H.M.S. Pinafore

The British warship H.M.S. Pinafore is at anchor off Portsmouth. The sailors are on the quarterdeck, proudly "cleaning brasswork, splicing rope, etc."

Little Buttercup, a Portsmouth "bumboat woman" (dockside vendor) – who is the rosiest, roundest, and "reddest beauty in all Spithead" – comes on board to sell her wares to the crew. She hints that she may be hiding a dark secret under her "gay and frivolous exterior". Ralph Rackstraw,[31] "the smartest lad in all the fleet", enters, declaring his love for the Captain's daughter, Josephine. His fellow sailors (excepting Dick Deadeye, the grim and ugly realist of the crew) offer their sympathies, but they can give Ralph little hope that his love will ever be returned.

Scene from 1886 Savoy Theatre souvenir programme

The gentlemanly and popular Captain Corcoran greets his "gallant crew" and compliments them on their politeness, saying that he returns the favour by never ("well, hardly ever") using bad language, such as "a big, big D".[n 4] After the sailors leave, the Captain confesses to Little Buttercup that Josephine is reluctant to consider a marriage proposal from Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Buttercup says that she knows how it feels to love in vain. As she leaves, the Captain remarks that she is "a plump and pleasing person". Josephine enters and reveals to her father that she loves a humble sailor in his crew, but she assures him that she is a dutiful daughter and will never reveal her love to this sailor.

Sir Joseph comes on board, accompanied by his "admiring crowd of sisters, cousins, and aunts". He recounts how he rose from humble beginnings to be "ruler of the Queen's Navee" through persistence, although he has no naval qualifications. He then delivers a humiliating lesson in etiquette, telling the Captain that he must always say "if you please" after giving an order; for "A British sailor is any man's equal" – excepting Sir Joseph's. Sir Joseph has composed a song to illustrate that point, and he gives a copy of it to Ralph. Shortly afterwards, elated by Sir Joseph's views on equality, Ralph decides that he will declare his love to Josephine. This delights his shipmates, except Dick Deadeye, who contends that "when people have to obey other people's orders, equality's out of the question". Shocked by his words, the other sailors force Dick to listen to Sir Joseph's song before they exit, leaving Ralph alone on deck. Josephine now enters, and Ralph confesses his love in terms surprisingly eloquent for a "common sailor". Josephine is touched, but although she has found Sir Joseph's attentions nauseating, she knows that it is her duty to marry Sir Joseph instead of Ralph. Disguising her true feelings, she "haughtily rejects" Ralph's "proffered love".

Ralph summons his shipmates (Sir Joseph's female relatives also arrive) and tells them that he is bent on suicide. The crew expresses sympathy, except for Dick, who provides a stark counterpoint of dissent. Ralph puts a pistol to his head, but as he is about to pull the trigger, Josephine enters, admitting that she loves him after all. Ralph and Josephine plan to sneak ashore to elope that night. Dick Deadeye warns them to "forbear, nor carry out the scheme", but the joyous ship's company ignores him.

Illustration of the characters in Act II by D. H. Friston, 1878

Later that night, under a full moon, Captain Corcoran reviews his concerns: his "kindly crew rebels", his "daughter to a tar is partial", his friends seem to desert him, and Sir Joseph has threatened a court-martial. Little Buttercup offers sympathy. He tells her that, if it were not for the difference in their social standing, he would have returned her affection. She prophesies that things are not all as they seem and that "a change" is in store for him, but he does not understand her cryptic warning.

Sir Joseph enters and complains that Josephine has not yet agreed to marry him. The Captain speculates that she is probably dazzled by his "exalted rank" and that if Sir Joseph can persuade her that "love levels all ranks", she will accept his proposal. They withdraw, and Josephine enters, still feeling guilty about her planned elopement with Ralph and fearful of giving up a life of luxury. When Sir Joseph makes the argument that "love levels all ranks", a delighted Josephine says that she "will hesitate no longer". The Captain and Sir Joseph rejoice, but Josephine is now more determined than ever to marry Ralph.

