MUSIC VIDEO: Gilbert & Sullivan's "Trial By Jury" - Opera Australia

Walt is a hyuge fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist William Schwenk Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. The two Englishmen ["For they are both Englishmen!" Ed. (singing)] collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado are the best known.

One of their earlier collaborations -- the second, in fact -- is Trial By Jury, a short (just over half an hour) but excellent operetta which includes some of the fine choral music for which Sir Arthur preferred to be remembered. I like it for that even more than for the extended joke about the law and the lawyers.

The G&S operettas are rarely performed these days in Once-great Britain (see previous post) of the North American ex-colonies. They are regarded as old-fashioned, racist (especially The Mikado), colonialist, and all else that is politically incorrect. Fortunately for those who appreciate British humour as well as fine music, Opera Australia staged a revival in 2005, which included this fine modern-dress production of Trial By Jury. Enjoy.

 

Some of you may be confused (as I was) by the music and characters included in the curtain call. As nearly as Ed. can determine, Trial By Jury was presented as an encore to H.M.S. Pinafore, hence the appearance of Little Buttercup, Captain Corcoran and other characters from that operetta, which can also be found on YouTube.