Director and Historian Notes

Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert & Sullivan Players
50th Anniversary Celebration
Notes from the Director, Historian, and 50th Coordinator

From the Director (Charles I. Miller, Harvard '08):

Our production of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore is the centerpiece of HRG&SP's 50th Anniversary Celebration, commemorating the long and vibrant tradition of Gilbert and Sullivan at Harvard. And what better way to celebrate than with Pinafore, one of the duo's most successful collaborations? H.M.S. Pinafore is not only a wonderful operetta with a brilliant score and hilarious plot, but it is also a historically important piece in the creative relationship of Gilbert and Sullivan and the development of musical theatre as we know it. Pinafore tells the story of love transcending social class aboard the high seas, and with its crazy cast of characters and such memorable songs as 'I'm Called Little Buttercup,' 'Nevermind the Why and Wherefore,' and 'He is an Englishman,' it has been a hit for centuries since its premiere in 1878.

In addition to Pinafore, we will be presenting Gilbert and Sullivan's only one act collaboration, Trial By Jury, as a special double bill. In Trial By Jury, Gilbert spoofs the legal system as a drunken judge and incompetent jury try to settle the civil case of a breached promise of marriage. The pairing of Trial and Pinafore is a historically successful one, and we very much look forward to presenting the two together. Because of its one-act status, Trial By Jury tends to be less frequently performed, so any occasion to perform it is truly exciting.

Together, Trial By Jury and H.M.S. Pinafore demonstrate the lyric and musical genius of both Gilbert and Sullivan and should create an unforgettable night of theatre.

From the Historian (Benjamin T. Morris, Harvard '09):

Gilbert and Sullivan came together for the first time in 1871, collaborating on an opera called Thespis, or the Gods Grown Old. Though received well enough by the critics, Thespis was under-rehearsed and closed after only sixty-four performances. Gilbert and Sullivan parted ways and the vocal score, never published, has since been lost.

Four years later, theatrical manager Richard D'Oyly Carte, producing Jacques Offenbach's opera La Perichole at the Royalty Theatre in Dean Street, Soho, needed something to complete the bill. When Sullivan was unable to finish a two-act opera in time for opening night, Carte filled in a domestic comedy (perplexingly titled Cryptoconchoid Syphonostomata) and turned to Gilbert for a final piece. Gilbert had just the thing: a one-act operetta already written, Trial by Jury.

Trial by Jury first appeared as a one page draft in the April 11, 1868 issue of the magazine Fun. In 1873 Gilbert filled in the sketch to a full-scale libretto at the request of opera impresario, Carl Rosa, who intended his wife to perform the lead role. When she died unexpectedly in January 1874, Trial by Jury was shelved.

Carte recommended Sullivan as the ideal collaborator for the work. Gilbert paid Sullivan a visit and, Sullivan recalled, 'read it through to me in a perturbed sort of way with a gradual crescendo of indignation, in the manner of a man considerably disappointed with what he had written. As soon as he had come to the last word he closed the manuscript up violently, apparently unconscious of the fact that he had achieved his purpose so far as I was concerned, inasmuch as I was screaming with laughter the whole time.' In three weeks, Sullivan set the 'dramatic cantata' to music and Trial by Jury opened to resounding reviews. Trial by Jury, now often performed as a curtain raiser to H.M.S. Pinafore or The Pirates of Penzance, marks the beginning of the productive relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan.

Following Trial by Jury, Gilbert and Sullivan came out with The Sorcerer which but hinted at the riches which were yet to come of their collaboration. With their very next opera, H.M.S. Pinafore, which opened on May 25, 1878, Gilbert and Sullivan hit upon the magic touch which vaulted them to both national and international fame. Though H.M.S. Pinafore floundered somewhat in the midst of a summer heat wave during the early days of its run, concern turned out to be premature. After Sullivan conducted some tunes from H.M.S. Pinafore at the summer promenade concerts at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The weather cooled and people swarmed to H.M.S. Pinafore, which finished by equaling the record for the longest initial West End run with 571 performances.

H.M.S. Pinafore quickly attracted international popularity as well, matching and surpassing the enthusiasm it had initially seen in England. In the absence of overseas copyright laws, within a few months, fifty unauthorized 'pirate' companies were performing H.M.S. Pinafore in the United States. The first authorized performance in the United States on December 1, 1879 saw Gilbert himself make a rare appearance in the chorus of sailors. Reportedly, at one point, in one American newspaper the phrase 'What, never? Well, hardly ever' occurred twenty times in one day's paper. The editor is said to have gathered the reporters and ordered, 'Never let me see it again,' to which the inevitable reply was 'What never?' The editor couldn't help responding 'Well, hardly ever.' In 1881, Crown Prince William of Prussia, later Kaiser William II, greeted Sullivan when he visited Kiel with a bow, singing, 'He polished up the handle of the big front door'. To this day, H.M.S. Pinafore has unquestioningly remained one of Gilbert and Sullivan's best loved and most performed operettas.

From the 50th Coordinator (Emma Katz '06):

The Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players (HRG&SP) came into existence on March 7, 1956 when it was granted its charter from Harvard University to 'present Gilbert and Sullivan to the Harvard community'. Its first performance took place that same spring, with an inaugural production of Ruddigore. However, the tradition of G&S at Harvard began long before this official recognition.

The first known G&S performance at Harvard was a concert version of The Pirates of Penzance, presented at Sanders Theater in the spring of 1896, 19 years after the opera was composed. The more immediate lead-up to HRG&SP's birth was due in part to a group of students in Winthrop House, where the operettas were performed regularly. After a while, a few especially enthusiastic G&S devotees decided to produce their own shows in the basement of the Cambridge Congressional Church. Inspired by their success, the students continued to look for a permanent home. They were particularly attracted to Radcliffe's Agassiz Theatre, built in 1904, and uniquely suited in size and atmosphere to the needs of Gilbert and Sullivan's work. Since the Agassiz Theatre was available to any organization with a Harvard charter, one was soon sought and granted to the Harvard Gilbert and Sullivan Players. The name later changed when 'Radcliffe' was added in 1991, creating the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players (HRG&SP).

HRG&SP remains in the historic Agassiz Theatre to this day. Its repertoire is drawn mainly from 12 of the 14 G&S operas, from Trial By Jury to Utopia, Ltd., excluding only Thepsis and The Grand Duke. Two productions are done every year, in December and April. There have been only four instances in HRG&SP's history that a work not written by Gilbert or Sullivan was produced. The most recent was George and Ira Gershwins' Of Thee I Sing in the spring of 1999.

In the course of its lifetime, over 5000 people have participated in HRG&SP productions. This includes students from almost every school at Harvard University and from colleges and high schools all around the Boston area, not to mention community members, faculty, and alumni. Some of HRG&SP's alumni have had extremely successful careers in theater. These include renowned actor and former HRG&SP President John Lithgow '67, celebrated cellist and one time pit orchestra member Yo Yo Ma '76, HRG&SP star turned Broadway star Paul Jackal '78, and another HRG&SP star Lucian Russell '65 who went on to found the professional New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players.

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