Dick Deadeye intercepts the Captain and tells him of the lovers' plans to elope. The Captain confronts Ralph and Josephine as they try to leave the ship. The pair declare their love, justifying their actions because "He is an Englishman!" The furious Captain is unmoved and blurts out, "Why, damme, it's too bad!" Sir Joseph and his relatives, who have overheard this oath, are shocked to hear swearing on board a ship, and Sir Joseph orders the Captain confined to his cabin.

When Sir Joseph asks what had provoked the usually polite officer's outburst, Ralph replies that it was his declaration of love for Josephine. Furious in his turn at this revelation, and ignoring Josephine's plea to spare Ralph, Sir Joseph has the sailor "loaded with chains" and taken to the ship's brig. Little Buttercup now comes forward to reveal her long-held secret. Many years ago, when she "practised baby-farming", she had cared for two babies, one "of low condition", the other "a regular patrician". She confesses that she "mixed those children up. ... The wellborn babe was Ralph; your Captain was the other."

Sir Joseph now realises that Ralph should have been the Captain, and the Captain should have been Ralph. He summons both, and they emerge wearing each other's uniforms: Ralph as Captain, in command of the Pinafore, and Corcoran as a common sailor. Sir Joseph's marriage with Josephine is now "out of the question" in his eyes: "love levels all ranks ... to a considerable extent, but it does not level them as much as that." He hands her to Captain Rackstraw. The former Captain's now-humble social rank leaves him free to marry Buttercup. Sir Joseph settles for his cousin Hebe, and all ends in general rejoicing.

Advertisement for a (probably unlicensed) American production of H.M.S. Pinafore

Approximately 150 unauthorised productions of Pinafore sprang up in the United States in 1878 and 1879, and none of these paid royalties to the authors. Gilbert and Sullivan called them "pirated", although the creators did not have any international copyright protection.[64][65][66] The first of these productions, opening at the Boston Museum on 25 November 1878, made such a splash that the piece was quickly produced in major cities and on tour by dozens of companies throughout the country. Boston alone saw at least a dozen productions, including a juvenile version described by Louisa May Alcott in her 1879 story, "Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore".[67] In New York, different productions of the piece played simultaneously in eight theatres within five blocks of each other and in six theatres in Philadelphia.[68] A production by Gorman's Philadelphia Church Choir Company, orchestrated by John Philip Sousa and starring Louis De Lange as Sir Joseph, played on Broadway and toured in the U.S. throughout 1879; Sousa's orchestration was also used in Australasia.[69]

These unauthorised performances took many forms, including burlesques, productions with men playing women's roles and vice versa, spoofs, variety acts, Minstrel show versions,[67] all-black and Catholic productions, German, Yiddish and other foreign-language versions,[65] performances on boats or by church choirs,[70] and productions starring casts of children.[35][67] Few purported to play the opera as written.[n 6] Sheet music arrangements were popular, there were Pinafore-themed dolls and household items, and references to the opera were common in advertising, news and other media.[65] Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte brought lawsuits in the U.S. and tried for many years to control the American performance copyrights over their operas, or at least to claim some royalties, without success. They made a special effort to claim American rights for their next work after Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, by giving the official premiere in New York.[72]

Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte met by 24 April 1879 to make plans for a production of Pinafore in America.[73] Carte travelled to New York in the summer of 1879 and made arrangements with theatre manager John T. Ford[n 7] to present, at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, the first authorised American production of Pinafore.[49] In November, Carte returned to America with Gilbert, Sullivan and a company of strong singers, including J. H. Ryley as Sir Joseph, Blanche Roosevelt as Josephine, Alice Barnett as Little Buttercup, Furneaux Cook as Dick Deadeye, Hugh Talbot as Ralph Rackstraw and Jessie Bond as Cousin Hebe.[75] To these, he added some American singers, including Signor Brocolini as Captain Corcoran.[76] Alfred Cellier came to assist Sullivan, while his brother François remained in London to conduct Pinafore there.[77]

