Cultural influence of Gilbert and Sullivan
Encyclopedia
In the past 125 years, Gilbert and Sullivan
have pervasively influenced popular culture
in the English-speaking world
. Lines and quotations from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas have become part of the English language, such as "short, sharp shock
", "What never? Well, hardly ever!", "let the punishment fit the crime", and "A policeman's lot is not a happy one".
The Savoy operas heavily influenced the course of the development of modern musical theatre
. They have also influenced political style and discourse, literature, film and television and advertising, and have been widely parodied by humorists. Because they are well-known, and convey a distinct sense of Britishness
(or even Victorian
Britishness), and because they are in the public domain
, songs from the operas appear "in the background" in many movies and television shows.
The operas have so pervaded Western culture that events from the "lives" of their characters from the operas are memorialized by major news outlets. For instance, a New York Times article on 29 February 1940, noted that Frederic, from The Pirates of Penzance
, was finally out of his indentures (having reached his 21st birthday, as described in that opera).
owes a tremendous debt to Gilbert and Sullivan, who introduced innovations in content and form that directly influenced the development of musical theatre
through the 20th century. According to theatre historian John Bush Jones, Gilbert and Sullivan were "the primary progenitors of the twentieth century American musical" in which book, music and lyrics combine to form an integrated whole, and they demonstrated "that musicals can address contemporary social and political issues without sacrificing entertainment value".
Gilbert's complex rhyme schemes and satirical lyrics served as a model for Edwardian musical comedy
writers such as Adrian Ross
and Owen Hall
, and for such 20th century Broadway
lyricists as P. G. Wodehouse
, Cole Porter
, Ira Gershwin
, Yip Harburg
, Lorenz Hart
and Oscar Hammerstein II
. Even some of the plot elements from G&S operas entered subsequent musicals; for example, 1937's Me and My Girl
features a portrait gallery of ancestors that, like the portraits in Ruddigore
, come alive to remind their descendant of his duty. Johnny Mercer
said, "We all come from Gilbert." Alan Jay Lerner
wrote that it was Gilbert who "raised lyric writing from a serviceable craft to a legitimate popular art form," and Stephen Sondheim
included a homage to Gilbert in his Pacific Overtures
(1976) song "Please Hello". Yip Harburg said, "Perhaps my first great literary idol was W. S. Gilbert. ... Gilbert's satirical quality entranced us [Harburg and Ira Gershwin] – his use of rhyme and meter, his light touch, the marvelous way his words blended with Sullivan's music. A revelation!"
Sullivan was also admired and copied by early composers such as Ivan Caryll
, Lionel Monckton
, Victor Herbert
, George Gershwin
, Jerome Kern
, Ivor Novello
, and Andrew Lloyd Webber
.
Noel Coward
wrote:
According to theatre historian John Kenrick
, H.M.S. Pinafore
, in particular, "became an international sensation, reshaping the commercial theater in both England and the United States." Adaptations of The Mikado
, Pinafore and The Gondoliers
have played on Broadway or the West End, including The Hot Mikado
(1939; Hot Mikado
played in the West End in 1995), George S. Kaufman
's 1945 Hollywood Pinafore
, the 1975 animated film Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done
and, more recently,Gondoliers (2001; a Mafia-themed adaptation) and Pinafore Swing (2004), each of which was first produced at the Watermill Theatre
, in which the actors also served as the orchestra, playing the musical instruments. Shows that use G&S songs to tell the story of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership include a 1938 Broadway show, Knights of Song, and a 1975 West End show called Tarantara! Tarantara! Many other musicals parody or pastiche Pinafore in particular.
However, the influence of Gilbert and Sullivan on goes beyond musical theatre to comedy in general. According to Gilbert and Sullivan expert and enthusiast Ian Bradley
:
s, amateur actors were treated with contempt by professionals. After the formation of amateur Gilbert and Sullivan troupes in the 1880s licensed to perform the operas, professionals recognised that the amateur groups "support the culture of music and the drama. They are now accepted as useful training schools for the legitimate stage, and from the volunteer ranks have sprung many present-day favourites." Cellier and Bridgeman attributed the rise in quality and reputation of the amateur groups largely to "the popularity of, and infectious craze for performing, the Gilbert and Sullivan operas". The National Operatic and Dramatic Association
was founded in 1899. It reported, in 1914, that nearly 200 British amateur troupes were producing Gilbert and Sullivan operas that year. There continue to be hundreds of amateur groups or societies performing the Gilbert and Sullivan works worldwide.
It is not surprising, given the focus of Gilbert on politics, that politicians, cartoonists and political pundits have often found inspiration in these works. The phrase "A short, sharp shock
," from the Act I song "I am so proud" in The Mikado
, has been used in political manifestoes. Likewise "Let the punishment fit the crime," from the title character's Act II song, is particularly mentioned in the course of British political debates. Political humour based on Gilbert and Sullivan's style and characters continues to be written. In 1996, Virginia Bottomley, heritage secretary under John Major
, sent up Tony Blair
in a parody of "When I Was a Lad" from Pinafore.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist
, a lifelong fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, quoted lyrics from the operas in law cases, parodied the lyrics in his writings at the
Court, and added gold stripes to his judicial robes after seeing them used by the Lord Chancellor
in a production of Iolanthe
. The Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer
, on the other side of the Atlantic, objected so strongly to Iolanthe's comic portrayal of Lord Chancellors (like himself) that he supported moves to disband the office. British politicians, beyond quoting some of the more famous lines, have also delivered speeches in the form of Gilbert and Sullivan parodies. These include Conservative Peter Lilley
's pastiche
of "I've got a little list" from The Mikado
, listing those he was against, including "sponging socialists" and "young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing queue".
Other government references include postage stamps issued to memorialize the operas and various other uses by government entities. For instance, the arms granted to the municipal borough of Penzance
in 1934 contain a pirate dressed in Gilbert's original costuming, and Penzance had a rugby team called the Penzance Pirates, which is now called the Cornish Pirates
.
The law, judges, and lawyers are frequently subjects in the operas (Gilbert briefly practiced as a lawyer), and the operas have been quoted and otherwise mentioned in a large number of legal rulings and opinions. Some courts appear to reach approximately the same conclusions as Gilbert and Sullivan: "Where does this extraordinary situation leave the lower... Courts and State Courts in their required effort to apply the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States...? Like the policeman in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance
, their 'lot is not a happy one.'" A few refer to the law as shown in Gilbert and Sullivan as being archaic.
The pronouncements of the Lord Chancellor in "Iolanthe" appear to be a particular favourite in legal quotations. One U.S. Supreme Court case even discussed a contempt citation imposed on a pro se defendant who, among other conduct, compared the judge to something out of Gilbert and Sullivan. In May 2010, a parody version of the song was posted as an op-ed piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch
mocking actions of the Attorney General of Virginia
, Ken Cuccinelli
.
's "The Dark Side of the Moon
"). Likewise "Let the punishment fit the crime" is an often-used phrase in popular media. For instance, in episode 80 of the television series Magnum, P.I.
, entitled "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime," Higgins prepares to direct a selection of pieces from The Mikado to be staged at the Estate. The phrase and the Mikado's song also are featured in the Dad's Army
episode, "A Soldier's Farewell." In the movie The Parent Trap (1961) the camp director quotes the same phrase before sentencing the twins to the isolation cabin together.
The character of Pooh Bah in The Mikado, who holds numerous exalted offices, including "First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral... Archbishop of Titipu, and Lord Mayor" and Lord High Everything Else, has inspired the use of the term Pooh-Bah as a mocking title for someone self-important or high-ranking and who either exhibits an inflated self-regard or who has limited authority while taking impressive titles. The term "Grand Poobah" has been used on the television shows, including The Flintstones
and Happy Days
as the title of a high-ranking official in a men's club, spoofing clubs like the Freemasons
, the Shriners, and the Elks Club
.
's The Elements
, which consists of Lehrer's rhyming rendition of the names of all the chemical elements set to the music of the "Major-General's Song
" from Pirates. Lehrer also includes a verse parodying a G&S finale in his patchwork of stylistic creations Clementine ("full of words and music and signifying nothing", as Lehrer put it, thus parodying G&S and Shakespeare in the same sentence).
Comedian Allan Sherman
sang several parodies and pastiches of Gilbert and Sullivan songs in the 1960s, including:
Anna Russell
performed a parody
called "How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera." The Two Ronnies
' Gilbert and Sullivan parodies include their 1973 Christmas special. In addition, numerous G&S song parodies and other references to G&S are made in the animated TV series, Animaniacs
, such as the "HMS Yakko" episode, which includes its well-known parody of the Major-General's Song
, "I Am the Very Model of a Cartoon Individual", as well as pastiches of "With Cat Like Tread" (Pirates) and "I am the Captain of the Pinafore" and "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore" (H.M.S. Pinafore). Animaniacs also presented a version of "Three Little Maids" used as an audition piece in the episode Hello Nice Warners. Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
features four songs from The Pirates of Penzance and part of the overture to Princess Ida
. Other comedians have used Gilbert and Sullivan songs as a key part of their routines, including Hinge and Bracket
. From 1968 to 1978 Iain Kerr and Roy Cowen toured as "Goldberg & Solomon", including their two-man show, Gilbert & Sullivan Go Kosher, which they recorded.
News outlets continue to refer to the operas in news commentaries and to parody songs from the operas. Theatre parodies include a 1925 London Hippodrome revue
called Better Days included an extended one-act parody entitled, A "G. & S." Cocktail; or, A Mixed Savoy Grill, written by Lauri Wylie, with music by Herman Finck
and Sullivan. It was also broadcast by the BBC. It concerned a nightmare experienced by a D'Oyly Carte
tenor. Gilbert and Sullivan songs are sometimes used in popular music. The popular song, "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here
," is set to the tune of "With cat-like tread" from The Pirates of Penzance (in particular, the segment that starts, "Come, friends who plough the sea"). The musical group Peter, Paul and Mary
included the song, "I have a song to sing, O!" from The Yeomen of the Guard
on one of their children's albums, Peter, Paul and Mommy
(1969). In addition, the music has been used in musicals and other entertainments. For example, the song, "My eyes are fully open," (with some changed lyrics) is used in Papp's Broadway
production of The Pirates of Penzance
(1980–81), and the tune of the song is also used as "The Speed Test" in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002).
In The Producers
, a terrible auditioner for the musical Springtime for Hitler begins his audition with Nanki-Poo's song, "A Wand'ring Minstrel I." After only nine words, the director cuts him off abruptly, saying "THANK YOU!" In at least two episodes of Blackadder Goes Forth
, parts of "A Wand'ring Minstrel I" are played. "There Is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast" is performed by Richard Thompson and Judith Owen
on the album 1000 Years of Popular Music
. Thompson comments, "According to opera convention, it's not just the young folk who get married at the end – at least one set of wrinklies are required to get hitched as well." The movie poster for The Little Shop of Horrors
, shown to the right, parodies the song title, "The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring, tra la!" changing the word "bloom" to "kill".
References to "Three Little Maids":
References to "Tit-Willow" ("On a tree by a river"): Allan Sherman's parody is described above. In one of his appearances on The Dick Cavett
Show, Groucho Marx
and Cavett sang the song. Groucho interrupted at the line "...and if you remain callous and obdurate, I shall perish as he did..." to quiz the audience on the meaning of the word "obdurate". The song is featured in the 2003 TV movie And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself
. An episode of Perry Como
's TV show did a parody titled "Golf Widow". A Muppet Show season 1 episode (aired on November 22, 1976) featured Rowlf the Dog
and Sam the Eagle
singing the song, with Sam clearly embarrassed at having to sing the word 'tit' (also asking the meaning of "obdurate"). The song is played during the film Music for Ladies in Retirement (1941) In the 1971 film Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
, Shelley Winters
as the title character sings "Tit-Willow" just before she is murdered. In John Wayne
's last movie The Shootist
, made in 1976, Wayne and Lauren Bacall
sing several lines from "Tit-Willow", before he departs with the intention of dying in a gunfight instead of from cancer.
References to the "Little List" song: Sherman also did a variant on the song, described above. In a Eureeka's Castle
Christmas special called "Just Put it on the List," the twins, Bogg and Quagmire, describe what they'd like for Christmas to the tune of the song. Richard Suart
and A.S.H. Smyth released a book in 2008 called They’d None of 'em Be Missed, with 20 years of little list parodies by Suart, the English National Opera
's usual Ko-Ko. In the Family Guy
episode "Lois Kills Stewie", Stewie
, after taking over the world, sings the "little list" song about those he hates, including Bill O'Reilly
's dermatologist, and showing him injuring or killing most of them in a generally gruesome manner (only on the DVD edition).
References to "The sun whose rays": In addition to the poignant inclusion of the song near the end of Topsy-Turvy
(1999; see below), the song has been heard in numerous film and TV soundtracks, including in the 2006 films The Zodiac
and Brick
and the UK TV series Lilies
, in the 2007 episode "The Tallyman."
fantasy movie Peter Pan
; "A British Tar" is sung in Star Trek: Insurrection
(1998) and briefly sung in Raiders of the Lost Ark
(1981); "For he is an Englishman" is sung in Chariots of Fire
(1981) and An Englishman Abroad
(1983), and "I'm Called Little Buttercup" is sung in The Good Shepherd
(2006).
