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J. M. Gordon
John McRobbie Gordon, ''né'' John McRobbie (12 October 1857 – 22 February 1944) was a Scottish singer, actor, stage manager and director, known as an influential stage director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company after the death of W. S. Gilbert. In his early career Gordon appeared in the chorus and minor roles in D'Oyly Carte productions, and after a period as a freelance actor, manager and director, he returned to the company permanently in 1910, as stage manager, and later stage director, establishing a reputation as a firm disciplinarian and upholder of the performing practices originated by Gilbert. Life and career Early years Gordon was born in Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire, the eldest son of Samuel McRobbie, a carpenter and farmer. Gordon retained his Aberdeen accent throughout his life. The family was musical and did not discourage the boy's ambitions for a career as a singer. He studied at the short-lived Aberdeen Conservatoire before moving to London in 1880. He took hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Yeomen Of The Guard
''The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid'', is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888 and ran for 423 performances. This was the eleventh collaboration of fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan. The opera is set in the Tower of London during the 16th century, and is the darkest, and perhaps most emotionally engaging, of the Savoy Operas, ending with a broken-hearted main character and two very reluctant engagements, rather than the usual numerous marriages. The libretto does contain considerable humour, including a lot of pun-laden one-liners, but Gilbert's trademark satire and topsy-turvy plot complications are subdued in comparison with the other Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The dialogue, though in prose, is quasi-William Shakespeare, Shakespearean, or Early Modern English, early modern English, in style. Critics considered the score to be Sullivan's finest, including its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mountebanks
''The Mountebanks'' is a comic opera in two acts with music by Alfred Cellier and Ivan Caryll and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The story concerns a magic potion that causes the person to whom it is administered to become what he or she has pretended to be. It is similar to several "magic lozenge" plots that Gilbert had proposed to the composer Arthur Sullivan, but that Sullivan had rejected, earlier in their careers. To set his libretto to music, Gilbert turned to Cellier, who had previously been a musical director for Gilbert and Sullivan and had since become a successful composer. During the composition of the piece Cellier died, and the score was finished by the original production's musical director, Ivan Caryll, who became a successful composer of Edwardian Musical Comedy. The opera was first produced at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 4 January 1892, for a run of 229 performances. It also toured extensively, had a short Broadway run, in 1893, American tours and Australian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorothy (opera)
''Dorothy'' is a comic opera in three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. The story involves a rake who falls in love with his disguised fiancée. It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre in London in 1886. After a rocky start, it was revised and transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre later that year and then transferred to the Lyric Theatre in 1888, where it played until 1889. The piece had an initial run of 931 performances, breaking the record for the longest-running musical theatre production in history and holding this record until the run of the musical play '' A Chinese Honeymoon'' in the early 1900s. ''Dorothy'' also toured in Britain, America and Australia and enjoyed numerous revivals until at least 1908. The piece was popular with amateur theatre groups, particularly in Britain, until World War II. The show's hit songs included the ballad "Queen of My Heart", "Be Wise In Time", "Hark For'ard!", "With A Welcome To All", an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier (1 December 184428 December 1891) was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor. In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and on tour in Britain, America and Australia. He composed over a dozen operas and other works for the theatre, as well as for orchestra, but his 1886 comic opera, ''Dorothy'', was by far his most successful work. It became the longest-running piece of musical theatre in the nineteenth century. Biography Cellier was born in South Hackney, London, the second child and eldest son of Arsène Cellier, a language teacher from France, and his wife Mary Ann Peterine, formerly Peacock, ''née'' Thomsett. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Cloches De Corneville
''Les cloches de Corneville'' (''The Bells of Corneville'', sometimes known in English as ''The Chimes of Normandy'') is an opéra-comique in three acts, composed by Robert Planquette to a libretto by Clairville (Louis-François Nicolaïe), Louis Clairville and Charles Gabet. The story, set at the turn of the 18th century, depicts the return of an exiled aristocrat to his ancestral castle, the machinations of the miserly steward to secure the family's fortune for himself, and the changing amorous pairings of the four juvenile leads. Aspects of the plot were criticised by contemporary critics as derivative of earlier operas. The opera was Planquette's first full-length stage work, and although he later wrote twelve more, including ''Rip Van Winkle (operetta), Rip Van Winkle'', which was a hit in London, he never equalled the international success of this first venture. It broke box-office records in Paris and London, where it set a new long-run record for musical theatre worldwid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Planquette