Pinafore opened in New York on 1 December 1879 (with Gilbert onstage in the chorus) and ran for the rest of December.[75] After a reasonably strong first week, audiences quickly fell off, since most New Yorkers had already seen local productions of Pinafore.[78][75] In the meantime, Gilbert and Sullivan raced to complete and rehearse their new opera, The Pirates of Penzance, which premiered with much success on 31 December.[79] Shortly thereafter, Carte sent three touring companies around the United States East Coast and Midwest, playing Pinafore alongside Pirates.[76][80]

1880 programme for Carte's Children's Pinafore

The unauthorised juvenile productions of Pinafore were so popular[81] that Carte mounted his own children's version, played at matinees at the Opera Comique beginning on 16 December 1879.[82] François Cellier, who had taken over from his brother as Carte's music director in London, adapted the score for children's voices.[56] Between its two Christmas seasons in London, the children's production went on a provincial tour from 2 August 1880 to 11 December 1880.[83]

Carte's children's production earned enthusiastic reviews from the critic Clement Scott[84] and the other London critics, as well as the audiences, including children.[80][85] However, Captain Corcoran's curse "Damme!" was uncensored, shocking such prominent audience members as Lewis Carroll,[n 8] who later wrote: "a bevy of sweet innocent-looking girls sing, with bright and happy looks, the chorus 'He said, Damn me! He said, Damn me!' I cannot find words to convey to the reader the pain I felt in seeing those dear children taught to utter such words to amuse ears grown callous to their ghastly meaning ... How Mr. Gilbert could have stooped to write, or Sir Arthur Sullivan could have prostituted his noble art to set to music, such vile trash, it passes my skill to understand".[87][88]

After the opera became successful in London, Richard D'Oyly Carte quickly sent touring companies into the British provinces. At least one D'Oyly Carte company, and sometimes as many as three, played Pinafore under Carte's aegis every year between 1878 and 1888, including its first London revival in 1887. The opera was then given a rest, returning to the touring repertory between 1894 and 1900 and again for most of the time between 1903 and 1940.[89] Gilbert directed all the revivals during his lifetime, and after his death, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company had exclusive performing rights to the Savoy operas until 1962. It continued to hew closely to Gilbert's directions throughout that period, as recorded in Gilbert's prompt books, and it also required its licensees to follow them closely.[90]

Ruth Vincent as Josephine in 1899

Until 1908, revivals of the opera were given in contemporary dress, with ladies' costumes executed by couture houses such as Redfern.[91] After that, designers such as Percy Anderson, George Sheringham and Peter Goffin created Victorian costume designs.[91][92] The 1887 set was designed by Hawes Craven.[91] In the winter of 1940–41, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's scenery and costumes for Pinafore and three other operas were destroyed by German bombs during World War II.[93] The opera was revived in London in the summer of 1947.[94] It was then included in the D'Oyly Carte repertory in every season from then on, until the company's closure in 1982.[95] The D'Oyly Carte company performed Pinafore before Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family at Windsor Castle on 16 June 1977, during the queen's Silver Jubilee year, the first royal command performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera since 1891.[35]

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company did not allow any other professional company to present the Savoy operas in Britain and the Commonwealth until the copyrights expired at the end of 1961, although it licensed many amateur and school societies to do so, beginning in the 19th century.[96] Other professional productions since the copyrights expired have included Tyrone Guthrie's 1960 production from Stratford, Ontario, seen on Broadway in 1960 and in London in 1962[97] and a New Sadler's Wells Opera Company production first seen on 4 June 1984 at Sadler's Wells Theatre,[98] which was seen also in New York.[99] Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera and many of the other British opera companies have mounted productions, as did the reconstituted D'Oyly Carte Opera Company between 1990 and its closure in 2003.[100] In recent decades, the Carl Rosa Opera Company has produced Pinafore several times, including in 2009,[101] Opera della Luna has toured it repeatedly,[102] English National Opera presented it in 2021,[103] it is regularly given by the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company,[104] and other British companies continue to mount the piece.[100]