Songs from Pinafore are also pastiched or referred to in television episodes, including episode #3 of Animaniacs
, "HMS Yakko"; "Cape Feare
" episode of The Simpsons
; Family Guy
s episode 3.1 "The Thin White Line
," among others; and the 1959 Leave it to Beaver
episode #55, "The Boat Builders." "For he is an Englishman" is referred to both in the title's name and throughout The West Wing
episode "And It's Surely to Their Credit
" (sic).
is frequently parodied, pastiche
d and used in advertising. Its challenging patter
has proved interesting to comics, as noted above, and has been used in numerous film and television pastiches and in political commentary. In many instances, the song, unchanged, is simply used in a film or on television as a character's audition piece, or seen in a "school play" scene. For example, in Kate and Leopold, Leopold sings the song while accompanying himself on the piano. Likewise, in the Two and a Half Men
episode "And the Plot Moistens" (Season 3, Episode 21), Alan sings a verse of the song to persuade Jake to join the school musical. Similarly, in season 2 of Slings & Arrows
, Richard Smith-Jones uses the song as an audition piece for a musical. likewise, in the Mad About You
episode "Moody Blues," Paul directs a charity production of Penzance starring his father, Burt, as the Major-General. Parts of rehearsal and performance of the song are shown. When the lyrics slip Burt's mind, he improvises a few lines about his son. In the videogame "Mass Effect 2
", the character Mordin Solus, if asked, sings excerpts from a pastiche of the "Major General's Song" about his being the "model of a scientist Salarian". Another pastiche of the song (among many on YouTube), also inspired by "The Elements", is the "Boy Scout Merit Badge Song", listing all the merit badges that can be earned from the Boy Scouts of America
.
Other examples of television renditions of the song, in addition to the Animaniacs
example mentioned above, include The Muppet Show
(season 3, episode 61), which staged a duet of the song with guest host and comedienne Gilda Radner
and a 6 feet (1.8 m) talking carrot. Radner was said to have requested a 6-foot-tall talking parrot, but was misheard. In an episode of "Home Improvement", Al Borland, thinking he was in a sound-proof booth, belts out the first stanza but is heard by everyone. Others include the Babylon 5
episode "Atonement
"; the Star Trek: The Next Generation
episode Disaster
; the episode of Frasier
titled Fathers and Sons; the episode of The Simpsons
entitled "Deep Space Homer
"; two VeggieTales
episodes: "The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment" and "A Snoodle's Tale
"; and the Married With Children episode "Peggy and the Pirates" (Season 7, Episode 18).
Parodies or pastiches of the song in television programs have included the computer-animated series ReBoot
, which ended its third season with a recap of the entire season, set to the song's tune. The Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
episode "The Cold Open" (2006), the cast of Studio 60 opens with a parody: "We'll be the very model of a modern network TV show". In the Doctor Who
Big Finish Productions
audio, Doctor Who and the Pirates
, the Doctor
sings, "I am the very model of a Gallifrey
an buccaneer" (and other songs, from Pirates, Pinafore and Ruddigore
, are parodied). When he hosted Saturday Night Live
, David Hyde Pierce
's monologue was a parody of the song. In the Scrubs
episode "My Musical
" (Season 6, Episode 6), Dr. Cox
sings a version of the song about why he hates J.D.
Other songs from Pirates that have been referred to frequently include the chorus of With cat-like tread, which begins "Come, friends, who plough the sea," which was used in the popular American song, "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here
," popularized by Fred Astaire
. For instance, the song is featured in Chariots of Fire (1981; discussed in more detail below). As noted above, the song was also pastiched in the "HMS Yakko" episode of Animaniacs
, in a song about surfing a whale. In the movie "An American Tail
," Fievel huddles over a copy of the score to "Poor Wandering One," and as he wanders the streets of New York, the song plays in the background. The theme song of the cartoon character Popeye
bears some similarity to "For I am a Pirate King". The pirate king's song is heard on the soundtrack of the 2000 film The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
. "Ah, leave me not to pine alone" is featured on the soundtrack of the sentimental 1998 British film Girls' Night as well as the 1997 film Wilde
. In the pilot episode of the 2008 CBS
series, Flashpoint
, a police officer and his partner sing the policeman's song.
, the Light Opera of Manhattan
, the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company and other Gilbert and Sullivan repertory companies, numerous fictional works have been written using the G&S operas as background or imagining the lives of historical or fictional G&S performers. Recent examples include Cynthia Morey's novel about an amateur Gilbert and Sullivan company, A World That's All Our Own (2006), and Bernard Lockett's Here's a State of Things (2007), a historical novel that intertwines the lives of two sets of London characters, a hundred years apart, but both connected with the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Similarly, in The Getaway Blues by William Murray
, the main character names all his racehorses after Gilbert and Sullivan characters and constantly quotes G&S. Gilbert and Sullivan Set Me Free is a novel by Kathleen Karr
based on a historical event in 1914, when the inmates of Sherborn
Women's Prison in Massachusetts, U.S., put on a performance of The Pirates of Penzance
. In the novel, the prison's chaplain uses the transformative power of music and theater to help reform the inmates, bringing them together to work on the show as a spirited community. "The Mikado" is a villainous vigilante in the comic book superhero series The Question
, by Denny O'Neil and Denys Cowan
. He dons a Japanese mask and kills malefactors in appropriate ways – letting "the punishment fit the crime".
There are many children's books retelling the stories of the operas, or stories about the history of the famous partnership, including two by Gilbert himself. There are also children's biographies or fictionalisations about the lives of the two men or the relationship between the two, such as the 2009 book, The Fabulous Feud of Gilbert & Sullivan. P. G. Wodehouse
makes dozens of references to Gilbert and Sullivan in his works. Wodehouse sometimes referred to Gilbert at length, and he based his Psmith
character on Rupert D'Oyly Carte
or his brother. Wodehouse also parodied G&S songs. In Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat
(1889), a description is given of Harris's attempts to sing a comic song: "the Judge's song out of Pinafore - no, I don't mean Pinafore - I mean - you know what I mean - the other thing, you know.", which turns out to be a mixture of "When I, good friends" from Trial by Jury
and "When I was a lad" from Pinafore.
Several novels have used the Savoy operas as backdrop for a detective story. Death at the Opera by Gladys Mitchell
(1934) is set during a production of The Mikado. In Pirate King by Laurie R. King
(2011), the eleventh entry in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes
series, a production company is making a silent film of The Pirates of Penzance. Other examples include The Ghosts' High Noon by John Dickson Carr
(1969), named for the song of the same name in Ruddigore; The West End Horror
, by Nicholas Meyer
, a Sherlock Holmes pastiche involving the murder of a member of the ladies' chorus in The Grand Duke
(1976); The Plain Old Man by Charlotte MacLeod
(1985), concerning a production of The Sorcerer; Murder and Sullivan by Sara Hoskinson Frommer (1997), which involves a production of Ruddigore; Death of a Pooh-Bah by Karen Sturges (2000); Vengeance Dire by Roberta Morrell (2001), a murder mystery involving a production of Pirates; and Ruddy Gore by Kerry Greenwood
(the 7th Phryne Fisher
book), which concerns murders taking place during a 1920s revival of the opera of the same name (2004).
Other mystery books and stories involve Gilbert and/or Sullivan to a lesser degree. The Dalziel and Pascoe books of Reginald Hill
contain many references to G&S. One of the recurring characters, Sergeant Wield is a G & S fan. In the Ruth Rendell
mysteries, Chief Inspector Wexford likes to sing G&S in the shower. A series of four Tom Holt
books, The Portable Door, In Your Dreams
, Earth, Air, Fire, and Custard and You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But It Helps, are based around "J. W. Wells & Co", a company of sorcerers well known for their love philtre. Death's Bright Angel, by Janet Neel
, is named for a line in Sullivan's "The Lost Chord
", which figures in the story. Mark Twain
's The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
prominently features a pastiche from "The criminal cried" in the climactic scene.
Science fiction author Isaac Asimov
, a fan of Gilbert & Sullivan, found inspiration for his famous Foundation Trilogy while reading Iolanthe. Asimov was fascinated by some of the paradoxes that occur in their works and mysteries surrounding their manuscripts. He wrote several stories exploring these, including one about a time-traveller who goes back in time to save the score to Thespis. Another, called "The Year of the Action" (1980), concerns whether the action of Pirates took place on March 1, 1873, or March 1, 1877. That is, did Gilbert forget, or not know, that 1900 was not a leap year? In "Runaround
", a story in I, Robot
, a robot, while in a state similar to drunkenness, sings snippets of "There Grew a Little Flower" (from Ruddigore), "I'm Called Little Buttercup" (from Pinafore), "When I First Put This Uniform On" (from Patience
), and "The Nightmare Song" (from Iolanthe). He also wrote a short story called The Up-To-Date Sorcerer
that is a parody of and homage to The Sorcerer
. In addition, Asimov wrote "The Author's Ordeal
" (1957), a pastiche of a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song
similar to the Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song from Iolanthe
, depicting the agonies that Asimov went through in thinking up a new science fiction story. Another such pastiche is "The Foundation of S.F. Success
" (1954). Both are included in his collection of short stories Earth Is Room Enough
. The Rats, Bats and Vats series
also includes numerous G&S character names and phrases, since the D'Oyly Carte recordings of their work provide a portion of the language material for the genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced "rats" in the stories. Another science fiction author, Robert A. Heinlein
, referred to the "Little List" song in his Hugo Award
-winning novel, Stranger in a Strange Land
. There, Jubal Harshaw, discovering Valentine Michael Smith's ability to make objects (including people) disappear, mulls, "I've got a little list... they'd none of them be missed." Anne McCaffrey
also seems fond of The Pirates of Penzance
—several characters pass the time with it in Power Play, and references to "When the foeman bares his steel" appear in Crystal Line.
Aside from film adaptations of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, several films have treated the G&S partnership. Mike Leigh
's film Topsy-Turvy
(1999) is an award-winning film depiction of the team and the creation of their most popular opera, The Mikado. Another G&S film is the 1953 The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (or The Great Gilbert and Sullivan in the U.S.), starring Robert Morley
as Gilbert and Maurice Evans
as Sullivan, with Martyn Green
as George Grossmith
. In a short 1950 film called The Return of Gilbert and Sullivan, Gilbert and Sullivan return to Earth to protest the jazz treatment of their work. In the 1951 film The Magic Box
Sir Arthur Sullivan, played by the film conductor, Muir Mathieson
, conducts a choral concert of the Bath Choral Society.
Film adaptations of the operas have included a 1926 D'Oyly Carte Opera Company short promotional film of The Mikado that featured some of the most famous Savoyards, including Darrell Fancourt
, Henry Lytton
, Leo Sheffield
, Elsie Griffin
, and Bertha Lewis
. In 1939, Universal Pictures released a ninety-minute technicolor film adaptation of The Mikado. The film stars Martyn Green
as Ko-Ko and Sydney Granville
as Pooh-Bah. The music was conducted by Geoffrey Toye
, who was credited with the adaptation. William V. Skall received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography. Similarly, in 1966, the D'Oyly Carte produced a film version of The Mikado, which showed much of their traditional staging at the time, although there are some minor cuts. It stars John Reed
(Ko-Ko), Kenneth Sandford
(Pooh-Bah), Valerie Masterson
(Yum-Yum), Donald Adams
(the Mikado), Peggy Ann Jones
(Pitti-Sing), and Philip Potter
(Nanki-Poo).
Several film scores draw heavily on the G&S repertoire, including The Matchmaker
(1958; featuring Pinafore and Mikado music), I Could Go On Singing
(1963; featuring Pinafore music), The Bad News Bears Go to Japan
(1978; the score features many excerpts from The Mikado), The Adventures of Milo and Otis
(1989; using several G&S themes), The Browning Version
(1994; features music from The Mikado), The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
(1992; featuring songs from Pinafore and Pirates) and The Pirate Movie
(1982; featuring spoofs of songs from Pirates; in fact, the whole movie itself is a spoof of Pirates!). In Chariots of Fire, the protagonist, Harold Abrahams
, marries a woman who plays Yum-Yum in The Mikado with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
. Abrahams and his friends from Cambridge
sing "He is an Englishman" (H.M.S. Pinafore). The soundtrack of Chariots also features "Three Little Maids from School Are We" (The Mikado), "With Catlike Tread" (Pirates), "The Soldiers of Our Queen" (Patience), and "There Lived a King" (The Gondoliers
). In The Naughty Victorians, an X-rated film subtitled A Man with a Maid, the entire score is G&S music, and many musical puns are made, with the G&S music underlining the dialogue appropriately for those familiar with G&S. In The White Countess
(2005), the overture to H.M.S. Pinafore is used in the soundrack.
In other films, characters sing songs from the operas. In Star Trek: Insurrection
(1998), Captain Picard
and Lt. Commander Worf
sing lines from "A British Tar" from Pinafore to distract a malfunctioning Lt. Commander Data
. In Kate and Leopold (2001), among other Pirates references, Leopold sings the "Major-General's Song," accompanying himself on the piano. In The Good Shepherd
(2006), Matt Damon
's character sings Little Buttercup's song falsetto in an all-male version of Pinafore at Yale University
. In another Matt Damon film, The Talented Mr. Ripley
(1999), the song "We're Called Gondolieri" is featured in the soundtrack. In Raiders of the Lost Ark
(1981), the character Sallah sings Pinafore tunes, including "A British Tar". In the 2003
fantasy movie Peter Pan
, the Darling family sings "When I Was A Lad". The 1969 film Age of Consent featured the song "Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes" from The Gondoliers. In the 1971 film Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
, Shelley Winters
as the title character sings the song just before she is murdered. In the 1988 drama Permanent Record, a high school class performs Pinafore. Judy Garland
sings "I am the monarch of the sea" in the film, I Could Go On Singing
.
