Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Respectable Capers': Class, Respectability and the Savoy Operas 1877û1909 (Palgrave Studies in British Musical Theatre) - 9781137594778

This innovative account of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership provides a unique insight into the experience of both attending and performing in the original productions of the most influential and enduring pieces of English-language musical theatre. In the 1870s, Savoy impresario Richard DÆOyly Carte astutely realized that a conscious move to respectability in a West End which, until then, had favored the racy delights of burlesque and French operetta, would attract a new, lucrative morally ædecentÆ audience. This book examines the commercial, material and human factors underlying the Victorian productions of the Savoy operas. Unusually for a book on æG&SÆ, it focuses on people and things rather than author biography or literary criticism. Examining theatre architecture, interior design, marketing, and typical audiences, as well as the working conditions and personal lives of the members of a Victorian theatre-company, æRespectable CapersÆ explains how the Gilbert and Sullivan operas helped to transform the West End into the family-friendly ætheatre landÆ which still exists today.

• | Author: Michael Goron
• | Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• | Publication Date: Sep 27, 2016
• | Number of Pages: 267 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover/Performing Arts
• | ISBN-10: 1137594772
• | ISBN-13: 9781137594778