Page 68 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2021. Opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama ▪︎ Operetta between the Two World Wars. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 5
P. 68
opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
And what about the United Kingdom? Gilbert & Sullivan had become
an ‘institution’ there like Westminster Abbey as BBC journalist Leslie B aily
phrases it in 1951:
Delightful, ridiculous, gay, melodious, satirical, ranging in style
from the brilliant fire-works of Trial by Jury to the near-grand-op
era of The Yeomen of the Guard, they are to the British a nation
al possession – as Gilbert himself said, ‘world-known, and as much
an institution as Westminster Abbey’.39
On the Gilbert & Sullivan Online Platform, established in 1993, a dis-
cussion can be found about Oscar Wilde, Aestheticism and Effeminacy
with regard to Patience. There, a certain Robert Jones writes:
I would agree with previous posts regarding [Gilbert]’s supposed
nods in the direction of sexual innuendo. I think he would be mor
tified by the idea that his spotlessly clean libretti might conjure up
lewd thoughts in his audiences’ minds.40
As in Germany and the United States, UK operettas needed to be spotlessly
clean as well.
As a result the “genre is almost extinct in the UK,” Richard Bratby writes
in The Spectator in 2018.41 Neither the wild romps of Offenbach and Hervé
have had a career in the UK after 1945, nor did the cheeky 2002 re-write of
HMS Pinafore by American author Mark Savage, entitle Pinafore! and relo-
cated to a gay cruise ship departing from Palm Springs, get much attention
from traditional Savoyards. 2006’s Gilbert & Sullivan inspired The Beast
ly Bombing: A Terrible Tale of Terrorists Tamed By the Tangles of True Love
(music: Roger Neill, lyrics: Julien Nitzberg) did not fare much better, not-
withstanding a rave review of the original production in Los Angeles in The
New York Times. It is too disturbing and political an operetta, and sexual-
ly outrageous, for modern day fans of the genre. As Silvia Bovenschen re-
39 Leslie Baily, The Gilbert & Sullivan Book (London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1951), ix
ff.
40 Robert Jones, comment in “Patience: Savoy Net Discussion. Oscar Wilde, Aestheti-
cism and Effeminacy.” on the website Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, https://gsarchive.
net/patience/discussion/wilde.html.
41 Richard Bratby, “Operetta is serious business in Bad Ischl – and seriously glori-
ous,” The Spectator [spectatopr.co.uk], August 25, 2018, https://www.spectator.com.
au/2018/08/operetta-is-serious-business-in-bad-ischl-and-seriously-glorious/.
66
And what about the United Kingdom? Gilbert & Sullivan had become
an ‘institution’ there like Westminster Abbey as BBC journalist Leslie B aily
phrases it in 1951:
Delightful, ridiculous, gay, melodious, satirical, ranging in style
from the brilliant fire-works of Trial by Jury to the near-grand-op
era of The Yeomen of the Guard, they are to the British a nation
al possession – as Gilbert himself said, ‘world-known, and as much
an institution as Westminster Abbey’.39
On the Gilbert & Sullivan Online Platform, established in 1993, a dis-
cussion can be found about Oscar Wilde, Aestheticism and Effeminacy
with regard to Patience. There, a certain Robert Jones writes:
I would agree with previous posts regarding [Gilbert]’s supposed
nods in the direction of sexual innuendo. I think he would be mor
tified by the idea that his spotlessly clean libretti might conjure up
lewd thoughts in his audiences’ minds.40
As in Germany and the United States, UK operettas needed to be spotlessly
clean as well.
As a result the “genre is almost extinct in the UK,” Richard Bratby writes
in The Spectator in 2018.41 Neither the wild romps of Offenbach and Hervé
have had a career in the UK after 1945, nor did the cheeky 2002 re-write of
HMS Pinafore by American author Mark Savage, entitle Pinafore! and relo-
cated to a gay cruise ship departing from Palm Springs, get much attention
from traditional Savoyards. 2006’s Gilbert & Sullivan inspired The Beast
ly Bombing: A Terrible Tale of Terrorists Tamed By the Tangles of True Love
(music: Roger Neill, lyrics: Julien Nitzberg) did not fare much better, not-
withstanding a rave review of the original production in Los Angeles in The
New York Times. It is too disturbing and political an operetta, and sexual-
ly outrageous, for modern day fans of the genre. As Silvia Bovenschen re-
39 Leslie Baily, The Gilbert & Sullivan Book (London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1951), ix
ff.
40 Robert Jones, comment in “Patience: Savoy Net Discussion. Oscar Wilde, Aestheti-
cism and Effeminacy.” on the website Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, https://gsarchive.
net/patience/discussion/wilde.html.
41 Richard Bratby, “Operetta is serious business in Bad Ischl – and seriously glori-
ous,” The Spectator [spectatopr.co.uk], August 25, 2018, https://www.spectator.com.
au/2018/08/operetta-is-serious-business-in-bad-ischl-and-seriously-glorious/.
66