In a number of films, a significant part of the action is set during a G&S opera. With Words and Music (1937) involves a bookie who revives a washed-up troupe of Savoyards by mounting a production of The Mikado
. Foul Play
(1978) features an assassination attempt that culminates during a showing of The Mikado. The thwarted assassin falls into the rigging used as a backdrop for H.M.S. Pinafore. Similarly, in Walt Disney's cartoon Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
(2004), the finale occurs at the Paris Opéra
during a G&S performance. The score features "With cat-like tread", "The Major General's Song", "Climbing over rocky mountain", "Poor wandering one", and part of the overture from Princess Ida. The plot concerns a performance of The Pirates of Penzance that becomes the setting for the climactic battle between the Musketeers and Captain Pete.
In other films, there have simply been prominent references to one or more of the operas. For instance, in Pretty Woman
, Edward Lewis (Richard Gere
) covered a social gaffe by prostitute Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts
), who said that the opera La Traviata
was so good that she almost "peed in [her] pants" by saying that she had said that she liked it almost as much as "The Pirates of Penzance." In Making Love
(1982), Michael Ontkean
and Kate Jackson
are a happy G&S-loving couple until he leaves her for another man (Harry Hamlin
).
in several episodes, including "Cape Feare
", "Deep Space Homer
", and "Bart's Inner Child
"; numerous Frasier
episodes; Kavanagh QC
, in the episode "Briefs Trooping Gaily", Angel
in the fifth season episode "Conviction", where Charles Gunn becomes a good lawyer, and learns a lot of G&S, because it's "great for elocution"; numerous references in Animaniacs
; the episode "The Cold Open" (1x02) of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
; the episode "Atonement
" of Babylon 5
; in the Australian soap opera
Neighbours
, Harold Bishop
often makes G&S references; references in the VeggieTales
episodes "Lyle the Kindly Viking
," "The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment," "The Star of Christmas
" (a Christmas special entirely devoted to spoofing G&S and their operas), and "Sumo of the Opera
"; Family Guy
referred to and parodied G&S a number of times, especially in season four (beside the examples named above and below, see "Patriot Games
", which includes the song from The Sorcerer
, "If you'll marry me"). In the UK series Lilies
, in the 2007 episode "The Tallyman" both "When I Was a Lad" and "The Sun Whose Rays" are heard. Muppet Wiki has a G&S page. An episode of Car 54, Where Are You?
has parodies of several G&S songs. In 1988, episodes of Australian soap opera Home and Away
featured a school production of The Mikado. A second-season (1998) episode of the TV show Millennium
titled "The Mikado" is based on the Zodiac case.
Gilbert and Sullivan references often appear in The West Wing. Some incidents include an episode-long argument over whether "He is an Englishman" is from H.M.S. Pinafore or The Pirates of Penzance, after one character's invocation of "duty," in the episode And It's Surely to Their Credit
; President Bartlet's gift of a CD of The Yeomen of the Guard to his aide Charlie in Stirred
; references to The Pirates of Penzance in Mandatory Minimums
and Inauguration, Part I
; and an excerpt from "A Wand'ring Minstrel I" in A Change Is Gonna Come
. Character Sam Seaborn
, the Deputy Communications Director, is the former recording secretary of the Princeton Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Creator Aaron Sorkin
has stated that the characters' love for Gilbert and Sullivan is part of his attempt to avoid referring to current political and entertainment personalities and to set it in a "parallel universe."
The following are examples of references to some of the best-known G&S operas:
The operas and songs from the operas have often been used or parodied in advertising. According to Jones, "Pinafore launched the first media blitz in the United States" beginning in 1879. For example, Gimbels department store had a campaign sung to the tune of the Major-General's Song that began, "We are the very model of a modern big department store." Another prominent example is the elaborate illustrated book of parodies of Gilbert's lyrics advertising Guinness
stout. Trading cards were also created, using images from some of the operas to advertise various products. There was also a series of Currier and Ives
prints. Several series of cigarette cards were issued by Player's cigarette company
depicting characters from the Savoy operas wearing the costumes used by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Numerous postcards were published with photos or illustrations of D'Oyly Carte and other performers and scenes from the operas and other Gilbert plays. More recently, television ads for Terry's Chocolate Orange
from the 2000s featured a pastiche of "When I Was a Lad" from Pinafore.
Both Nelson Eddy
and Danny Kaye
recorded albums of selections from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Al Goodman
and Groucho Marx
also released Gilbert and Sullivan recordings. The operas are referred to in other popular media, including video games. For example, in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
, a casino is called "Pirates in Men’s Pants", a crude play on Pirates of Penzance. The 1970s popular music
singer Gilbert O'Sullivan
adopted his stage name as a pun on 'Gilbert and Sullivan'.
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
have pervasively influenced popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
in the English-speaking world
English-speaking world
The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...
. Lines and quotations from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas have become part of the English language, such as "short, sharp shock
Short, sharp shock
The phrase "short, sharp shock" is a phrase meaning "punishment that is quick and severe." It was most famously used in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera The Mikado, where it appears near the end of the Act I song, "I Am So Proud"....
", "What never? Well, hardly ever!", "let the punishment fit the crime", and "A policeman's lot is not a happy one".
The Savoy operas heavily influenced the course of the development of modern musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
. They have also influenced political style and discourse, literature, film and television and advertising, and have been widely parodied by humorists. Because they are well-known, and convey a distinct sense of Britishness
Britishness
Britishness is the state or quality of being British, or of embodying British characteristics, and is used to refer to that which binds and distinguishes the British people and forms the basis of their unity and identity, or else to explain expressions of British culture—such as habits, behaviours...
(or even Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
Britishness), and because they are in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
, songs from the operas appear "in the background" in many movies and television shows.
The operas have so pervaded Western culture that events from the "lives" of their characters from the operas are memorialized by major news outlets. For instance, a New York Times article on 29 February 1940, noted that Frederic, from The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
, was finally out of his indentures (having reached his 21st birthday, as described in that opera).
Musical theatre and comedy
The American and British musicalMusical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
owes a tremendous debt to Gilbert and Sullivan, who introduced innovations in content and form that directly influenced the development of musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
through the 20th century. According to theatre historian John Bush Jones, Gilbert and Sullivan were "the primary progenitors of the twentieth century American musical" in which book, music and lyrics combine to form an integrated whole, and they demonstrated "that musicals can address contemporary social and political issues without sacrificing entertainment value".
Gilbert's complex rhyme schemes and satirical lyrics served as a model for Edwardian musical comedy
Edwardian Musical Comedy
Edwardian musical comedies were British musical theatre shows from the period between the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the American musicals by Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin and Cole Porter following World War I.Between...
writers such as Adrian Ross
Adrian Ross
For the NFL player see Adrian Ross Arthur Reed Ropes , better known under the pseudonym Adrian Ross, was a prolific writer of lyrics, contributing songs to more than sixty British musical comedies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
and Owen Hall
Owen Hall
Owen Hall was the pen name of the Irish-born 19th and early 20th century theatre writer and theatre critic James Davis when writing for the stage...
, and for such 20th century Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
lyricists as P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
, Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
, Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
, Yip Harburg
Yip Harburg
Edgar Yipsel Harburg , known as E.Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an American popular song lyricist who worked with many well-known composers...
, Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Hart
Lorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...
and Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
. Even some of the plot elements from G&S operas entered subsequent musicals; for example, 1937's Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl is a musical with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay. It takes place in the late 1930s in Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth....
features a portrait gallery of ancestors that, like the portraits in Ruddigore
Ruddigore
Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse, originally called Ruddygore, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan...
, come alive to remind their descendant of his duty. Johnny Mercer
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...
said, "We all come from Gilbert." Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre for both the stage and on film...
wrote that it was Gilbert who "raised lyric writing from a serviceable craft to a legitimate popular art form," and Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
included a homage to Gilbert in his Pacific Overtures
Pacific Overtures
Pacific Overtures is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, a libretto by John Weidman, and additional material by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is set in 1853 Japan and follows the difficult Westernization of Japan, through the lives of two friends caught in the change...
(1976) song "Please Hello". Yip Harburg said, "Perhaps my first great literary idol was W. S. Gilbert. ... Gilbert's satirical quality entranced us [Harburg and Ira Gershwin] – his use of rhyme and meter, his light touch, the marvelous way his words blended with Sullivan's music. A revelation!"
Sullivan was also admired and copied by early composers such as Ivan Caryll
Ivan Caryll
Félix Marie Henri Tilkin , better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language...
, Lionel Monckton
Lionel Monckton
Lionel John Alexander Monckton was an English writer and composer of musical theatre. He was Britain's most popular musical theatre composer of the early years of the 20th century.-Early life:...
, Victor Herbert
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
, George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
, Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
, and Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
.
Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
wrote:
According to theatre historian John Kenrick
John Kenrick (theatre writer)
John Kenrick is an American author, teacher and theatre and film historian. Kenrick is an adjunct teacher of musical theatre history at New York University, Brind School – University of the Arts and The New School, and lectures frequently on the subject elsewhere...
, H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
, in particular, "became an international sensation, reshaping the commercial theater in both England and the United States." Adaptations of The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
, Pinafore and The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
have played on Broadway or the West End, including The Hot Mikado
The Hot Mikado (1939 production)
The Hot Mikado was a 1939 musical theatre adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado with an African-American cast. Mike Todd originally produced it after the Federal Theatre Project turned down his offer to manage the WPA production of The Swing Mikado .The Hot Mikado was jazzier than The...
(1939; Hot Mikado
Hot Mikado
Hot Mikado is a musical comedy, based on Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, adapted by David H. Bell and Rob Bowman...
played in the West End in 1995), George S. Kaufman
George S. Kaufman
George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals, notably for the Marx Brothers...
's 1945 Hollywood Pinafore
Hollywood Pinafore
Hollywood Pinafore, or The Lad Who Loved a Salary is a musical comedy in two acts by George S. Kaufman, with music by Arthur Sullivan, based on Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore. It opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on May 31, 1945, and closed on July 14, 1945 after 52 performances...
, the 1975 animated film Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done
Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done
Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done is a 1975 British animated film musical, based on the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.The comically convoluted plot is a pastiche of many in the Gilbert and Sullivan canon, particularly Trial by Jury, The Sorcerer,...
and, more recently,Gondoliers (2001; a Mafia-themed adaptation) and Pinafore Swing (2004), each of which was first produced at the Watermill Theatre
Watermill Theatre
The Watermill Theatre is an award -winning, professional repertory theatre with charitable status. It is a converted watermill with gardens beside the River Lambourn, in Bagnor, near Newbury, Berkshire, England...
, in which the actors also served as the orchestra, playing the musical instruments. Shows that use G&S songs to tell the story of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership include a 1938 Broadway show, Knights of Song, and a 1975 West End show called Tarantara! Tarantara! Many other musicals parody or pastiche Pinafore in particular.
However, the influence of Gilbert and Sullivan on goes beyond musical theatre to comedy in general. According to Gilbert and Sullivan expert and enthusiast Ian Bradley
Ian Bradley
Ian Campbell Bradley is a British academic, author, theologian, Church of Scotland minister, journalist and broadcaster.At the University of St Andrews, he is Reader in Practical Theology and Church History and a University chaplain...
:
Effect on amateur theatre
Cellier and Bridgeman wrote, in 1914, that prior to the creation of the Savoy operaSavoy opera
The Savoy Operas denote a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house...
s, amateur actors were treated with contempt by professionals. After the formation of amateur Gilbert and Sullivan troupes in the 1880s licensed to perform the operas, professionals recognised that the amateur groups "support the culture of music and the drama. They are now accepted as useful training schools for the legitimate stage, and from the volunteer ranks have sprung many present-day favourites." Cellier and Bridgeman attributed the rise in quality and reputation of the amateur groups largely to "the popularity of, and infectious craze for performing, the Gilbert and Sullivan operas". The National Operatic and Dramatic Association
National Operatic and Dramatic Association
NODA has a membership of 2500 amateur theatre groups and 3000 individual enthusiasts throughout the UK, staging musicals, operas, plays, concerts and pantomimes in a wide variety of performing venues, ranging from the country’s leading professional theatres to tiny village halls.Founded in 1899,...
was founded in 1899. It reported, in 1914, that nearly 200 British amateur troupes were producing Gilbert and Sullivan operas that year. There continue to be hundreds of amateur groups or societies performing the Gilbert and Sullivan works worldwide.
Politics, government, and law
Short, sharp shock
The phrase "short, sharp shock" is a phrase meaning "punishment that is quick and severe." It was most famously used in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera The Mikado, where it appears near the end of the Act I song, "I Am So Proud"....
