|
'H.M.S. Pinafore' ('The Lass That Loved a Sailor') was is a British comic opera in two acts. Arthur Sullivan wrote the music and W.S. Gilbert the libretto. It opened at the London Opera Comique (1878). It had a 571 performance run, second-longest run of any musical theater piece up to that time. It was Gilbert and Sullivan's fourth collaboration and their first international sensation. America industrial development was beginning to rival the Europeans at the time. Real fortunes were being made. So British hit shows were soon appearing in New York and other big American cities like Philadelphia. Evens unfold aboard Royal Navy ship HMS Pinafore. The plot is that the ship captain's daughter, Josephine, is in love with a lowly sailor, Ralph Rackstraw. Her father the captain is set on her marrying Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Then all kinds of events spiral into mayhem -- mirth mixed with absurdity including an Arab slave catching raid. (Yes the Barbary Pirates did conduct raids along European coasts. This occurred mostly in the Mediterranean, but here were actual raids in England and northern Europe as well.) The opera's humor focuses on love crossing class lines. There is also what is called 'good-natured fun' on patriotism, party politics, the Royal Navy, and the rise of unqualified upper-class people to high posts. The Royal Navy was the most respected institution in Britain,n but it is at the center of the fun. The pinafore was a frilly garment, widely worn by little girls, farcically used to name a powerful warship.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main alphabetical play page]
[Return to the Main play page]
[Return to the Main theatrical page]
[About Us]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Cloth and textiles]
[Countries]
[Garments]
[Girls]
[Photography]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Search]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
