How difficult could it be to choose a Gilbert and Sullivan opera?

Aren’t there are just 13 ‘Savoy’ Operas?

Long out of copyright, aren’t these celebrated comic operas royalty free?

The original orchestrations, of course, are readily available for hire in Australia through Pit Parts, if you have a traditional production in mind.

Since copyright expired, however, any number of permutations and variations on the originals have sprung up.

When The Pirates of Penzance was re-imagined for Broadway, and subsequently filmed, with a cast including Kevin Kline and Linda Rondstadt, the fresh take, bright new orchestrations and swashbuckling production made Pirates a world-wide hit all over again. That ‘Broadway Version’ is available through Hal Leonard, as is Hot Mikado, with the Sullivan score reorchestrated along a variety of musical styles including swing, jazz, blues, gospel, and a touch of Andrews Sisters.

Simon Gallaher starred in the original Australia production of the Broadway version of Pirates of Penzance, alongside Jon English. In the1990s Gallaher returned to Pirates, in a new adaptation, as producer and star, again with English. The phenomenal success of Pirates reworked versions of HMS Pinafore and The Mikado along similar lines.

David Spicer Productions represents Simon Gallaher's unique versions of The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and HMS Pinafore. They feature a funky female chorus, smaller orchestrations and extra laughs. Since their professional debut in the mid 1990's and several revivals, they have become a favourite on the community theatre and school circuit.
What may surprise readers is that Essgee G & S has gone global. In 2010 they are being staged in Frankfurt, Germany at an international school and several productions in North America.
The biggest demand is from amateur theatres in the UK.
If you can export G&S to the UK, maybe ice to the eskimos is not out of the question.

Other versions abound. Dominie Drama represent the Pioneer Drama adaptations of The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and HMS Pinafore, which offer gender flexibility, ensemble casts, room for large choruses and easy staging and costuming. They range in length between 60 and 75 minutes, with piano vocal score and CD backing available. Hal Leonard represents a One Act version of Pirates in the Broadway Junior series. ORiGiN™ Theatrical represents a new version of HMS Pinafore - Dauntless Dick Deadeye.

The catalogue of Gilbert and Sullivan has also been drawn on many times, in the comic opera version of juke box musicals. Dominie Drama represents the biographical Gilbert and Sullivan musical, Tarantara! Tarantara! and a comical spin from the Farndale series, Farndale Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Operatic Society’s Production of The Mikado. DSP represents another biographical piece with a G & S score, A Song to Sing O – the story of the original patter man, George Grossmith – either original solo show, or in expanded full company version. DSP also has a version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, musicalised with a G & S score.

Though the score of the first G & S collaboration Thespis, is long lost, much of it was recycled in their later works, and a reconstructed version is available. Gilbert’s comedy non-musical Engaged has also been musicalised with a Sullivan score..

The Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration basically came about in response to the huge popularity in Britain of the French operettas of Offenbach. Various translations of such popular Offenbach operettas as Orpheus in the Underworld, La Perichole and La Belle Helene are locally available locally through Hal Leonard and David Spicer Productions, as are a range of their contemporaries such as Strauss favorite Die Fledermaus.

Possibly the best-loved and most performed operetta of the early 20th Century, Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow is in the Hal Leonard catalogue, while DSP represents The Merry Widow From Bluegum Creek, a fun new Aussie spin on the old favorite.

ORiGiN™ Theatrical holds the rights and materials for a multitude of great JC Williamson hits of that era, operettas and musical comedies such as The Chocolate Soldier, Our Miss Gibbs, The Quaker Girl, Veronique, Viktoria and Her Hussar and Floradora, as well as great American operettas including The Desert Song and The New Moon.

Hal Leonard’s large stable of operettas also includes works by the original king of American operetta, Victor Herbert (Naughty Marietta and Sweethearts).

Is your favorite operetta missing? Well it’s probably out there, and ready for revival.

Though the 1920s probably marked the end of the glory days of the operetta (though they certainly lived on, on screen, through the auspices of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald), more than a sprinkling of operettas, or musicals with operetta inspiration are evident along with revivals of the classics. Kismet, with it’s Borodin score, Bernstein and Sondheim’s Candide and Sondheim’s A Little Night Music (all HL). An Australian entry in the field, David Reeves’ Cyrano de Bergerac has recently become available through ORiGiN. Best known through it’s concept album, the it has only been seen on the stage professionally in Brisbane.

Meanwhile, if you’re in the market for a delightful, affectionate, easy-to-stage send-up of operetta, take a look at Rick Besoyan’s delightful Off-Broadway hit Little Mary Sunshine (Dominie), a particular favorite of your editor.