," from the Act I song "I am so proud" in The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
, has been used in political manifestoes. Likewise "Let the punishment fit the crime," from the title character's Act II song, is particularly mentioned in the course of British political debates. Political humour based on Gilbert and Sullivan's style and characters continues to be written. In 1996, Virginia Bottomley, heritage secretary under John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
, sent up Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
in a parody of "When I Was a Lad" from Pinafore.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist
William Rehnquist
William Hubbs Rehnquist was an American lawyer, jurist, and political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States...
, a lifelong fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, quoted lyrics from the operas in law cases, parodied the lyrics in his writings at the
Court, and added gold stripes to his judicial robes after seeing them used by the Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
in a production of Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
. The Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer
Charles Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton
Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, PC is a British Labour politician, who became the Lord Chancellor and the first Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs in 2003...
, on the other side of the Atlantic, objected so strongly to Iolanthe's comic portrayal of Lord Chancellors (like himself) that he supported moves to disband the office. British politicians, beyond quoting some of the more famous lines, have also delivered speeches in the form of Gilbert and Sullivan parodies. These include Conservative Peter Lilley
Peter Lilley
Peter Bruce Lilley MP is a British Conservative Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament MP since 1983. He currently represents the constituency of Hitchin and Harpenden and, prior to boundary changes, represented St Albans...
's pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
of "I've got a little list" from The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
, listing those he was against, including "sponging socialists" and "young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing queue".
Other government references include postage stamps issued to memorialize the operas and various other uses by government entities. For instance, the arms granted to the municipal borough of Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
in 1934 contain a pirate dressed in Gilbert's original costuming, and Penzance had a rugby team called the Penzance Pirates, which is now called the Cornish Pirates
Cornish Pirates
The Cornish Pirates are an English professional rugby union team who play in the Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. Formerly known as Penzance & Newlyn Pirates, the Cornish Pirates play their home games and train at their...
.
The law, judges, and lawyers are frequently subjects in the operas (Gilbert briefly practiced as a lawyer), and the operas have been quoted and otherwise mentioned in a large number of legal rulings and opinions. Some courts appear to reach approximately the same conclusions as Gilbert and Sullivan: "Where does this extraordinary situation leave the lower... Courts and State Courts in their required effort to apply the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States...? Like the policeman in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
, their 'lot is not a happy one.'" A few refer to the law as shown in Gilbert and Sullivan as being archaic.
The pronouncements of the Lord Chancellor in "Iolanthe" appear to be a particular favourite in legal quotations. One U.S. Supreme Court case even discussed a contempt citation imposed on a pro se defendant who, among other conduct, compared the judge to something out of Gilbert and Sullivan. In May 2010, a parody version of the song was posted as an op-ed piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond the capital of Virginia, United States, and is commonly considered the "newspaper of record" for events occurring in much of the state...
mocking actions of the Attorney General of Virginia
Attorney General of Virginia
The Attorney General of Virginia is an executive office in the Government of Virginia. Attorneys General are elected for a four-year term in the year following a presidential election . There are no term limits restricting the number of terms someone can serve as Attorney General...
, Ken Cuccinelli
Ken Cuccinelli
Kenneth Thomas 'Ken' Cuccinelli II is a U.S. politician and the Attorney General of Virginia. From 2002 until January 16, 2010 he was a Republican member of the Senate of Virginia, representing the 37th district in Fairfax County...
.
Phrases from the operas
Aside from politics, the phrase "A short, sharp shock" has appeared in titles of books and songs (most notably in samples of Pink FloydPink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's "The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure...
"). Likewise "Let the punishment fit the crime" is an often-used phrase in popular media. For instance, in episode 80 of the television series Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
, entitled "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime," Higgins prepares to direct a selection of pieces from The Mikado to be staged at the Estate. The phrase and the Mikado's song also are featured in the Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
episode, "A Soldier's Farewell." In the movie The Parent Trap (1961) the camp director quotes the same phrase before sentencing the twins to the isolation cabin together.
The character of Pooh Bah in The Mikado, who holds numerous exalted offices, including "First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral... Archbishop of Titipu, and Lord Mayor" and Lord High Everything Else, has inspired the use of the term Pooh-Bah as a mocking title for someone self-important or high-ranking and who either exhibits an inflated self-regard or who has limited authority while taking impressive titles. The term "Grand Poobah" has been used on the television shows, including The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
and Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
as the title of a high-ranking official in a men's club, spoofing clubs like the Freemasons
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, the Shriners, and the Elks Club
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868...
.
Songs and parodies
The works of Gilbert and Sullivan, filled as they are with parodies of their contemporary culture, are themselves frequently parodied or pastiched. A notable example of this is Tom LehrerTom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...
's The Elements
The Elements (song)
"The Elements" is a song by musical humorist Tom Lehrer, which recites the names of all the chemical elements known at the time of writing, up to number 102, nobelium. It can be found on his albums Tom Lehrer in Concert, More Songs by Tom Lehrer and An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer...
, which consists of Lehrer's rhyming rendition of the names of all the chemical elements set to the music of the "Major-General's Song
Major-General's Song
I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General is a patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. It is perhaps the most famous song in Gilbert and Sullivan's operas. It is sung by Major-General Stanley at his first entrance, towards the end of Act I...
" from Pirates. Lehrer also includes a verse parodying a G&S finale in his patchwork of stylistic creations Clementine ("full of words and music and signifying nothing", as Lehrer put it, thus parodying G&S and Shakespeare in the same sentence).
Comedian Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer , became the fastest-selling record album up to that time...
sang several parodies and pastiches of Gilbert and Sullivan songs in the 1960s, including:
- "When I was a lad I went to Yale" (about a young advertising agent, based on the patter song from H.M.S. Pinafore, with a DixielandDixielandDixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
arrangement - at the end, he thanks old YaleYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, he thanks the Lord, and he thanks his father "who is chairman of the board") - "Little Butterball" (to the tune of "I'm Called Little Buttercup" from H.M.S. Pinafore), about Sherman's admitted corpulence. This was actually a response to a song on the same subject by Stanley Ralph RossStanley Ralph RossStanley Ralph Ross was raised in Brooklyn New York, starting his career in advertising, then soon going to work as a writer and actor on various television shows, most notably cult-classics such as the 1960s Batman series starring Adam West and also The Monkees...
(who was parodying Sherman's G&S routines) called "I'm Called Little Butterball", on the album My Son, the Copycat. - "You need an analyst, a psychoanalyst" (from Allan in WonderlandAllan in WonderlandAllan In Wonderland is an album by Allan Sherman, released by Warner Brothers Records.-Side One:# "Skin" # "Lotsa Luck"# "Green Stamps" # "Holiday For States"...
) which is a variant of "I've got a little list" from The Mikado presenting, with a sambaSambaSamba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
accompaniment, reasons why one might want to seek psychiatric help. - "The Bronx Bird Watcher" (from My Son, the CelebrityMy Son, the CelebrityMy Son, the Celebrity is a musical comedy album by Allan Sherman, released in the United States by Warner Bros. in January 1963.The album was the second of three straight albums by Sherman to reach #1 on the Billboard album charts. It reached #1 on Billboard's Top 150 Best Selling LPs chart for...
) - a parody of the song "Titwillow" from The Mikado, in which the bird sings with a stereotypical Yiddish accent. Sherman is so impressed by the bird's singing that he takes him "down from his branch", and home "to mein shplit-level ranch". His wife, "Blanch", misinterprets the gift and fricassees the bird, whose last words are, "Oy! Willow! Tit-willow! Willow!"
Anna Russell
Anna Russell
Anna Russell, née Anna Claudia Russell-Brown was an English–Canadian singer and comedienne. She gave many concerts in which she sang and played comic musical sketches on the piano...
performed a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
called "How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera." The Two Ronnies
The Two Ronnies
The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.-Origins:...
' Gilbert and Sullivan parodies include their 1973 Christmas special. In addition, numerous G&S song parodies and other references to G&S are made in the animated TV series, Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, such as the "HMS Yakko" episode, which includes its well-known parody of the Major-General's Song
Major-General's Song
I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General is a patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. It is perhaps the most famous song in Gilbert and Sullivan's operas. It is sung by Major-General Stanley at his first entrance, towards the end of Act I...
, "I Am the Very Model of a Cartoon Individual", as well as pastiches of "With Cat Like Tread" (Pirates) and "I am the Captain of the Pinafore" and "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore" (H.M.S. Pinafore). Animaniacs also presented a version of "Three Little Maids" used as an audition piece in the episode Hello Nice Warners. Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
Mickey · Donald · Goofy: The Three Musketeers is a direct-to-video animated film adaptation of the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père. As the title suggests, it features Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as the three musketeers...
features four songs from The Pirates of Penzance and part of the overture to Princess Ida
Princess Ida
Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen. Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 5, 1884, for a run of 246 performances...
. Other comedians have used Gilbert and Sullivan songs as a key part of their routines, including Hinge and Bracket
Hinge and Bracket
Dr. Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket were the stage personae of the musical performance and female impersonation artists George Logan and Patrick Fyffe...
. From 1968 to 1978 Iain Kerr and Roy Cowen toured as "Goldberg & Solomon", including their two-man show, Gilbert & Sullivan Go Kosher, which they recorded.
News outlets continue to refer to the operas in news commentaries and to parody songs from the operas. Theatre parodies include a 1925 London Hippodrome revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
called Better Days included an extended one-act parody entitled, A "G. & S." Cocktail; or, A Mixed Savoy Grill, written by Lauri Wylie, with music by Herman Finck
Herman Finck
Herman Finck was a British composer of Dutch extraction.Born Hermann Van Der Vinck in London, he began his studies training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and established a career as the musical director at the Palace Theatre in London , with whose orchestra he made many virtuoso...
and Sullivan. It was also broadcast by the BBC. It concerned a nightmare experienced by a D'Oyly Carte
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
tenor. Gilbert and Sullivan songs are sometimes used in popular music. The popular song, "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here
Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here
"Hail, hail, the gang's all here" is the popular refrain from the 1915 American song, "Alabama Jubilee" made famous by Fred Astaire.The lyrics were written by D. A. Esrom to a tune originally written by Arthur Sullivan for the 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance...
," is set to the tune of "With cat-like tread" from The Pirates of Penzance (in particular, the segment that starts, "Come, friends who plough the sea"). The musical group Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary were an American folk-singing trio whose nearly 50-year career began with their rise to become a paradigm for 1960s folk music. The trio was composed of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers...
included the song, "I have a song to sing, O!" from The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances...
on one of their children's albums, Peter, Paul and Mommy
Peter, Paul and Mommy
Peter, Paul and Mommy, released on Warner Bros. in 1969, is the trio Peter, Paul and Mary's first children's album. It has hits like "Puff the Magic Dragon" among others...
(1969). In addition, the music has been used in musicals and other entertainments. For example, the song, "My eyes are fully open," (with some changed lyrics) is used in Papp's Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production of The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
(1980–81), and the tune of the song is also used as "The Speed Test" in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002).
Other references to songs in The Mikado
The Producers (1968 film)
The Producers is a 1968 American satirical dark comedy cult classic film written and directed by Mel Brooks. The film is set in the late 1960s and it tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who want to produce a sure-fire Broadway flop...
, a terrible auditioner for the musical Springtime for Hitler begins his audition with Nanki-Poo's song, "A Wand'ring Minstrel I." After only nine words, the director cuts him off abruptly, saying "THANK YOU!" In at least two episodes of Blackadder Goes Forth
Blackadder Goes Forth
Blackadder Goes Forth is the fourth and final series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989 on BBC One....
, parts of "A Wand'ring Minstrel I" are played. "There Is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast" is performed by Richard Thompson and Judith Owen
Judith Owen
Judith Owen is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Her first North American album, Emotions on a Postcard, was released in 1996, and has since been followed by five additional releases...
on the album 1000 Years of Popular Music
1000 Years of Popular Music
1000 Years of Popular Music is a live album by Richard Thompson.The album was originally conceived after Thompson was ignored by Playboy magazine; initially meant simply as a list to be printed by the magazine, it was subsequently published into CD format. The songs comprising the tracklist cover a...
. Thompson comments, "According to opera convention, it's not just the young folk who get married at the end – at least one set of wrinklies are required to get hitched as well." The movie poster for The Little Shop of Horrors
The Little Shop of Horrors
The Little Shop of Horrors is a 1960 American comedy film directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a farce about an inadequate young florist's assistant who cultivates a plant that feeds on human flesh and blood. The film's concept is thought to be based on a 1932...
, shown to the right, parodies the song title, "The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring, tra la!" changing the word "bloom" to "kill".
References to "Three Little Maids":
- In the 1981 film1981 in film-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....
Chariots of FireChariots of FireChariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
, Harold Abrahams first sees his future wife as one of the Three Little Maids. Also, the song is featured in the soundtrack to the 1999 Anthony EdwardsAnthony EdwardsAnthony Charles Edwards is an American actor and director. He has appeared in various movies and television shows, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Top Gun, Zodiac, Revenge of the Nerds, Northern Exposure and ER.-Early life:Edwards was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Erika...
film Don't Go Breaking My Heart.
- Many television programs have featured the song, including the FrasierFrasierFrasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
episode, "Leapin' Lizards," the AngelAngel (TV series)Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
episode "A Hole in the World", the British TV series Keep it in the FamilyKeep it in the Family (TV series)Keep It in the Family is a British comedy television series that aired for five seasons between 1980 and 1983. It was about a likable and mischievous British cartoonist, Dudley Rush. Also featured were Dudley's wife, Muriel and their two daughters, Jacqui and Susan...
and Fresh FieldsFresh FieldsFresh Fields is a British situation comedy written by John T. Chapman and produced by Thames Television for ITV between 1984 and 1986. The show is well remembered for its opening titles featuring a silhouette of a person in a rocking chair....
