan provides the complete text of all thirteen of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas still being performed today, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado. Each work is thoroughly annotated, with the text, including stage directions, given on the right-hand page, and the notes on the left. The annotations provide a wealth of information--everything from the identity of real-life people mentioned in the opera, to clear explanations of obscure words and phrases (such as legal terms) and other literary references, to comments from first-night critics, and much more. In addition, Bradley has written a marvelously informative introduction to the book as well as superb introductions to each piece, describing the genesis of the work, its performance history, and other fascinating tidbits. A goldmine of information, The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan will delight the hearts of Savoyards everywhere.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72372 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1214 pages

Amazon.com Review
Gilbert and Sullivan, librettist and composer, were classically Victorian gentlemen whose comic operas for the Savoy Theater under impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte have endured down to the present day despite the disappearance of the British imperial world which they lampooned. Theirs was a happy combination of Sullivan's cheerily catchy tunes and Gilbert's witty lyrics which captured the comedy of universal human nature. Ian Bradley, annotator of an earlier Gilbert and Sullivan collection, completes and updates the record with the inclusion here of the last collaborations of the two, and new introductions to the operettas that reflect modern interpretations.

From Library Journal
Lovers of Gilbert and Sullivan will be in heaven with the publication of these two books, which nicely complement each other. Stedman (English, Roosevelt Univ., Chicago) offers an outstanding study of this playwright and his often overlooked works, with much of its value deriving from its study of Gilbert without Sullivan. The author is a recognized expert on Gilbert as well as the Victorian time period, and she shows him to be a complex and interesting man who often found himself at odds with his time. Stedman highlights his contribution to Victorian theater as a forerunner of Wilde and Shaw. She also exposes some of the myths about Gilbert (and his relationship with Sullivan) that have been perpetrated by earlier writers. The index and bibliography are excellent. The annotated collection serves a dual purpose: Readers can now sing along with any Gilbert and Sullivan song and know all the words, and they will understand everything the song was meant to convey. This volume combines two previously published paperbacks from Penguin and adds the libretti to The Grand Duke and Utopia Limited. All notes are on the left page, and the actual song texts (complete with stage directions) are on the facing right page. There are also new introductions to each opera, a new introduction to the volume, and corrections to the original text. Print and text layout are very good. Both titles are recommended for public and academic libraries, as well as libraries with theater holdings.?Susan L. Peters, Emory Univ., Atlanta, Ga.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
There are books to be devoured in a day, books to ponder, books to sample again and again. The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan, a treasury of nostalgia and "innocent merriment," belongs to the last category. -- The New York Times Book Review, Margot Peters

Customer Reviews

The "only G&S text you will ever need"
Although I hate that expression (see above), I must admit it applies totally to this marvelous edition. Granted that if you listen to Gilbert & Sullivan, you will want to follow the words--which are not always provided with many recordings nowadays. Then given the words, you will also want to know the meanings of most of Gilbert's more esoteric words ("Daphnephoric"), or simple words that have lost or changed their meanings since Gilbert's day ("Be firm, my pecker"!), or references to people (Captain Shaw), places (Basingstoke), or even objects (Parliamentary trains). Then too, the complete G&S nut will want to see the original versions of some of the songs and certainly the texts to songs that were cut just after opening night or even during rehearsals. In fact, I still have a lot of fun just looking at the left-hand pages to brush up on my G&S trivia. So while this book sells at twice the price of other collections of the "Savoy" plays, it gives twice as much and should be as welcome as the flowers that bloom in the Spring.

May be the only G&S reference you'll ever need.
This contains all the Gilbert & Sullivan librettos (excepting Thespis, the only opera whose music has not survived), complete with exhaustive notes, anecdotes and text varients by enthusiastic fan and scholar Ian Bradley. I found Bradley's introductory essays on each of the operas especially informative and rewarding, and the convenient layout of the libretto-on-the-right,-notes-on-the-left is a perfect format for this project as it saves the reader the trouble of constant page-turning. Utopia Limited and The Grand Duke are given somewhat briefer treatment, but these operas have been performed far less than the others (though nowadays it seems inexplicable, and Utopia Limited is my second-favorite of the Canon). I only wish Thespis had been included, as well as some more information about the original casts. For example, I would like to know why George Grossmith did not appear in the Gondoliers. Anyway, this is probably the most complete treatment Gilbert and Sullivan are likely to receive for some time, and it is certainly one of the most enthralling.

Best guide available to Gilbert & Sullivan

Occupying that middle area between musicals and grand opera, the works of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan are showing their age to the point where this invaluable guide can become an invaluable, addictive pleasure.

While their stories and music are lighthearted and accessible, the Victorian events and personalities that infuse the lyrics do need some explanation, and Ian Bradley s guide is the place to look.

The book itself offers additional pleasure, since Oxford University Press decided to print the complete libretto of all 13 operas on the right-hand page, leaving the left-hand pages free for Bradley's footnotes. This saves an enormous amount of page-flipping.

Bradley' footnotes cover a wide range of knowledge. They clear up obscure references, offer alternative line readings, give advice from actors, comment on stage business, describe who the major characters were modeled on and even add songs that were dropped from the production.

Bradley also uses this opportunity to discuss Gilbert and Sullivan s solo works, and how they were sometimes cannibalized for use in their collaborations.

Each work is prefaced with a short introduction describing the conditions under which they were created. While Gilbert and Sullivan were known to be at loggerheads through most of their collaboration, it is amazing to realize that the popularity of their operas did not reflect their distate for the work. This is particularly true in Sullivan s case; he always thought of himself as a musician first, and resented having to bend his music to fit Gilbert s words.

"The Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan" is a must for any fan of the Savoy Operas, and recommended for those just starting to discover the delights of comic opera's pirates, policemen and peers.