Jean Robert Planquette (31 July 1848 – 28 January 1903) was a French composer of songs and operettas. Several of Planquette's operettas were extraordinarily successful in Britain, especially ''Les cloches de Corneville'' (1878), the length of whose initial London run broke all records for any piece of musical theatre up to that time. ''Rip Van Winkle'' (1882) also earned international fame. Life and career The son of a singer, Planquette was born in Paris and educated at the Paris Conservatoire. He did not finish his studies, lacking the funds to do so, and worked as a café pianist and composer and singing (he was a tenor). A few romances that he composed brought less fame than did his song, "Sambre et Meuse", first sung in 1867 by Lucien Fugère, who went on to be one of the foremost French opera singers of his day. In 1876, the director of the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques gave Planquette a commission to compose his first operetta, ''Les cloches de Corneville''. It op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Emerald Isle
''The Emerald Isle''; ''or, The Caves of Carrig-Cleena'', is a two-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and Edward German, and a libretto by Basil Hood. The plot concerns the efforts of an Irish patriot to resist the oppressive "re-education" programme of the English, which has robbed the Irish of their cultural heritage. A quirky "Professor of Elocution" who is hired by the English to continue this "re-education" of the Irish switches sides to help the Irish defend their culture. Romantic complications cause a confrontation between the Irish patriots and the superstitious English at the supposedly haunted caves of Carric-Cleena, and disguises are employed to hold the English off; but the professor ultimately comes up with a solution that works out happily for all. The opera premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 27 April 1901, closing on 9 November 1901 after a run of 205 performances. The opening night cast included such Savoy regulars as Robert Evett, Walter Passmore, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Era (newspaper)
''The Era'' was a British weekly paper, published from 1838 to 1939. Originally a general newspaper, it became noted for its sports coverage, and later for its theatrical content. History ''The Era'' was established in 1838 by a body of shareholders consisting of licensed victuallers and other people connected with their trade. The journal was intended to be a weekly organ of the public-house interest, just as the ''Morning Advertiser'' was then its daily organ. In the first two or three years of its existence, its political stance was broadly Liberal. Its first editor, Leitch Ritchie, proved too liberal for his board of directors, and in addition to editorial clashes, the paper was a commercial failure. Ritchie was succeeded by Frederick Ledger, who became sole proprietor as well as editor. He edited the paper for more than thirty years, gradually changing its politics from Liberalism to moderate Conservatism. Politics, however, ceased to be a major concern of ''The Era''. Its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mock Turtles (opera)
''Mock Turtles'' is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by Frank Desprez and music by Eaton Faning. It was first produced at the Savoy Theatre on 11 October 1881 as a curtain raiser to ''Patience'', then from 26 November 1882 to 30 March 1883 with ''Iolanthe''. The piece also toured from December 1881 throughout 1882. It also toured in 1883 and 1884 and enjoyed further revivals, including a tour in 1897 with J. M. Gordon and his company. A vocal score was published by Chappells, in 1882, which contains full dialogue as well as music. A copy is in the British Library. The libretto to ''Mock Turtles'' was republished by ''The Gaiety'' journal in September 2001. The fashion in the late Victorian era was to present long evenings in the theatre, and so producer Richard D'Oyly Carte preceded his Savoy operas with curtain raisers such as ''Mock Turtles''. W. J. MacQueen-Pope commented, concerning such curtain raisers: :This was a one-act play, seen only by the early comers. It w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sorcerer
''The Sorcerer'' is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of ''The Sorcerer'' is based on a Christmas story, ''An Elixir of Love'', that Gilbert wrote for ''The Graphic'' magazine in 1876. A young man, Alexis, is obsessed with the idea of love levelling all ranks and social distinctions. To promote his beliefs, he invites the proprietor of J. W. Wells & Co., Family Sorcerers, to brew a love potion. This causes everyone in the village to fall in love with the first person they see and results in the pairing of comically mismatched couples. In the end, Wells must sacrifice his life to break the spell. The opera opened on 17 November 1877 at the Opera Comique in London, where it ran for 178 performances. It was considered a success by the standards of that time and encouraged the collaborators to write their next opera, ''H.M.S. Pinafore''. ''The Sorcerer'' was r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trial By Jury
A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are used in a significant share of serious criminal cases in many but not all common law judicial systems. The majority of common law jurisdictions in Asia (such as Singapore, India, Pakistan and Malaysia) have abolished jury trials on the grounds that juries are susceptible to bias. Juries or lay judges have also been incorporated into the legal systems of many civil law countries for criminal cases. Only the United States makes routine use of jury trials in a wide variety of non-criminal cases. Other common law legal jurisdictions use jury trials only in a very select class of cases that make up a tiny share of the overall civil docket (like malicious prosecution and false imprisonment suits in England and Wales), but true civil jury trials are almost entirely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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