, The Suite Life of Zack and CodyThe Suite Life of Zack and CodyThe Suite Life of Zack & Cody is an American sitcom created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. The series premiered on Disney Channel on March 18, 2005 with 4 million viewers, making it the most successful premiere for Disney Channel in 2005. It was one of their first five shows available on the...
episode "Lost In Translation", the SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Cape Feare," Alvin and the ChipmunksAlvin and the Chipmunks (TV series)Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring The Chipmunks, produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983–87, and DIC Entertainment from 1988-90....
episode "Maids in Japan", and The AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
Vol. 1 episode "Hello Nice Warners." Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
also used the song when Higgins was putting on a production of "The Mikado". On the Dinah Shore ShowThe Dinah Shore Chevy ShowThe Dinah Shore Chevy Show is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to June 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore, was "See the U.S.A...
, Shore sang the song with Joan SutherlandJoan SutherlandDame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
and Ella FitzgeraldElla FitzgeraldElla Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
in 1963.
- The Capitol StepsCapitol StepsThe Capitol Steps are an American political satire group. It has been performing since 1981, and has released approximately thirty albums consisting primarily of song parodies. Originally consisting exclusively of Congressional staffers performing around Washington, D.C., the troupe now primarily...
also performed a parody entitled "Three Little Kurds from School Are We" about conditions in Iraq.
References to "Tit-Willow" ("On a tree by a river"): Allan Sherman's parody is described above. In one of his appearances on The Dick Cavett
Dick Cavett
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...
Show, Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
and Cavett sang the song. Groucho interrupted at the line "...and if you remain callous and obdurate, I shall perish as he did..." to quiz the audience on the meaning of the word "obdurate". The song is featured in the 2003 TV movie And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself is a 2003 television film starring Antonio Banderas as Pancho Villa.At the time of production, this was the most expensive 2-hour television/cable movie ever made, with a budget of over $30 million....
. An episode of Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
's TV show did a parody titled "Golf Widow". A Muppet Show season 1 episode (aired on November 22, 1976) featured Rowlf the Dog
Rowlf the Dog
Rowlf the Dog is a Muppet character, a scruffy brown dog of indeterminate breed with a rounded black nose and long floppy ears. He was created by Jim Henson....
and Sam the Eagle
Sam the Eagle
Sam the Eagle is a character from the syndicated television show The Muppet Show, performed by Frank Oz. The name "Sam" is possibly derived from Uncle Sam. The Bald Eagle is the official symbol of the United States, and Sam's patriotic spirit differentiates him from the rest of the Muppet cast, as...
singing the song, with Sam clearly embarrassed at having to sing the word 'tit' (also asking the meaning of "obdurate"). The song is played during the film Music for Ladies in Retirement (1941) In the 1971 film Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? is a 1971 British horror-thriller film directed by Curtis Harrington and starring Ralph Richardson, Shelley Winters and Mark Lester...
, Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
as the title character sings "Tit-Willow" just before she is murdered. In John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
's last movie The Shootist
The Shootist
The Shootist is a 1976 Western starring John Wayne in his final film role. It was based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout. Scott Hale and Miles Hood Swarthout wrote the screenplay...
, made in 1976, Wayne and Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
sing several lines from "Tit-Willow", before he departs with the intention of dying in a gunfight instead of from cancer.
References to the "Little List" song: Sherman also did a variant on the song, described above. In a Eureeka's Castle
Eureeka's Castle
Eureeka's Castle is an American children's television series that aired on Nickelodeon from September 4, 1989 to June 30, 1995.-Synopsis:The show follows various puppet characters , including Eureeka, a sorceress in training. She and her friends live in a wind-up castle music box owned by a...
Christmas special called "Just Put it on the List," the twins, Bogg and Quagmire, describe what they'd like for Christmas to the tune of the song. Richard Suart
Richard Suart
Richard Suart is an English opera singer and actor, who has specialised in the comic roles of Gilbert and Sullivan operas and in operetta, as well as in avant-garde modern operas...
and A.S.H. Smyth released a book in 2008 called They’d None of 'em Be Missed, with 20 years of little list parodies by Suart, the English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
's usual Ko-Ko. In the Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
episode "Lois Kills Stewie", Stewie
Stewie Griffin
Stewie Griffin is a fictional character from the animated television series Family Guy. Once obsessed with world domination and matricide, Stewie is the youngest child of Peter and Lois Griffin, and the brother of Chris and Meg....
, after taking over the world, sings the "little list" song about those he hates, including Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
's dermatologist, and showing him injuring or killing most of them in a generally gruesome manner (only on the DVD edition).
References to "The sun whose rays": In addition to the poignant inclusion of the song near the end of Topsy-Turvy
Topsy-Turvy
Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 musical drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and stars Allan Corduner as Arthur Sullivan and Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert, along with Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville. The story concerns the 15-month period in 1884 and 1885 leading up to the premiere of Gilbert...
(1999; see below), the song has been heard in numerous film and TV soundtracks, including in the 2006 films The Zodiac
The Zodiac (film)
The Zodiac is a 2006 American criminal psychological thriller film based on the true events associated with the Zodiac: a serial killer who was active in and around northern California in the 1960s and who has never been captured...
and Brick
Brick (film)
Brick is a 2005 American neo-noir film written and directed by Rian Johnson. It was Johnson's directorial debut and won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival...
and the UK TV series Lilies
Lilies (BBC TV series)
Lilies is a British period-drama television series, written by Heidi Thomas, which ran for one eight-episode series in early 2007 on BBC One. The show's tagline was "Liverpool, 1920...
, in the 2007 episode "The Tallyman."
Other references to songs in H.M.S. Pinafore
Songs from Pinafore are featured in a number of films. "When I Was A Lad" is sung by characters in the 20032003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
fantasy movie Peter Pan
Peter Pan (2003 film)
Peter Pan is a 2003 fantasy film released as a joint venture of Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios. P. J. Hogan directed a screenplay co-written with Michael Goldenberg which is based on the classic play and novel by J. M. Barrie. Jason Isaacs plays the roles of Captain...
; "A British Tar" is sung in Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Insurrection is a 1998 American science fiction film directed by Jonathan Frakes, written by Michael Piller , and with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith. It is the ninth film in the Star Trek franchise, and the third to feature the cast from the television series Star Trek: The Next...
(1998) and briefly sung in Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
(1981); "For he is an Englishman" is sung in Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
(1981) and An Englishman Abroad
An Englishman Abroad
An Englishman Abroad is a 1983 BBC television drama, based on the true story of a chance meeting of an actress, Coral Browne, with Guy Burgess , a member of the Cambridge spy ring who worked for the Soviet Union whilst with MI6...
(1983), and "I'm Called Little Buttercup" is sung in The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd (film)
The Good Shepherd is a 2006 spy film directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, with an extensive supporting cast. Although it is a fictional film loosely based on real events, it is advertised as telling the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the...
(2006).
Songs from Pinafore are also pastiched or referred to in television episodes, including episode #3 of Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, "HMS Yakko"; "Cape Feare
Cape Feare
"Cape Feare" is the second episode of the fifth season of American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 7, 1993, and has since been featured on DVD and VHS releases...
" episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
; Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
s episode 3.1 "The Thin White Line
The Thin White Line
"The Thin White Line" is the first episode of the third season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on July 11, 2001...
," among others; and the 1959 Leave it to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
episode #55, "The Boat Builders." "For he is an Englishman" is referred to both in the title's name and throughout The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
episode "And It's Surely to Their Credit
And It's Surely to Their Credit
"And It's Surely to Their Credit" is the fifth episode of the second season of the television series The West Wing, which premiered on NBC on November 1, 2000.-Plot:...
" (sic).
Other references to songs in
The Pirates of Penzance The Major-General's SongMajor-General's Song
I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General is a patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. It is perhaps the most famous song in Gilbert and Sullivan's operas. It is sung by Major-General Stanley at his first entrance, towards the end of Act I...
is frequently parodied, pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
d and used in advertising. Its challenging patter
Patter song
The patter song is characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note...
has proved interesting to comics, as noted above, and has been used in numerous film and television pastiches and in political commentary. In many instances, the song, unchanged, is simply used in a film or on television as a character's audition piece, or seen in a "school play" scene. For example, in Kate and Leopold, Leopold sings the song while accompanying himself on the piano. Likewise, in the Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
episode "And the Plot Moistens" (Season 3, Episode 21), Alan sings a verse of the song to persuade Jake to join the school musical. Similarly, in season 2 of Slings & Arrows
Slings and Arrows
Slings and Arrows is a Canadian TV series set at the fictional New Burbage Festival, a Shakespearean festival similar to the real-world Stratford Festival...
, Richard Smith-Jones uses the song as an audition piece for a musical. likewise, in the Mad About You
Mad About You
Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
episode "Moody Blues," Paul directs a charity production of Penzance starring his father, Burt, as the Major-General. Parts of rehearsal and performance of the song are shown. When the lyrics slip Burt's mind, he improvises a few lines about his son. In the videogame "Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2 is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on January 26, 2010 and for PlayStation 3 on January 18, 2011...
", the character Mordin Solus, if asked, sings excerpts from a pastiche of the "Major General's Song" about his being the "model of a scientist Salarian". Another pastiche of the song (among many on YouTube), also inspired by "The Elements", is the "Boy Scout Merit Badge Song", listing all the merit badges that can be earned from the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
.
Other examples of television renditions of the song, in addition to the Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
example mentioned above, include The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
(season 3, episode 61), which staged a duet of the song with guest host and comedienne Gilda Radner
Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...
and a 6 feet (1.8 m) talking carrot. Radner was said to have requested a 6-foot-tall talking parrot, but was misheard. In an episode of "Home Improvement", Al Borland, thinking he was in a sound-proof booth, belts out the first stanza but is heard by everyone. Others include the Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
episode "Atonement
Atonement (Babylon 5)
"Atonement" is an episode from the fourth season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Synopsis:As Babylon 5 recovers from the propaganda war started on ISN, Sheridan sends Marcus and Dr. Franklin to Mars. Along the journey, they annoy each other, including Marcus singing "The...
"; the Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
episode Disaster
Disaster (TNG episode)
"Disaster" is a season 5 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The episode has an average rating of 4.4/5 on the official Star Trek website .-Overview:...
; the episode of Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
titled Fathers and Sons; the episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
entitled "Deep Space Homer
Deep Space Homer
"Deep Space Homer" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons fifth season and first aired on February 24, 1994. The episode was directed by Carlos Baeza and was the only episode of The Simpsons written by David Mirkin, who was also the executive producer at the time...
"; two VeggieTales
VeggieTales
VeggieTales is an American series of children's computer animated films featuring anthropomorphic vegetables in stories conveying moral themes based on Christianity...
episodes: "The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment" and "A Snoodle's Tale
A Snoodle's Tale
A Snoodle's Tale is the 22nd episode in the VeggieTales animated series, released on November 2003 and May 2004 on both DVD and VHS formats...
"; and the Married With Children episode "Peggy and the Pirates" (Season 7, Episode 18).
Parodies or pastiches of the song in television programs have included the computer-animated series ReBoot
ReBoot
ReBoot is a Canadian CGI-animated action-adventure cartoon series that originally aired from 1994 to 2001. It was produced by Vancouver-based production company Mainframe Entertainment, Alliance Communications, BLT Productions and created by Gavin Blair, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell and John Grace,...
, which ended its third season with a recap of the entire season, set to the song's tune. The Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was an American dramedy television series created and written by Aaron Sorkin. It ran for 22 episodes.The series takes place behind the scenes of a live sketch comedy show on the fictional television network NBS , whose format is similar to that of NBC's...
episode "The Cold Open" (2006), the cast of Studio 60 opens with a parody: "We'll be the very model of a modern network TV show". In the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio, Doctor Who and the Pirates
Doctor Who and the Pirates
Doctor Who and the Pirates is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
sings, "I am the very model of a Gallifrey
Gallifrey
Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld of the Doctor and the Time Lords...
an buccaneer" (and other songs, from Pirates, Pinafore and Ruddigore
Ruddigore
Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse, originally called Ruddygore, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan...
, are parodied). When he hosted Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce is an American actor and comedian best known for playing psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier, for which he received many accolades including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.-Early life:Pierce, the youngest of four siblings,...
's monologue was a parody of the song. In the Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
episode "My Musical
My Musical
"My Musical" is a musical episode from the American comedy-drama television series Scrubs. It follows the story of Patti Miller, played by guest star Stephanie D'Abruzzo of Avenue Q fame, a woman who mysteriously starts hearing everyone's speech as singing.The episode was written by Deb Fordham,...
" (Season 6, Episode 6), Dr. Cox
Dr. Cox
Percival "Perry" Ulysses Cox, M.D. , is a fictional character played by John C. McGinley on the American television comedy-drama Scrubs....
sings a version of the song about why he hates J.D.
John Dorian
John Michael "J.D." Dorian, M.D. is a fictional character on the American comedy-drama Scrubs, played by Zach Braff. He is the narrator and main character of the series. He provides voice-over to the series which fills the roles of his internal thoughts and an overall narration in the show, often...