The extraordinary initial success of Pinafore in America was seen first-hand by J. C. Williamson.[67] He soon made arrangements with D'Oyly Carte to present the opera's first authorised production in Australia, opening on 15 November 1879 at the Theatre Royal, Sydney. Thereafter, his opera company played frequent seasons of the work (and the subsequent Savoy operas) until at least 1963.[105] In the U.S., the piece never lost popularity.[67][106] The Internet Broadway Database links to a non-exhaustive list of 29 productions on Broadway alone.[107] Among the professional repertory companies continuing to present Pinafore regularly in the U.S. are Opera a la Carte, based in California, Ohio Light Opera and the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, which tours the opera annually and often includes it in its New York seasons.[108] Pinafore is still performed around the world by opera companies such as the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen; Australian Opera (and Essgee Entertainment and others in Australia); in Kassel, Germany; and even Samarkand, Uzbekistan.[109]

The following table shows the history of the D'Oyly Carte productions (excluding tours) in Gilbert's lifetime:

The early reviews were mostly favourable.[11][12] The Era wrote:

Seldom indeed have we been in the company of a more joyous audience. ... [Gilbert and Sullivan] have on previous occasions been productive of such legitimate amusement, such novel forms of drollery, such original wit, and unexpected whimsicality, that nothing was more natural than for the audience to anticipate an evening of thorough enjoyment. The expectation was fulfilled completely. Those who believed in the power of Mr Gilbert to tickle the fancy with quaint suggestions and unexpected forms of humour were more than satisfied, and those who appreciate Mr Arthur Sullivan's inexhaustible gift of melody were equally gratified; while that large class of playgoers who are pleased with brilliant dresses and charming stage effects declared themselves delighted. The result, therefore, was "a hit, a palpable hit" ... there were some slight drawbacks [such] as the severe cold that affected Mr. Rutland Barrington [the captain], and almost prevented his singing.

The Era also lavishly praised Emma Howson as Josephine.[113] The Entr'acte and Limelight commented that the opera was reminiscent of Trial by Jury and Sorcerer but found it diverting and called the music "very charming. To hear so-called grand opera imitated through the medium of the most trifling lyrics, is funny".[114][115] The paper praised Grossmith as Sir Joseph, noting with amusement that he was made up to look like portraits of Horatio Nelson, "and his good introductory song seems levelled at" W. H. Smith. It opined, further, that "He Is an Englishman" is "an excellent satire on the proposition that a man must necessarily be virtuous to be English". It found the piece, as a whole, well presented and predicted that it would have a long run.[114]

Punch cartoon mocking Sullivan for his focus on comic opera

Similarly, The Illustrated London News concluded that the production was a success and that the plot, though slight, served as a good vehicle for Gilbert's "caustic humour and quaint satire". It found that there was "much to call forth hearty laughter in the occasional satirical hits. ... Dr. Sullivan's music is as lively as the text to which it is set, with here and there a touch of sentimental expression ... The piece is well performed throughout."[116] The Daily News, The Globe, The Times (which particularly praised Grossmith, Barrington and Everard) and The Standard concurred, the last commenting favourably on the chorus acting, which, it said, "adds to the reality of the illusion".[11] The Times also noted that the piece was an early attempt at the establishment of a "national musical stage" with a libretto free from risqué French "improprieties" and without the "aid" of Italian and German musical models.[117]

The Daily Telegraph and the Athenaeum, however, greeted the opera with only mixed praise.[12][118] The Musical Times complained that the ongoing collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan was "detrimental to the art-progress of either" because, although it was popular with audiences, "something higher is demanded for what is understood as 'comic opera'". The paper commented that Sullivan had "the true elements of an artist, which would be successfully developed were a carefully framed libretto presented to him for composition". It concluded, however, by saying how much it enjoyed the opera: "Having thus conscientiously discharged our duties as art-critics, let us at once proceed to say that H.M.S. Pinafore is an amusing piece of extravagance, and that the music floats it on merrily to the end".[119] The Times and several of the other papers agreed that, while the piece was entertaining, Sullivan was capable of higher art. Only The Figaro was actively hostile to the new piece.[11] Upon the publication of the vocal score, a review by The Academy joined the chorus of regret that Sullivan had sunk so low as to compose music for Pinafore and hoped that he would turn to projects "more worthy of his great ability".[120] This criticism would follow Sullivan throughout his career.[121]

