Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/129

 Madame de Genlis's story of 'Le Palais de la Vérité.' This was produced on 19 Nov. 1870 at the Haymarket under the title of 'The Palace of Truth,' with Buckstone, Madge Robertson (Mrs. Kendal), and W. H. Kendal in the cast. It ran for 230 nights. 'Pygmalion and Galatea,' a rather artificial classical romance, was produced also at the Haymarket on 9 Dec. 1871. It proved a remarkable success. The play was revived at the Lyceum with Miss Mary Anderson in 1884 and later in 1888, at the same theatre, with Miss Julia Neilson in the part. Gilbert is said to have made 40,000l. out of this play alone (Daily Telegraph, 30 May 1911). 'The Wicked World,' a fairy comedy, followed at the Haymarket on 4 Jan. 1873 and was not quite so successful as its forerunners. In the meantime Gilbert wrote an extended series of comedies for Miss Marie Litton's management of the new Court Theatre in Sloane Square, London. This playhouse was opened by Miss Litton with Gilbert's 'Randall's Thumb' on 25 Jan. 1871; there followed during Miss Litton's tenancy 'Creatures of Impulse' (15 April 1871); ' Great Expectations' (28 May), an adaptation of Dickens's novel; 'On Guard' (28 Oct.); and 'The Wedding March' (under the pseudonym of F. Latour Tomline) (15 Nov. 1873). One of Gilbert's plays written for the Court Theatre, ' The Happy Land,' which Miss Litton produced on 17 March 1873, caused much public excitement. It was a burlesque version of Gilbert's 'Wicked World,' designed by himself, but mainly worked out by Gilbert Arthur a Beckett [q. v. Suppl. I]. Gilbert received 700Z. for his share of the Hbretto ( W. S. Gilbert, by Kate Field, Scribner's Monthly, xviii. (1879), 754). His name did not appear on the bill, where the piece was assigned to F. L. Tomline (i.e. Gilbert) and a Beckett. 'The Happy Land' was received with enthusiasm. But three of the actors, Walter Fisher, W. J. Hill, and Edward Righton (manager of the theatre), were made up to resemble respectively Gladstone, Robert Lowe (Lord Sherbrooke), and A. S. Ayrton, members of the liberal administration then in office. The lord chamberlain insisted on the removal of this feature of the performance. Of more serious plays 'Charity,' produced on 3 Jan. 1874 at the Haymarket, was the story of a woman redeeming her one mistake in life by an after career of self-sacrifice. It was denounced as immoral by the general public, and was withdrawn after a run of eighty nights. There followed a series of successful comedies in which sentiment predominated over Gilbert's habitually cynical humour. 'Sweethearts' was produced at the Prince of Wales's on 7 Nov. 1874 under Mrs. Bancroft's management; 'Tom Cobb' at the St. James's, on 24 April 1875; 'Broken Hearts' on 17 Dec. 1875 at the Court Theatre under (Sir) John Hare's direction. 'Dan'l Druce,' a play of very serious tone, and 'Engaged' both came out at the Haymarket, on 11 Sept. 1876 and 3 Oct. 1877 respectively. 'Gretchen,' a four-act drama in verse on the Faust legend, was produced on 24 March 1879 at the Olympic. In 1884 Gilbert wrote an ambitious sketch, 'Comedy and Tragedy,' for Miss Mary Anderson to perform at the Lyceum Theatre (26 Jan. 1884). Meanwhile Gilbert acquired a more conspicuous triumph in another dramatic field. The memorable series of operas in which he and Sullivan collaborated began with 'Trial by Jury,' which was produced at the Royalty Theatre by Madame Selina Dolaro on 25 March 1875. A sketch of an operetta under this title had appeared in 'Fun' on 11 April 1868. The words now took a new shape, Sullivan suppUed the music, and the rehearsals were completed within three weeks. Gilbert's libretto betrayed the whimsical humour of his early 'Bab Ballads,' as well as the facility of his earlier extravaganzas and burlesques. Richard D'Oyly Carte [q. v. Suppl. II] was the manager of the Royalty. In view of the piece's success Carte formed a Comedy Opera Company, and gave Gilbert and Sullivan a commission to write a larger work together. The result was 'The Sorcerer,' which was first played at the Opera Comique on 17 Nov. 1877, and introduced George Grossmith and Rutland Barrington to the professional stage. This opera proved the forerunner of a long series of Uke successes. 'The Sorcerer' was followed by 'H.M.S. Pinafore, or the Lass that loved a Sailor,' under the same management on 25 May 1878. This ran for 700 nights and enjoyed an enormous popularity throughout the country. It was at once received in America with an 'enthusiasm bordering upon insanity' ( in Scribner's Monthly, xviii. 754), and after its first production in America Gilbert, >vith SulUvan, D'Oyly Carte, and Alfred Cellier, the musical conductor, went to New York (Nov. 1879) to give it the fresh advantage of Gilbert's personal stage management and Sullivan's own orchestral interpretation. While in New York they produced for the first time a new opera, 'The Pirates of Penzance, or the Slave of Duty,' which