Other songs from Pirates that have been referred to frequently include the chorus of With cat-like tread, which begins "Come, friends, who plough the sea," which was used in the popular American song, "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here
Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here
"Hail, hail, the gang's all here" is the popular refrain from the 1915 American song, "Alabama Jubilee" made famous by Fred Astaire.The lyrics were written by D. A. Esrom to a tune originally written by Arthur Sullivan for the 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance...
," popularized by Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
. For instance, the song is featured in Chariots of Fire (1981; discussed in more detail below). As noted above, the song was also pastiched in the "HMS Yakko" episode of Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, in a song about surfing a whale. In the movie "An American Tail
An American Tail
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film tells the story of Fievel Mouskewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to America for freedom. However, Fievel gets lost and must...
," Fievel huddles over a copy of the score to "Poor Wandering One," and as he wanders the streets of New York, the song plays in the background. The theme song of the cartoon character Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
bears some similarity to "For I am a Pirate King". The pirate king's song is heard on the soundtrack of the 2000 film The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells is a 2000 British-American television film directed by Gillies MacKinnon. The script by Alan Plater focuses on the efforts of a recently widowed woman to reunite the members of the World War II-era swing band with which she played saxophone.It features Carry On...
. "Ah, leave me not to pine alone" is featured on the soundtrack of the sentimental 1998 British film Girls' Night as well as the 1997 film Wilde
Wilde (film)
Wilde is a 1997 British biographical film directed by Brian Gilbert with Stephen Fry in the title role. The screenplay by Julian Mitchell is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1987 biography of Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann.-Plot:...
. In the pilot episode of the 2008 CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
series, Flashpoint
Flashpoint (TV series)
Flashpoint is a Canadian police drama television series that debuted on July 11, 2008, on CTV in Canada and ran on CBS in the United States for its first three and a half seasons. In 2011, Ion Television began airing new episodes of the series in the United States...
, a police officer and his partner sing the policeman's song.
Literature
In addition to reminiscences, picture books and music books by performers, conductors and others connected with, or simply about, the D'Oyly Carte Opera CompanyD'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
, the Light Opera of Manhattan
Light Opera of Manhattan
Light Opera of Manhattan, known as LOOM, was an Off-Broadway repertory theatre company that produced light operas, including the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and European and American operettas, 52 weeks per year, in New York City between 1968 and 1989....
, the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company and other Gilbert and Sullivan repertory companies, numerous fictional works have been written using the G&S operas as background or imagining the lives of historical or fictional G&S performers. Recent examples include Cynthia Morey's novel about an amateur Gilbert and Sullivan company, A World That's All Our Own (2006), and Bernard Lockett's Here's a State of Things (2007), a historical novel that intertwines the lives of two sets of London characters, a hundred years apart, but both connected with the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Similarly, in The Getaway Blues by William Murray
William Murray (writer)
William Murray was an American fiction editor and staff writer at The New Yorker for more than thirty years. He wrote a series of mystery novels set in the world of horse racing, many featuring Shifty Lou Anderson, a professional magician and horseplayer...
, the main character names all his racehorses after Gilbert and Sullivan characters and constantly quotes G&S. Gilbert and Sullivan Set Me Free is a novel by Kathleen Karr
Kathleen Karr
Kathleen Karr is an American author of historical novels for children and young adults. She is the winner of the Golden Kite Award, for her work The Boxer.-Personal:...
based on a historical event in 1914, when the inmates of Sherborn
Sherborn, Massachusetts
Sherborn is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is in area code 508 and has the ZIP code 01770. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the town population was 4,119. The assessed value of the town for the fiscal year 2005 is $1,008,146,994....
Women's Prison in Massachusetts, U.S., put on a performance of The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
. In the novel, the prison's chaplain uses the transformative power of music and theater to help reform the inmates, bringing them together to work on the show as a spirited community. "The Mikado" is a villainous vigilante in the comic book superhero series The Question
Question (comics)
The Question is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by DC Comics. The original was created by writer-artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Blue Beetle #1...
, by Denny O'Neil and Denys Cowan
Denys Cowan
Denys B. Cowan is an American comic book artist and television producer. He gained prominence as the primary artist on The Question, an acclaimed comic book series published by DC Comics for 36 issues from 1987 on, written by Dennis O'Neil.-Career:Denys Cowan is a 1979 graduate of the High School...
. He dons a Japanese mask and kills malefactors in appropriate ways – letting "the punishment fit the crime".
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
makes dozens of references to Gilbert and Sullivan in his works. Wodehouse sometimes referred to Gilbert at length, and he based his Psmith
Psmith
Rupert Psmith is a recurring fictional character in several novels by British comic writer P. G...
character on Rupert D'Oyly Carte
Rupert D'Oyly Carte
Rupert D'Oyly Carte was an English hotelier, theatre owner and impresario, best known as proprietor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and Savoy Hotel from 1913 to 1948....
or his brother. Wodehouse also parodied G&S songs. In Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat
Three Men in a Boat
Three Men in a Boat ,The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog! published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K...
(1889), a description is given of Harris's attempts to sing a comic song: "the Judge's song out of Pinafore - no, I don't mean Pinafore - I mean - you know what I mean - the other thing, you know.", which turns out to be a mixture of "When I, good friends" from Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
and "When I was a lad" from Pinafore.
Several novels have used the Savoy operas as backdrop for a detective story. Death at the Opera by Gladys Mitchell
Gladys Mitchell
Gladys Mitchell was an English author best known for her creation of Mrs. Bradley, the heroine of numerous detective novels. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Stephen Hockaby and Malcolm Torrie...
(1934) is set during a production of The Mikado. In Pirate King by Laurie R. King
Laurie R. King
Laurie R. King is an American author best known for her detective fiction. Among her books are the Mary Russell series of historical mysteries, featuring Sherlock Holmes as her mentor and later partner, and a series featuring Kate Martinelli, a fictional lesbian San Francisco, California, police...
(2011), the eleventh entry in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
series, a production company is making a silent film of The Pirates of Penzance. Other examples include The Ghosts' High Noon by John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr was an American author of detective stories, who also published under the pen names Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson and Roger Fairbairn....
(1969), named for the song of the same name in Ruddigore; The West End Horror
The West End Horror
The West End Horror: A Posthumous Memoir of John H. Watson, M.D. is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel by Nicholas Meyer, published in 1976. It takes place after Meyer's other two Holmes pastiches, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and The Canary Trainer, though it was published in between the two.The plot...
, by Nicholas Meyer
Nicholas Meyer
Nicholas Meyer is an American screenwriter, producer, director and novelist, known best for his best-selling novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and for directing the films Time After Time, two of the Star Trek feature film series, and the 1983 television movie The Day After.Meyer graduated from...
, a Sherlock Holmes pastiche involving the murder of a member of the ladies' chorus in The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke; or, The Statutory Duel, is the final Savoy Opera written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, their fourteenth and last opera together. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on March 7, 1896, and ran for 123 performances...
(1976); The Plain Old Man by Charlotte MacLeod
Charlotte MacLeod
- Life and work :Born in Bath, New Brunswick, Canada, in 1922, Charlotte MacLeod emigrated to the United States in 1923, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1951. She attended the Art Institute of Boston. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, she worked as a copy writer for Stop and Shop...
(1985), concerning a production of The Sorcerer; Murder and Sullivan by Sara Hoskinson Frommer (1997), which involves a production of Ruddigore; Death of a Pooh-Bah by Karen Sturges (2000); Vengeance Dire by Roberta Morrell (2001), a murder mystery involving a production of Pirates; and Ruddy Gore by Kerry Greenwood
Kerry Greenwood
Kerry Greenwood is a solicitor from Melbourne, Australia. She is also the author of many plays and books, most notably a string of historical detective novels centred on the character of Phryne Fisher. She writes mysteries, science-fiction, historical fiction, and children's stories, as well as...
(the 7th Phryne Fisher
Phryne Fisher
- External links :*...
book), which concerns murders taking place during a 1920s revival of the opera of the same name (2004).
Other mystery books and stories involve Gilbert and/or Sullivan to a lesser degree. The Dalziel and Pascoe books of Reginald Hill
Reginald Hill
Reginald Charles Hill is an English crime writer, and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement.- Biography :...
contain many references to G&S. One of the recurring characters, Sergeant Wield is a G & S fan. In the Ruth Rendell
Ruth Rendell
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, , who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, is an English crime writer, author of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries....
mysteries, Chief Inspector Wexford likes to sing G&S in the shower. A series of four Tom Holt
Tom Holt
Tom Holt is a British novelist.He was born in London, the son of novelist Hazel Holt, and was educated at Westminster School, Wadham College, Oxford, and The College of Law, London....
books, The Portable Door, In Your Dreams
In Your Dreams (novel)
In Your Dreams is a fantasy novel by the British novelist Tom Holt. It is the second book featuring the J.W. Wells magic firm. The book was published in 2004. J. W. Wells is inspired by the title character in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer....
, Earth, Air, Fire, and Custard and You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But It Helps, are based around "J. W. Wells & Co", a company of sorcerers well known for their love philtre. Death's Bright Angel, by Janet Neel
Janet Neel Cohen, Baroness Cohen of Pimlico
Janet Neel Cohen, Baroness Cohen of Pimlico is a British lawyer and crime fiction writer. She is the daughter of George Edric Neel and Mary Isabel Budge...
, is named for a line in Sullivan's "The Lost Chord
The Lost Chord
"The Lost Chord" is a song composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1877 at the bedside of his brother Fred during Fred's last illness. The manuscript is dated 13 January 1877; Fred Sullivan died five days later...
", which figures in the story. Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
's The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
"The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg" is a piece of short fiction by Mark Twain. It first appeared in Harper's Monthly in December 1899, and was subsequently published by Harper Collins in the collection The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Sketches .-Plot summary:Chapter...
prominently features a pastiche from "The criminal cried" in the climactic scene.
Science fiction author Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
, a fan of Gilbert & Sullivan, found inspiration for his famous Foundation Trilogy while reading Iolanthe. Asimov was fascinated by some of the paradoxes that occur in their works and mysteries surrounding their manuscripts. He wrote several stories exploring these, including one about a time-traveller who goes back in time to save the score to Thespis. Another, called "The Year of the Action" (1980), concerns whether the action of Pirates took place on March 1, 1873, or March 1, 1877. That is, did Gilbert forget, or not know, that 1900 was not a leap year? In "Runaround
Runaround
"Runaround" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, featuring his recurring characters Powell and Donovan. It was written in October 1941 and first published in the March 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction...
", a story in I, Robot
I, Robot
I, Robot is a collection of nine science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, first published by Gnome Press in 1950 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950. The stories are...
, a robot, while in a state similar to drunkenness, sings snippets of "There Grew a Little Flower" (from Ruddigore), "I'm Called Little Buttercup" (from Pinafore), "When I First Put This Uniform On" (from Patience
Patience (opera)
Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. First performed at the Opera Comique, London, on 23 April 1881, it moved to the 1,292-seat Savoy Theatre on 10 October 1881, where it was the first theatrical production in the...
), and "The Nightmare Song" (from Iolanthe). He also wrote a short story called The Up-To-Date Sorcerer
The Up-To-Date Sorcerer
"The Up-To-Date Sorcerer" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the July 1958 issue of Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1969 collection Nightfall and Other Stories....
that is a parody of and homage to The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876...
. In addition, Asimov wrote "The Author's Ordeal
The Author's Ordeal
The Author's Ordeal are lyrics to a song written by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. They were first published in Science Fiction Quarterly, May 1957, pp. 34-36...
" (1957), a pastiche of a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song
Patter song
The patter song is characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note...
similar to the Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song from Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
, depicting the agonies that Asimov went through in thinking up a new science fiction story. Another such pastiche is "The Foundation of S.F. Success
The Foundation of S.F. Success
"The Foundation of S.F. Success" is a pastiche, written in 1954 by Isaac Asimov, of the patter song "If you're anxious for to shine" from the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera Patience, describing the easy way to become a successful writer. Asimov borrows Gilbert's rhythm and rhyme schemes in the...
" (1954). Both are included in his collection of short stories Earth Is Room Enough
Earth Is Room Enough
Earth Is Room Enough is a collection of fifteen short science fiction and fantasy stories and two pieces of comic verse published by Isaac Asimov in 1957. In his autobiography In Joy Still Felt, Asimov wrote, "I was still thinking of the remarks of reviewers such as George O. Smith . . ....
. The Rats, Bats and Vats series
Rats, Bats and Vats series
The Rats, Bats and Vats series is, currently, two humorous science-fiction novels written by Eric Flint and Dave Freer. The books are Rats, Bats and Vats and its direct sequel The Rats, The Bats and The Ugly...
also includes numerous G&S character names and phrases, since the D'Oyly Carte recordings of their work provide a portion of the language material for the genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced "rats" in the stories. Another science fiction author, Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
, referred to the "Little List" song in his Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
-winning novel, Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians. The novel explores his interaction with—and...
. There, Jubal Harshaw, discovering Valentine Michael Smith's ability to make objects (including people) disappear, mulls, "I've got a little list... they'd none of them be missed." Anne McCaffrey
Anne McCaffrey
Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American-born Irish writer, best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series. Over the course of her 46 year career she won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award...
also seems fond of The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
—several characters pass the time with it in Power Play, and references to "When the foeman bares his steel" appear in Crystal Line.
