Gold Collection, The - D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

Advantages: The wit, the songs, the dialogue, the costumes
Disadvantages: A satire on anyone who follows the asthetic movement

...is undoubtably by watching and listening to a live performance. If however you do get the opportuninty for this, there are DVD and CDs available. The London Symphony Orchestra have recorded Patience on DVD with an introduction by Douglas Fairbanks. This retails from about £18.75 and is available in most music stores. Austalia Opera have recorded Patience on DVD which is available through the internet on Amazon from £13.78. There are also a number of CDs available containing some or all of the operetta. Gilbert & Sullivan: The Gold Collection, which includes four tracks from Patience (The soldiers of our queen, Am I alone and unobserved?, If you're anxious to shine, So go to him and say to him). It is performed by th D’Oyly Carte Opera Chorus and produced by the Decca label. It is available from about £8.99 so is pretty affordable... Read review

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Advantages: Rousing, jolly, bristling with life and humour
Disadvantages: None

...in London saw attendances plunge. Sullivan was conducting a series of Promenade Concerts that year and included tunes from “HMS Pinafore” which turned out to be a extremely popular. This kindled further interest in the opera. Audiences returned and receipts again soared. It ran for 571 performances in London. D’Oyly Carte started a touring company to take it to the provinces. Its success also proved to be a considerable problem with regards copyright particularly in America where performances became all the rage in cities across the States – bringing massive profits to the theatre owners and producers but nothing for the authors. The official performance of “HMS Pinafore” opened in America on December 1st 1879 and proved a huge success. THE BACKGROUND At the time this opera was written Britain’s Navy ‘ruled the waves... Read review

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Advantages: The most popular, the most perfect, the most performed
Disadvantages: None

...) with a “classical” staging and “authentic” costumes. The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company put on a much more modern and minimalist production for their season at the Savoy Theatre in London. Of the two, I have to say I preferred the former. This is to some extent a continuation of a rivalry between the two Companies that dates back to the authors’ day. Carl Rosa was in operation first but tended to concentrate on the more ‘high brow’ production. Richard D’Oyly Carte set up his company specifically to produce and stage the G&S repertoire. RESOURCES My CD copy of “The Mikado” comes from the period when the D’Oyly Carte was the premiere professional institution for Gilbert and Sullivan. John Reed is in particularly brilliant form here as Ko-Ko. He played all the leading comedian roles over three decades (1951 to 1979) and was the fifth in a line... Read review

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