The many unauthorised American productions of 1878–79 were of widely varying quality, and many of them were adaptations of the opera. One of the more "authentic" ones was the production by the Boston Ideal Opera Company, which was first formed to produce Pinafore.[n 9] It engaged well-regarded concert singers and opened on 14 April 1879 at the 3,000-seat Boston Theatre. The critics agreed that the company fulfilled its goals of presenting an "ideal" production. The Boston Journal reported that the audience was "wrought up by the entertainment to a point of absolute approval". The paper observed that it is a mistake to consider Pinafore a burlesque, "for while irresistibly comical it is not bouffe and requires to be handled with great care lest its delicate proportions be marred and its subtle quality of humor be lost".[67] The Journal described the opera as "classical" in method and wrote that its "most exquisite satire" lay in its "imitation of the absurdities" of grand opera. The company went on to become one of the most successful touring companies in America.[67] The first children's version in Boston became a sensation with both children and adult audiences, extending its run through the summer of 1879. The Boston Herald wrote that "the large audience of children and their elders went fairly wild with delight ... shrieks of laughter were repeatedly heard".[67]

When Pinafore was first revived in London in 1887, it was already treated as a classic. The Illustrated London News observed that the opera had not been updated with new dialogue, jokes and songs, but concluded that this was for the best, as the public would have missed the "time-honoured jokes, such as 'Hardly Ever.' The Savoy has once more got a brilliant success."[123] The Theatre concurred, stating that since the opera "has been heard in almost every part of this habitable globe and been enjoyed everywhere, there is not much occasion to descant". It called the revival a "most brilliant" success and predicted another long run.[124]

Rutland Barrington as Captain Corcoran in the first London revival, 1887

Reviewing the 1899 revival, The Athenaeum managed to praise the piece while joining in the musical establishment's critique of Sullivan. On the one hand, "The Pinafore ... sounds fresher than ever. The musical world has become serious – very serious – and it is indeed refreshing to hear a merry, humorous piece, and music, unassuming in character ... it is delicately scored, and in many ways displays ability of a high order". On the other hand, it wrote that if Sullivan had pursued the path of composing more serious music, like his symphony, "he would have produced still higher results; in like manner Pinafore set us wondering what the composer would have accomplished with a libretto of somewhat similar kind, but one giving him larger scope for the exercise of his gifts".[125]

In 1911, H. L. Mencken wrote: "No other comic opera ever written – no other stage play, indeed, of any sort – was ever so popular. ... Pinafore ... has been given, and with great success, wherever there are theaters – from Moscow to Buenos Aires, from Cape Town to Shanghai; in Madrid, Ottawa and Melbourne; even in Paris, Rome, Vienna and Berlin."[126] After the deaths of Gilbert and Sullivan, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company retained exclusive rights to perform their operas in Great Britain until 1962, touring throughout Britain for most of the year and, beginning in 1919, often performing in London for a season of about four months. The Times gave the company's 1920 London production an enthusiastic review, saying that the audience was "enraptured", and regretting that Pinafore would be played for only two weeks. It praised the cast, singling out Leo Sheffield as the Captain, Henry Lytton as Sir Joseph, Elsie Griffin as Josephine, James Hay as Ralph, Bertha Lewis as Little Buttercup and the "splendid" choral tone. It concluded that the opera made a "rollicking climax to the season".[127] Two years later, it gave an even more glowing report of that season's performances, calling Derek Oldham an "ideal hero" as Ralph, noting that Sydney Granville "fairly brought down the house" with his song, that Darrell Fancourt's Deadeye was "an admirably sustained piece of caricature" and that it was a "great pleasure" to hear the returning principals.[128] A 1961 review of the company's Pinafore is much the same.[129]

