H.M.S. Pinafore - Productions

Productions

Pinafore opened on 25 May 1878 at the Opera Comique, before an enthusiastic audience, with Sullivan conducting. Soon, however, the piece suffered from weak ticket sales, generally ascribed to a heat wave that made the Opera Comique particularly uncomfortable. Historian Michael Ainger questions this explanation, at least in part, stating that the heat waves in the summer of 1878 were short and transient. In any case, by mid-August, Sullivan wrote to his mother that cooler weather had arrived, which was good for the show. In the meantime, the four partners of the Comedy Opera Company lost confidence in the opera's viability and posted closing notices. Carte publicised the piece by presenting a matinee concert performance on 6 July 1878 at the enormous Crystal Palace.

In late August 1878, Sullivan used some of the Pinafore music, arranged by his assistant Hamilton Clarke, during several successful promenade concerts at Covent Garden that generated interest and stimulated ticket sales. By September, Pinafore was playing to full houses at the Opera Comique. The piano score sold 10,000 copies, and Carte soon sent two additional companies out to tour in the provinces.

Carte, Gilbert and Sullivan now had the financial resources to produce shows themselves, without outside backers. Carte persuaded the author and composer that a business partnership among the three would be to their advantage, and they hatched a plan to separate themselves from the directors of the Comedy Opera Company. The contract between Gilbert and Sullivan and the Comedy Opera Company gave the latter the right to present Pinafore for the duration of the initial run. The Opera Comique was obliged to close for drain and sewer repairs, and was renovated and redecorated by E. W. Bradwell, from Christmas 1878 to the end of January 1879. Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte believed that this break ended the initial run, and, therefore, ended the company's rights. Carte put the matter beyond doubt by taking a six-month personal lease of the theatre beginning on 1 February 1879, the date of its re-opening, when Pinafore resumed. At the end of the six months, Carte planned to give notice to the Comedy Opera Company that its rights in the show and the theatre had ended.

Meanwhile, numerous pirated versions of Pinafore began playing in America with great success, beginning with a production in Boston that opened on 25 November 1878. Pinafore became a source of popular quotations on both sides of the Atlantic, such as the exchange:

"What, never?"

"No, never!"

"What, never?"

"Well, hardly ever!"

In February 1879, Pinafore resumed operations at the Opera Comique. The opera also resumed touring in April, with two companies crisscrossing the British provinces by June, one starring Richard Mansfield as Sir Joseph, the other W. S. Penley in the role. Hoping to join in on the profits to be made in America from Pinafore, Carte left in June for New York to make arrangements for an "authentic" production there to be rehearsed personally by the author and composer. He arranged to rent a theatre and auditioned chorus members for the American production of Pinafore and a new Gilbert and Sullivan opera to be premiered in New York, and for tours.

Sullivan, as had been arranged with Carte and Gilbert, gave notice to the partners of the Comedy Opera Company in early July 1879 that he, Gilbert and Carte would not be renewing the contract to produce Pinafore with them and that he would be withdrawing his music from the Comedy Opera Company on 31 July. In return, the Comedy Opera Company gave notice that they intended to play Pinafore at another theatre and brought a legal action against Carte and company. They offered the London and touring casts of Pinafore more money to play in their production, and although some choristers accepted their offer, only one principal player, Mr Dymott, accepted. They engaged the Imperial Theatre but had no scenery. On 31 July, they sent a group of thugs to seize the scenery and props during Act II of the evening performance at the Opera Comique. Gilbert was away, and Sullivan was recovering from an operation for kidney stones. Stagehands and cast members managed to ward off their backstage attackers and protect the scenery, although the stage manager, Richard Barker, and others, were injured. The cast went on with the show until someone shouted "Fire!" George Grossmith, playing Sir Joseph, went before the curtain to calm the panicked audience. The police arrived to restore order, and the show continued. Gilbert sued to stop the Comedy Opera Company from staging their rival production of H.M.S. Pinafore. The court permitted the production to go on at the Imperial, beginning on 1 August 1879, and it transferred to the Olympic Theatre in September. Pauline Rita was one of a series of Josephines. The production received good notices and initially sold well but was withdrawn in October after 91 performances. The matter was eventually settled in court, where a judge ruled in Carte's favour about two years later.

After his return to London, Carte formed a new partnership with Gilbert and Sullivan to divide profits equally after the expenses of each of their shows. Meanwhile, Pinafore continued to play strongly. On 20 February 1880, Pinafore completed its initial run of 571 performances. Only one other work of musical theatre in the world had ever run longer, Robert Planquette's operetta Les cloches de Corneville.