The Complete Gilbert and Sullivan

Gilbert and Sullivan's operas are some of the world's best-loved musical works, delighting audiences with their joyous wit, topsy-turvy logic and extravagant wordplay. This glorious treasury is the definitive annotated edition of all fourteen of their operas. From the partially lost work "Thespis", the first collaboration between W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, through the triumphant comic romps "The Pirates of Penzance" and "The Mikado", to lesser-performed gems such as the fanciful "The Sorcerer" and the acerbic lampoon "Patience", Gilbert's libretti are collected here in their most accurate and faithful form. There is a fascinating commentary on each work, telling the extraordinary stories behind the inspiration for the opera and its performance history, and giving plot summaries and original cast lists. Also containing original illustrations from Gilbert's "Bab Ballads", as well as extensive notes for every work, this ultimate Gilbert and Sullivan collection will delight all devotees of the incomparable duo.

Playwright/lyricist William S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and composer Arthur S. Sullivan (1842-1900) defined operetta or comic operas in Victorian England with a series of their internationally successful and timeless works known as the Savoy Operas.

Ed Glinert was born in Dalston, London, and read Classical Hebrew at Manchester University. In 1983 he set up City Life, Manchester's listings magazine, and he has since worked for Radio Times, Private Eye and Mojo. He is the co-author of Fodor's Rock & Roll Traveler USA and Fodor's Rock & Roll Traveler Great Britain and Ireland, and recently edited The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith, and annotated two volumes of Sherlock Holmes stories, all for Penguin Classics. 

The author of The Literary Guide to London, The London Compendium, East End Chronicles, and West End Chronicles, he writes a regular column for Time Out on the streets of London and leads a variety of walks for a major London walking tours company.

Mike Leigh has developed a unique method of creating films through controlled improvisations. After his debut Bleak Moments (1971) he made a succession of admired TV plays, including Abigail's Party and Nuts in May. He then returned to feature films: High Hopes (1988), Life is Sweet (1990), Naked (1993). Secrets and Lies won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1996. Topsy-Turvy (1999) won two Oscars.