Gilbert and Sullivan Archive

IOLANTHE

OR

THE PEER AND THE PERI

A DISCUSSION

Compiled by Stephen B. Sullivan

July 1997


INTRODUCTION

One of my goals in putting together this archive is to take full advantage of a hypertext language to represent a multidimensional object. This page is written in HTML and the Iolanthe discussion is a multidimensional object. For those of you who like to wander around in a discussion, this should be fun. For those of you who like to print something out and read it front to back, this web site has not been designed for you.

It is my intention that this web site will be a living conversation. As interesting conversations about Iolanthe occur on the SavoyNet, I will add them to this site. If there are ever some good postings about the women's roles in Iolanthe, they will definitely be added.


The following discussion is a compilation of the thoughts and opinions of subscribers to the SavoyNet Maillist between 21 May 1997 and 4 Jun 1997. It should be noted that, while many of the contributors have performed in, and/or extensively researched, IOLANTHE, the following opinions reflect the personal views of the individual contributors to which they are attributed.

The archivist's comments, which are kept to a minimum, are given in italics in order to distinguish them from the main discussion. They consist mostly in identifying points in the discussion where another thread was started and which is more appropriately placed under a different heading.

Many SavoyNetters are fond of using acronyms for some common (and, occasionally, uncommon) phrases. However, for others these remain a profound mystery and even an irritant. I had originally thought of substituting the complete phrase where these occurred in the discussions but that would be to remove what is a characteristic aspect of SavoyNet postings. Instead, I have left them untouched but provided a section where all those that occur in these discussions are translated ( at least I think they are!).

New Contributions

A discussion of the Orchestration for Iolanthe

CONTENTS

A good place to start this discussion is in Also Occurred in 1882 which provides some historical background for what was going on in the British world when Iolanthe was written. This discussion led to Time Machine.

David Craven inspired a lot of discussion with his postings about what he called the "defects" in Iolanthe. His four "defects" and the discussion they led to are:

  1. First Defect -- Lack of a Villain
  2. Second Defect -- Financial Difficulties
  3. Third Defect -- Baritone Underwritten
  4. Fourth Defect -- Director Proof
The following pages are also part of this discussion.
Archivist Notes Band of the Grenadier Guards Captain Shaw Does Your Mother Know You're -
Duets Favourite Lines Female Roles Fold Your Flapping Wings
Gilbert as Craftsman Lawyer Joke Lord Chancellor 'Lump' of a Girl
March Music The Nightmare Song Private Willis's Age Relationships
Revised Iolanthe Settings Wings

Fairy upsets oil over two articles (8)



Updated 28 November 1997