Contents
Introduction
1. General Thoughts About the Opera
1.1 - Not as good as.....
1.2 - Too many cooks?
1.3 - I should like to do it handsomely
1.4 - Old associations
1.5 - Gone abroad? His address?
1.6 - I don't think I ever met him
2. The Plot
2.1 - There is no plot!
2.2 - No coming together
2.3 - Problems with the love stories
2.4 - Abhorrent to stockbrokers?
2.5 - Too close to the bone?
2.6 - I've a borough or two.....
3. The Score
3.1 - General feelings about the score
3.2 - Was Sullivan unable to rise above a feeble libretto?
3.3 - Today he is not well
3.4 - Where's the overture?
3.5 - Was Sullivan running out of steam?
3.6 - Music we love to love
3.7 - Music we love to hate
3.8 - Of native music the cream?
4. The Libretto
4.1 - General feelings about the libretto
4.2 - The real meaning of "Ulahlica!"?
5. The Characters
5.1 - General feelings about the characters
5.2 - Who's the baddest baddy?
5.3 - You gotta have a patter man
6. Stagecraft
6.1 - General feelings about staging
6.2 - Costuming expense
6.3 - To bare or not to bare?
6.4 - Drawing-Room names
6.5 - Ethnic casting - a good idea?
6.6 - Alternative productions
7. To Cut or Not to Cut?
7.1 - Ought we to rearrange? Cut? If so, what?
7.2 - Ought we to add something?
7.3 - Durham Savoyards Utopia (Un)limited
7.4 - A solution?
8. The Finales
8.1 - The Act 1 Finale
8.2 - The Act 2 Finale
9. The 1975 Centenary Performance
9.1 - Reminiscences and thoughts on the 1975 D'Oyly Carte performances
10. Appendix
10.1 - Acronyms, etc. explained
10.2 - "Who and where? - The protagonists named
INTRODUCTION
Utopia Limited was the 12th Gilbert and Sullivan opera. It was first performed on the 7th October 1893 at the Savoy Theatre, London, and ran until the beginning of June, 1894, by which time there had been 245 performances.
The following discussion is a compilation of the thoughts and opinions of subscribers to the Savoynet Electronic Mailing List on Utopia Limited which took place during the months of February and March 1997.
Please note that all views expressed in this document are those of the individual contributors to which they are credited. The names of the individual contributors are represented in bold type, and any comments by me in my position as the compiler are in italics.
|