In 1879, J. C. Williamson acquired the exclusive performing rights to Pinafore in Australia and New Zealand. His first production earned public and critical acclaim. Williamson played Sir Joseph, and his wife, Maggie Moore played Josephine. Praising the production, Williamson, Moore and the other performers, the Sydney Morning Herald noted that the production, though "abounding in fun", was dignified and precise, especially compared with a previous "boisterous" unauthorized production, and that many numbers were encored and the laughter and applause from the "immense audience ... was liberally bestowed".[130] Williamson's company continued to produce Pinafore in Australia, New Zealand and on tour into the 1960s with much success. Williamson said, "If you need money, then put on G&S".[131] Meanwhile, Pinafore continued to garner praise outside Britain. The 1950s Danish version in Copenhagen, for example, was revived repeatedly, playing for well over 100 performances to "packed houses".[132] Translations into German, Yiddish and many other languages, and professional productions in places as remote as Samarkand in Uzbekistan have been successful.[133]

In the U.S., where Gilbert and Sullivan's performance copyright was never in force,[134] Pinafore continued to be produced continuously by both professional and amateur companies. The New York Times, in a 1914 review, called a large-scale production at the 6,000-seat New York Hippodrome a "royal entertainment [that] comes up smiling". The opera had been turned into a "mammoth spectacle" with a chorus of hundreds and the famous Hippodrome tank providing a realistic harbour. Buttercup made her entrance by rowing over to the three-masted Pinafore, and Dick Deadeye was later thrown overboard with a real splash. The critic praised the hearty singing but noted that some subtlety is lost when the dialogue needs to be "shouted". The production took some liberties, including interpolated music from other Sullivan works. The paper concluded, "the mild satire of Pinafore is entertaining because it is universal".[135] The same newspaper deemed Winthrop Ames' popular Broadway productions of Pinafore in the 1920s and 1930s "spectacular".[136] Modern productions in America continue to be generally well received. The New York Times review of the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players' 2008 season at New York City Center commented, "Gilbert's themes of class inequality, overbearing nationalism and incompetent authorities remain relevant, however absurdly treated. But the lasting appeal of Pinafore and its ilk is more a matter of his unmatched linguistic genius and Sullivan's generous supply of addictive melodies."[137]

With the expiry of the copyrights, companies around the world have been free to produce Gilbert and Sullivan works and to adapt them as they please for almost 50 years. Productions of Pinafore, both amateur and professional, range from the traditional, in the D'Oyly Carte vein, to the broadly adapted, such as that of the very successful Essgee Entertainment (formed by Simon Gallaher) in Australia and Opera della Luna in Britain.[133] Since its original production, H.M.S. Pinafore has remained one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular comic operas.[106][138] Productions continue in large numbers around the world.[102][133] In 2003 alone, The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company rented 224 sets of orchestra parts, mostly for productions of Pinafore, Pirates and Mikado. This does not take into account other rental companies and the theatre companies that borrow scores or have their own, or that use only one or two pianos instead of an orchestra. Hundreds of productions of Pinafore are presented every year worldwide.[133]

Gilbert's biographer Jane Stedman wrote that Pinafore is "satirically far more complex" than The Sorcerer. She commented that Gilbert uses several ideas and themes from his Bab Ballads, including the idea of gentlemanly behaviour of a captain towards his crew from "Captain Reece" (1868) and the exchange of ranks due to exchange at birth from "General John" (1867). Dick Deadeye, based on a character in "Woman's Gratitude" (1869), represents another of Gilbert's favorite (and semi-autobiographical) satiric themes: the misshapen misanthrope whose forbidding "face and form" makes him unpopular although he represents the voice of reason and common sense.[12][143] Gilbert also borrows from his 1870 opera, The Gentleman in Black which includes the device of baby-switching.[144]

Souvenir programme cover from 1878 during the run of the original production

Historian H. M. Walbrook wrote in 1921 that Pinafore "satirizes the type of nautical drama of which Douglas Jerrold's Black-Eyed Susan is a typical instance, and the 'God's Englishman' sort of patriotism which consists in shouting a platitude, striking an attitude, and doing little or nothing to help one's country".[118] G. K. Chesterton agreed that the satire is pointed at the selfishness of "being proud of yourself for being a citizen" of one's country, which requires no virtuous effort of will to resist the "temptations to belong to other nations" but is merely an excuse for pride.[145] In 2005, Australian opera director Stuart Maunder noted the juxtaposition of satire and nationalism in the opera, saying, "they all sing 'He is an Englishman', and you know damn well they're sending it up, but the music is so military ... that you can't help but be swept up in that whole jingoism that is the British Empire."[146] In addition, he argued that the song ties this theme into the main satire of class distinctions in the opera: "H.M.S. Pinafore is basically a satire on ... the British love of the class system. ... [O]f course [Ralph] can marry [the Captain's] daughter, because he's British, and therefore he's great'".[146] Jacobs notes that Gilbert is lampooning the tradition of nautical melodrama in which the sailor's "patriotism guarantees his virtue".[147][n 10]

