The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198167105 ISBN 13: 9780198167105

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2005

Synopsis

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.

About this title

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.

About the Author:

Ian Bradley is one of the world's leading authorities on Gilbert and Sullivan, the editor of a previous annotated edition of the Savoy Operas, and a consultant to the D'Oyly Carte Company on historical matters.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0198167105
• ISBN 13: 9780198167105
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 1214
• Editor: Bradley Ian