Film
Film referencesAside from film adaptations of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, several films have treated the G&S partnership. Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
's film Topsy-Turvy
Topsy-Turvy
Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 musical drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and stars Allan Corduner as Arthur Sullivan and Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert, along with Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville. The story concerns the 15-month period in 1884 and 1885 leading up to the premiere of Gilbert...
(1999) is an award-winning film depiction of the team and the creation of their most popular opera, The Mikado. Another G&S film is the 1953 The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (or The Great Gilbert and Sullivan in the U.S.), starring Robert Morley
Robert Morley
Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE was an English actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment...
as Gilbert and Maurice Evans
Maurice Evans (actor)
Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr...
as Sullivan, with Martyn Green
Martyn Green
William Martyn-Green , better known as Martyn Green, was an English actor and singer. He is best known for his work as principal comedian in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas, which he performed and recorded with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and other troupes.After army service in World War I,...
as George Grossmith
George Grossmith
George Grossmith was an English comedian, writer, composer, actor, and singer. His performing career spanned more than four decades...
. In a short 1950 film called The Return of Gilbert and Sullivan, Gilbert and Sullivan return to Earth to protest the jazz treatment of their work. In the 1951 film The Magic Box
The Magic Box
The Magic Box is a fictional magic shop in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon. It is located in Sunnydale and was last owned and operated by Rupert Giles, and served as the primary headquarters of the Scooby Gang for seasons five and six.-Ownership history:The shop went...
Sir Arthur Sullivan, played by the film conductor, Muir Mathieson
Muir Mathieson
James Muir Mathieson was a Scottish conductor and composer. Mathieson was almost always described as a "Musical Director" on a large number of British films.-Career:...
, conducts a choral concert of the Bath Choral Society.
Film adaptations of the operas have included a 1926 D'Oyly Carte Opera Company short promotional film of The Mikado that featured some of the most famous Savoyards, including Darrell Fancourt
Darrell Fancourt
Darrell Fancourt was an English bass-baritone, known for his performances and recordings of the Savoy Operas....
, Henry Lytton
Henry Lytton
Sir Henry Lytton was an English actor and singer who was the leading exponent of the comic patter-baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the early part of the twentieth century...
, Leo Sheffield
Leo Sheffield
Leo Sheffield was an English singer and actor best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, Elsie Griffin
Elsie Griffin
Elsie Griffin was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in the soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, and Bertha Lewis
Bertha Lewis
Bertha Lewis was an English opera singer and actress primarily known for her work as principal contralto in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Early life and career:...
. In 1939, Universal Pictures released a ninety-minute technicolor film adaptation of The Mikado. The film stars Martyn Green
Martyn Green
William Martyn-Green , better known as Martyn Green, was an English actor and singer. He is best known for his work as principal comedian in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas, which he performed and recorded with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and other troupes.After army service in World War I,...
as Ko-Ko and Sydney Granville
Sydney Granville
Sydney Granville was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
as Pooh-Bah. The music was conducted by Geoffrey Toye
Geoffrey Toye
Edward Geoffrey Toye , better known as Geoffrey Toye, was an English conductor, composer and opera producer....
, who was credited with the adaptation. William V. Skall received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography. Similarly, in 1966, the D'Oyly Carte produced a film version of The Mikado, which showed much of their traditional staging at the time, although there are some minor cuts. It stars John Reed
John Reed (actor)
John Lamb Reed, OBE was an English actor, dancer and singer, known for his nimble performances in the principal comic roles of the Savoy Operas, particularly with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company...
(Ko-Ko), Kenneth Sandford
Kenneth Sandford
Kenneth Sandford was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan....
(Pooh-Bah), Valerie Masterson
Valerie Masterson
Margaret Valerie Masterson , is a retired English opera singer, a lecturer and Vice-President of British Youth Opera. After study in Italy, she began to sing opera in Europe...
(Yum-Yum), Donald Adams
Donald Adams
Charles Donald Adams was an English opera singer and actor, best known for his performances in bass-baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and his own company, Gilbert and Sullivan for All.Adams began his career with the BBC Repertory Company in 1944...
(the Mikado), Peggy Ann Jones
Peggy Ann Jones
Peggy Ann Jones is an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in the mezzo-soprano roles of the Savoy operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company...
(Pitti-Sing), and Philip Potter
Philip Potter
Philip Potter is a retired English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Early life and career:Philip White Potter was born in Leicester...
(Nanki-Poo).
Several film scores draw heavily on the G&S repertoire, including The Matchmaker
The Matchmaker (film)
The Matchmaker is a 1958 American comedy film directed by Joseph Anthony. The screenplay by John Michael Hayes is based on the 1955 play of the same name by Thornton Wilder.-Plot:...
(1958; featuring Pinafore and Mikado music), I Could Go On Singing
I Could Go On Singing
I Could Go On Singing is a 1963 film starring Judy Garland and Dirk Bogarde.Although not a huge box office success on release, it won Garland much praise for her performance...
(1963; featuring Pinafore music), The Bad News Bears Go to Japan
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan is a 1978 film release by Paramount Pictures and was the sequel to The Bad News Bears and the sequel to The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training. It stars Tony Curtis, Jackie Earle Haley, and Regis Philbin...
(1978; the score features many excerpts from The Mikado), The Adventures of Milo and Otis
The Adventures of Milo and Otis
The Adventures of Milo and Otis is a live action Japanese film about an orange tabby cat named Milo and a fawn pug named Otis.The original Japanese version was released on June 27, 1986, and the reworked English language version was released on August 25, 1989.Initially filmed as Koneko Monogatari...
(1989; using several G&S themes), The Browning Version
The Browning Version (1994 film)
The Browning Version is a 1994 film directed by Mike Figgis and starring Albert Finney. The film is based on the 1948 play by Terence Rattigan, which was previously adapted for film under the same name in 1951.-Plot:...
(1994; features music from The Mikado), The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (film)
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a 1992 American thriller about a vengeful nanny out to destroy a naïve woman and steal her family. The film was directed by Curtis Hanson, starring Annabella Sciorra, Rebecca De Mornay, and Matt McCoy...
(1992; featuring songs from Pinafore and Pirates) and The Pirate Movie
The Pirate Movie
The Pirate Movie is a 1982 musical and comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Christopher Atkins and Kristy McNichol. The film is loosely based on Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. The original music score is composed by Mike Brady and Peter Sullivan...
(1982; featuring spoofs of songs from Pirates; in fact, the whole movie itself is a spoof of Pirates!). In Chariots of Fire, the protagonist, Harold Abrahams
Harold Abrahams
Harold Maurice Abrahams, CBE, was a British athlete of Jewish origin. He was Olympic champion in 1924 in the 100 metres sprint, a feat depicted in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.-Early life:...
, marries a woman who plays Yum-Yum in The Mikado with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
. Abrahams and his friends from Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
sing "He is an Englishman" (H.M.S. Pinafore). The soundtrack of Chariots also features "Three Little Maids from School Are We" (The Mikado), "With Catlike Tread" (Pirates), "The Soldiers of Our Queen" (Patience), and "There Lived a King" (The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
). In The Naughty Victorians, an X-rated film subtitled A Man with a Maid, the entire score is G&S music, and many musical puns are made, with the G&S music underlining the dialogue appropriately for those familiar with G&S. In The White Countess
The White Countess
The White Countess is a 2005 British/American/Chinese drama film directed by James Ivory. The screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro focuses on a disparate group of displaced persons attempting to survive in Shanghai in the late 1930s.-Plot:...
(2005), the overture to H.M.S. Pinafore is used in the soundrack.
In other films, characters sing songs from the operas. In Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Insurrection is a 1998 American science fiction film directed by Jonathan Frakes, written by Michael Piller , and with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith. It is the ninth film in the Star Trek franchise, and the third to feature the cast from the television series Star Trek: The Next...
(1998), Captain Picard
Jean-Luc Picard
Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a Star Trek character portrayed by Patrick Stewart. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...
and Lt. Commander Worf
Worf
Worf, played by Michael Dorn, is a main character in Star Trek: The Next Generation and in seasons four to seven of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also appears in the films based on The Next Generation. Worf is the first Klingon main character to appear in Star Trek, and has appeared in more Star...
sing lines from "A British Tar" from Pinafore to distract a malfunctioning Lt. Commander Data
Data (Star Trek)
Lieutenant Commander Data is a character in the fictional Star Trek universe portrayed by actor Brent Spiner. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek...
. In Kate and Leopold (2001), among other Pirates references, Leopold sings the "Major-General's Song," accompanying himself on the piano. In The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd (film)
The Good Shepherd is a 2006 spy film directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, with an extensive supporting cast. Although it is a fictional film loosely based on real events, it is advertised as telling the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the...
(2006), Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
's character sings Little Buttercup's song falsetto in an all-male version of Pinafore at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. In another Matt Damon film, The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith. This novel first introduced the character of Tom Ripley who returns in the novels Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water...
(1999), the song "We're Called Gondolieri" is featured in the soundtrack. In Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
(1981), the character Sallah sings Pinafore tunes, including "A British Tar". In the 2003
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
fantasy movie Peter Pan
Peter Pan (2003 film)
Peter Pan is a 2003 fantasy film released as a joint venture of Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios. P. J. Hogan directed a screenplay co-written with Michael Goldenberg which is based on the classic play and novel by J. M. Barrie. Jason Isaacs plays the roles of Captain...
, the Darling family sings "When I Was A Lad". The 1969 film Age of Consent featured the song "Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes" from The Gondoliers. In the 1971 film Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? is a 1971 British horror-thriller film directed by Curtis Harrington and starring Ralph Richardson, Shelley Winters and Mark Lester...
, Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
as the title character sings the song just before she is murdered. In the 1988 drama Permanent Record, a high school class performs Pinafore. Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
sings "I am the monarch of the sea" in the film, I Could Go On Singing
I Could Go On Singing
I Could Go On Singing is a 1963 film starring Judy Garland and Dirk Bogarde.Although not a huge box office success on release, it won Garland much praise for her performance...
.
In a number of films, a significant part of the action is set during a G&S opera. With Words and Music (1937) involves a bookie who revives a washed-up troupe of Savoyards by mounting a production of The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
. Foul Play
Foul Play
Foul Play is a 1978 American comic mystery/thriller film written and directed by Colin Higgins. In it, a recently divorced librarian is drawn into a mystery when a stranger hides a roll of film in a pack of cigarettes and gives it to her for safekeeping....
(1978) features an assassination attempt that culminates during a showing of The Mikado. The thwarted assassin falls into the rigging used as a backdrop for H.M.S. Pinafore. Similarly, in Walt Disney's cartoon Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
Mickey · Donald · Goofy: The Three Musketeers is a direct-to-video animated film adaptation of the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père. As the title suggests, it features Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as the three musketeers...
(2004), the finale occurs at the Paris Opéra
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
during a G&S performance. The score features "With cat-like tread", "The Major General's Song", "Climbing over rocky mountain", "Poor wandering one", and part of the overture from Princess Ida. The plot concerns a performance of The Pirates of Penzance that becomes the setting for the climactic battle between the Musketeers and Captain Pete.
In other films, there have simply been prominent references to one or more of the operas. For instance, in Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy film set in Los Angeles, California. Written by J.F. Lawton and directed by Garry Marshall, this motion picture features Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and also Hector Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy, and Jason Alexander in supporting roles. Roberts played the only...
, Edward Lewis (Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
) covered a social gaffe by prostitute Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
), who said that the opera La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
was so good that she almost "peed in [her] pants" by saying that she had said that she liked it almost as much as "The Pirates of Penzance." In Making Love
Making Love
Making Love is a 1982 American film. It tells the story of a married man coming to terms with his homosexuality and the love triangle that develops around him, his wife and another man...
(1982), Michael Ontkean
Michael Ontkean
Michael Leonard Ontkean is a Canadian actor. He is best known for the 1970s crime drama The Rookies, the film Slap Shot , and the cult-favorite TV series Twin Peaks .-Life and career:...
and Kate Jackson
Kate Jackson
Kate Jackson is an American actress, director, and producer, perhaps best known for her role as Sabrina Duncan in the popular 1970s television series Charlie's Angels...
are a happy G&S-loving couple until he leaves her for another man (Harry Hamlin
Harry Hamlin
Harry Robinson Hamlin is an American film and television actor, known for his role as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film Clash of the Titans, and as Michael Kuzak in the legal drama series L.A...
).
Television
Gilbert and Sullivan, and songs from the operas, have been included in numerous TV series, including The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
in several episodes, including "Cape Feare
Cape Feare
"Cape Feare" is the second episode of the fifth season of American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 7, 1993, and has since been featured on DVD and VHS releases...
", "Deep Space Homer
Deep Space Homer
"Deep Space Homer" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons fifth season and first aired on February 24, 1994. The episode was directed by Carlos Baeza and was the only episode of The Simpsons written by David Mirkin, who was also the executive producer at the time...
", and "Bart's Inner Child
Bart's Inner Child
"Bart's Inner Child" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons fifth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 11, 1993. In the episode, Marge realizes that she is no fun because of her constant nagging and seeks help from self-help guru Brad Goodman, who then...
