Empire of Topsy-Turvy : The Gilbert and Sullivan Operas' Transformation of Victorian Musical Theatre

“Without Gilbert and Sullivan, there would be no Sondheim, no Lloyd Webber, no Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their operettas laid the groundwork for the modern musical, blending satire, melody and narrative in a way that still resonates today.” (Telegraph)

The Gilbert and Sullivan operas – including The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Pirates of Penzance – rapidly became a theatrical sensation when they premiered in late Victorian London. Despite their seeming trivial character, the operas’ libretti, musical settings, and performance style were so innovative as to be revolutionary.

Empire of Topsy-Turvy provides a vivid, fresh, and accessible account of why and how these path-breaking nineteenth-century comic operas by dramatist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan became such a spectacular success in Britain and a lasting national institution. Gilbert’s topsy-turvy satire combined with Sullivan’s equally satirical and charming music created a distinctive genre of light operatic entertainment. This new critical study, in turn, combines biography, storyline and analysis to delve into Gilbert and Sullivan’s performance style and the appeal of the operas and the Savoy Theatre to a strait-laced middle-class audience and nationalistic sentiment.

Designed for all readers interested in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas as well as theatrical history in general, and drawing on extensive research from archival sources on both sides of the Atlantic, alongside recent work by other scholars, Empire of Topsy-Turvy explains how the Gilbert and Sullivan phenomenon emerged in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, what made the operas so innovative, and why they drew such large and devoted audiences.