Steve Sullivan: The Web sites that I know of for The GONDOLIERS are:
David Duffey: I think I told this story before, but it is worth the re-telling.
Playing THE GONDOLIERS in the early 1960s a locally recruited trumpet player often used his few bars tacit to, shall we say, refresh himself. This made him increasingly enthusiastic, and towards the end of the second act he usually abandoned his band part and played along with the singers. On the Friday he was noticeably - err, chateaued by the interval, and began playing the melody earlier than usual in the second act by joining in with Marco's rendering of "Take a pair .. ", but playing it in G major which is only almost right.
I was the Giuseppe and was so paralysed with laughter I had to go off, leaving Marco to his fate. The MD hurried through "Take a pair", but the trumpet, encouraged by the sympathetic applause for poor Marco, decided that the down beat for "Here we are, at the risk of our lives," was the signal for him to begin an encore of "Take a pair". It was at this point that the director, stage manager and several others took matters into their own hands and dragged the trumpet player from the pit.
The show must go on. We got through "Here we are" with some difficulty and the girls deserved a medal for keeping their composure through "After sailing", especially the "do they give you wine for dinner" line. With the following dialogue we thought we had got the show back onto an even keel - until:
Ronald Orenstein: Were you playing "THE GONDOLIERS" or "LUCREZIA BORGIA"?
ASS - Arthur Seymour Sullivan
D'OC or D'C or DOC - D'Oyly Carte - either the man himself or the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
DCOC - D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
FAQ - Frequently Asked Question(s)
FTMFAWTLTLTLTLLLLTLLL - For The Merriest Fellows Are We Tra La Tra La Tra La Tra La La La La Tra La La La
FWIW - For What It Is Worth
IMO - In My Opinion
IMHO - In My Honest Opinion
LC - Lord Chancellor
MD - Musical Director
OOTW - Opera Of The Week. This was the general topic heading under which the G & S operas were discussed.
OTOH - On The Other Hand
WSG - William Schwenk Gilbert
Updated 7 October 1997