"; numerous Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
episodes; Kavanagh QC
Kavanagh QC
Kavanagh QC is a British television series made by Carlton Television for ITV between 1995 and 2001. It has been shown on ITV3 as recently as August 2011; series 1–6 are available on Region 2 DVDs....
, in the episode "Briefs Trooping Gaily", Angel
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
in the fifth season episode "Conviction", where Charles Gunn becomes a good lawyer, and learns a lot of G&S, because it's "great for elocution"; numerous references in Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
; the episode "The Cold Open" (1x02) of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was an American dramedy television series created and written by Aaron Sorkin. It ran for 22 episodes.The series takes place behind the scenes of a live sketch comedy show on the fictional television network NBS , whose format is similar to that of NBC's...
; the episode "Atonement
Atonement (Babylon 5)
"Atonement" is an episode from the fourth season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Synopsis:As Babylon 5 recovers from the propaganda war started on ISN, Sheridan sends Marcus and Dr. Franklin to Mars. Along the journey, they annoy each other, including Marcus singing "The...
" of Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
; in the Australian soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
, Harold Bishop
Harold Bishop
Harold Bishop is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Ian Smith. He made his first on-screen appearance on 30 January 1987. Smith was offered a role by Neighbours creator and executive producer Reg Watson...
often makes G&S references; references in the VeggieTales
VeggieTales
VeggieTales is an American series of children's computer animated films featuring anthropomorphic vegetables in stories conveying moral themes based on Christianity...
episodes "Lyle the Kindly Viking
Lyle the Kindly Viking
Lyle the Kindly Viking is the fifteenth episode of the VeggieTales animated series. It was released on March 24, 2001 and then in 2002 on DVD...
," "The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment," "The Star of Christmas
The Star of Christmas
The Star of Christmas is the eighteenth episode of the VeggieTales animated series and the second holiday special in that series. It was released on October 29, 2002 and re-released September 5, 2006 in Holiday Double Feature with its earlier episode The Toy that Saved Christmas. Like the other...
" (a Christmas special entirely devoted to spoofing G&S and their operas), and "Sumo of the Opera
Sumo of the Opera
Sumo of the Opera is the 24th episode in the VeggieTales series. Subtitled "A Lesson in Perseverance", it teaches viewers the importance of working through adversity to accomplish one's goals...
"; Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
referred to and parodied G&S a number of times, especially in season four (beside the examples named above and below, see "Patriot Games
Patriot Games (Family Guy)
"Patriot Games" is the twentieth episode of the fourth season of the animated television series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox on January 29, 2006, around the time of Super Bowl XL, which fit the sports theme of the episode. In it, Peter goes to his high school reunion and meets Tom Brady...
", which includes the song from The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876...
, "If you'll marry me"). In the UK series Lilies
Lilies (BBC TV series)
Lilies is a British period-drama television series, written by Heidi Thomas, which ran for one eight-episode series in early 2007 on BBC One. The show's tagline was "Liverpool, 1920...
, in the 2007 episode "The Tallyman" both "When I Was a Lad" and "The Sun Whose Rays" are heard. Muppet Wiki has a G&S page. An episode of Car 54, Where Are You?
Car 54, Where Are You?
Car 54, Where Are You? is an American sitcom that ran on NBC from 1961 to 1963. Episodes had various directors, the most recognized being Al De Caprio. Stanley Prager and Nat Hiken also directed several episodes. Most of its filming was on location in The Bronx, and at Biograph...
has parodies of several G&S songs. In 1988, episodes of Australian soap opera Home and Away
Home and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...
featured a school production of The Mikado. A second-season (1998) episode of the TV show Millennium
Millennium (TV series)
Millennium is an American television series created by Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files. Millennium aired on the Fox Network from 1996 to 1999. The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, though most episodes were ostensibly set in or around Seattle, Washington...
titled "The Mikado" is based on the Zodiac case.
Gilbert and Sullivan references often appear in The West Wing. Some incidents include an episode-long argument over whether "He is an Englishman" is from H.M.S. Pinafore or The Pirates of Penzance, after one character's invocation of "duty," in the episode And It's Surely to Their Credit
And It's Surely to Their Credit
"And It's Surely to Their Credit" is the fifth episode of the second season of the television series The West Wing, which premiered on NBC on November 1, 2000.-Plot:...
; President Bartlet's gift of a CD of The Yeomen of the Guard to his aide Charlie in Stirred
Stirred
-Plot:When a large truck carrying uranium fuel rods crashes in a remote Idaho tunnel, Bartlet's staff prepares for a potential – environmental or terrorist – crisis....
; references to The Pirates of Penzance in Mandatory Minimums
Mandatory Minimums
"Mandatory Minimums" is the 20th episode of The West Wing.-Plot:The President bucks pressure from Republicans in Congress and nominates two advocates for aggressive campaign finance reform to the Federal Election Commission, to Josh Lyman's audible agreement...
and Inauguration, Part I
Inauguration, Part I
-Plot:In the week before Bartlet's second inauguration, an escalating genocide in a remote African country prompts him to consider "a new doctrine for the use of force." Not surprisingly, this idea doesn't meet with universal approval, even in the West Wing...
; and an excerpt from "A Wand'ring Minstrel I" in A Change Is Gonna Come
A Change Is Gonna Come (The West Wing)
-Plot:While preparing the upcoming China summit, the Chinese are insulted by President Bartlet's acceptance of a Taiwanese independence movement flag at a prayer breakfast. Charlie must try and return the flag, and CJ has to agree to stipulations the Chinese are making in order to mend fences...
. Character Sam Seaborn
Sam Seaborn
Samuel Norman "Sam" Seaborn is a fictional character portrayed by Rob Lowe on the television serial drama The West Wing. He is best known for being Deputy White House Communications Director in the Josiah Bartlet administration throughout the first four seasons of the series.-Creation and...
, the Deputy Communications Director, is the former recording secretary of the Princeton Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Creator Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
has stated that the characters' love for Gilbert and Sullivan is part of his attempt to avoid referring to current political and entertainment personalities and to set it in a "parallel universe."
The following are examples of references to some of the best-known G&S operas:
- The Mikado: In addition to those mentioned above, a "Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
" episode is entitled "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime"; Larry DavidLarry DavidLawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
's show Curb Your EnthusiasmCurb Your EnthusiasmCurb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
uses "Three Little Maids" from The Mikado as background music. The FrasierFrasierFrasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
episode, "Leapin' Lizards," the AngelAngel (TV series)Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
episode "Hole in the World", the SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Cape Feare," Alvin and the ChipmunksAlvin and the Chipmunks (TV series)Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring The Chipmunks, produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983–87, and DIC Entertainment from 1988-90....
episode "Maids in Japan", and The AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
Vol. 1 episode "Hello Nice Warners" all parody "Three Little Maids." A Muppet Show episode featured Rowlf the DogRowlf the DogRowlf the Dog is a Muppet character, a scruffy brown dog of indeterminate breed with a rounded black nose and long floppy ears. He was created by Jim Henson....
and Sam the EagleSam the EagleSam the Eagle is a character from the syndicated television show The Muppet Show, performed by Frank Oz. The name "Sam" is possibly derived from Uncle Sam. The Bald Eagle is the official symbol of the United States, and Sam's patriotic spirit differentiates him from the rest of the Muppet cast, as...
singing "Tit-Willow". In the 2010 episode "Robots Versus WrestlersRobots Versus Wrestlers"Robots Versus Wrestlers " is the 22nd episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 110th episode overall. It aired on May 10, 2010.- Plot :...
" of the TV sitcom How I Met Your MotherHow I Met Your MotherHow I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
, at a high-society party in a Manhattan penthouse, Marshall disdainfully whacks an antique Chinese gong. The host rebukes him: "Young man, that gong is a 500-year-old relic that hasn't been struck since W. S. GilbertW. S. GilbertSir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
hit it at the London premiere of The Mikado in 1885!" Marshall quips, "His wife's a 500-year-old relic that hasn't been struck since W. S. Gilbert hit it at the London premiere...."
- H.M.S. Pinafore: In the "Cape FeareCape Feare"Cape Feare" is the second episode of the fifth season of American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 7, 1993, and has since been featured on DVD and VHS releases...
" episode of The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, BartBart SimpsonBartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
stalls his would-be killer, Sideshow BobSideshow BobRobert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared briefly in the episode "The Telltale Head". Bob is a self-proclaimed genius who is a graduate of Yale, a member of...
, with a "final request" that Bob sing him the entire score of Pinafore. Similarly, the "HMS Yakko" episode of AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
consists of pastiches of songs from H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of PenzanceThe Pirates of PenzanceThe Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
. A Pinky and the BrainPinky and the BrainPinky and the Brain is an American animated television series.The characters Pinky and the Brain first appeared in 1993 as a recurring segment on the show Animaniacs...
song called Meticulous Analysis of History is set to the tune of "When I was a lad", while the "Lord Bravery" theme song in Freakazoid uses the tune from the chorus of "A British Tar". In Family GuyFamily GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
s episode 3.1, "The Thin White LineThe Thin White Line"The Thin White Line" is the first episode of the third season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on July 11, 2001...
," Stewie imagines himself to be a sea captain and sings a pastiche of "My gallant crew" implying that he sleeps with his crew. In the film, Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, Stewie gives sex lessons by singing "I am the monarch of the sea" to illustrate rhythm. The scene is repeated in Family GuyFamily GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
episode 4.30, "Stu and Stewie's Excellent Adventure." A 1986 Mr. BelvedereMr. BelvedereMr. Belvedere is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from March 15, 1985, until July 8, 1990. The series was based on the Lynn Aloysius Belvedere character created by Gwen Davenport for her 1947 novel Belvedere, which was later adapted into the 1948 film Sitting Pretty...
episode, "The Play", concerns a production of H.M.S. Pinafore, and several of the songs are performed. The song "He is an Englishman" is referenced both in the title's name and throughout The West WingThe West Wing (TV series)The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
episode "And It's Surely to Their CreditAnd It's Surely to Their Credit"And It's Surely to Their Credit" is the fifth episode of the second season of the television series The West Wing, which premiered on NBC on November 1, 2000.-Plot:...
".
- Pirates: In addition to those already mentioned above, in Studio 60 on the Sunset StripStudio 60 on the Sunset StripStudio 60 on the Sunset Strip was an American dramedy television series created and written by Aaron Sorkin. It ran for 22 episodes.The series takes place behind the scenes of a live sketch comedy show on the fictional television network NBS , whose format is similar to that of NBC's...
, a poster from "The Pirates of Penzance" hangs on Matt Albie's (Matthew PerryMatthew Perry (actor)Matthew Langford Perry is a Canadian-American actor and comedian, best known for his Emmy-nominated role as Chandler Bing on the popular, long-running NBC television sitcom Friends...
) office wall. In Family Guy episode 4.11, "Peter's Got Woods," Brian sings "Sighing softly to the river." In a 1986 episode of the animated television adaptation of The Wind in the WillowsThe Wind in the Willows (TV series)The Wind in the Willows is a 52-episode TV series that was originally broadcast between 1984 and 1987, based on characters from Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows and following the 1983 film The Wind in the Willows. It was made by animation company Cosgrove Hall for Thames...
entitled A Producer's Lot, several characters put on a production of Pirates. In the 1992 episode "The Understudy" of Clarissa Explains it AllClarissa Explains It AllClarissa Explains It All is an American teen sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon. Created by Mitchell Kriegman, it aired for five seasons for a total of 65 episodes from March 23, 1991, to December 3, 1994, and then went into reruns....
, the title character is chosen to understudy Mabel in a school production of Pirates and is unprepared when she must go on; a scene from The Mikado is also quoted.
Other media
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
stout. Trading cards were also created, using images from some of the operas to advertise various products. There was also a series of Currier and Ives
Currier and Ives
Currier and Ives was a successful American printmaking firm headed by Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives . Based in New York City from 1834–1907, the prolific firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand colored...
prints. Several series of cigarette cards were issued by Player's cigarette company
John Player & Sons
John Player & Sons, known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. It is today a part of the Imperial Tobacco Group.-History:...
depicting characters from the Savoy operas wearing the costumes used by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Numerous postcards were published with photos or illustrations of D'Oyly Carte and other performers and scenes from the operas and other Gilbert plays. More recently, television ads for Terry's Chocolate Orange
Terry's Chocolate Orange
Terry's Chocolate Orange is a chocolate product, made by Kraft Foods, originally sold only in the United Kingdom, but now sold all across the world. It is a ball of chocolate mixed with orange oil, divided into 20 "segments", similar to a real orange, and wrapped in orange-coloured foil...
from the 2000s featured a pastiche of "When I Was a Lad" from Pinafore.
Both Nelson Eddy
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
and Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
recorded albums of selections from the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Al Goodman
Al Goodman
Al Goodman was a conductor, songwriter, stage composer, musical director, arranger, and pianist....
and Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
also released Gilbert and Sullivan recordings. The operas are referred to in other popular media, including video games. For example, in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall...
, a casino is called "Pirates in Men’s Pants", a crude play on Pirates of Penzance. The 1970s popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
singer Gilbert O'Sullivan
Gilbert O'Sullivan
Gilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish-English singer-songwriter, best known for his early 1970s hits "Alone Again ", "Clair" and "Get Down". The music magazine, Record Mirror, voted him the No...
adopted his stage name as a pun on 'Gilbert and Sullivan'.