One of Gilbert's favourite comic themes is the elevation of an unqualified person to a position of high responsibility. In The Happy Land (1873), for example, Gilbert describes a world in which government offices are awarded to the person who has the least qualification to hold each position. In particular, the one who has never heard of a ship is appointed to the cabinet post of First Lord of the Admiralty.[n 11][149] In Pinafore, Gilbert revisits this theme in the character of Sir Joseph, who rises to the same position by "never go[ing] to sea".[118][150] In later Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the characters Major-General Stanley in Pirates, and Ko-Ko in The Mikado, are similarly appointed to high office though lacking the necessary qualifications. Gilbert also pokes fun at party politics, implying that when Sir Joseph "always voted at [his] party's call", he sacrificed his personal integrity.[151] The "commercial middle class" (which was Gilbert's main audience) is treated as satirically as are social climbers and the great unwashed.[152] In addition, the apparent age difference between Ralph and the Captain, even though they were babies nursed together, satirises the variable age of Thaddeus in The Bohemian Girl.[29] The Times wrote, in reviewing the 1929 production, that Pinafore was quintessentially Gilbertian in that the absurdities of a "paternal" Captain and the "ethics ... of all romanticism" are accepted "unflinchingly" and taken to their logical conclusion: "It is the reference to actuality that is essential; without it, the absurdity will not stand starkly out".[152]

Theatre poster for an American production, c. 1879

A theme that pervades the opera is the treatment of love across different social ranks. In the previous Gilbert and Sullivan opera, The Sorcerer, a love potion causes trouble by inducing the villagers and wedding guests to fall in love with people of different social classes.[153] In Pinafore, the captain's daughter, Josephine, loves and is loved by a common sailor, but she dutifully tells him, "your proffered love I haughtily reject". He expresses his devotion to her in a poetic and moving speech that ends with "I am a British sailor, and I love you". It finally turns out that he is of a higher rank than she. This is a parody of the Victorian "equality" drama, such as Lord Lytton's The Lady of Lyons (1838), where the heroine rejects a virtuous peasant who makes a similarly moving speech, ending with "I am a peasant!"[154] It then turns out that he has become her social superior. Furthermore, in Pinafore, Sir Joseph assures Josephine that "love levels all ranks". In Tom Taylor's The Serf, the heroine again loves a worthy peasant who turns out to be of high rank, and she declares happily at the end that "love levels all".[154] In a satire of the libertarian traditions of nautical melodrama, Sir Joseph tells the crew of the Pinafore that they are "any man's equal" (excepting his), and he writes a song for them that glorifies the British sailor. Conversely, he brings the proud captain down a notch by making him "dance a hornpipe on the cabin table".[154] Jones notes that the union between Ralph and Josephine "becomes acceptable only through the absurd second-act revelation of Buttercup's inadvertent switching of the infants" and concludes that Gilbert is a "conservative satirist [who] ultimately advocated preserving the status quo ... [and] set out to show [that] love definitely does not level all ranks".[139]

There is a divide among Gilbert and Sullivan scholars as to whether Gilbert is, as Jones argues, a supporter of the status quo whose focus is merely to entertain or, on the other hand, predominantly to satirise and protest "against the follies of his age".[155] The Gilbert scholar Andrew Crowther posits that this disagreement arises from Gilbert's "techniques of inversion – with irony and topsyturvydom", which lead to "the surface meaning of his writings" being "the opposite of their underlying meaning". Crowther argues that Gilbert desires to "celebrate" society's norms while, at the same time, satirising these conventions. In Pinafore, which established many patterns for the later Savoy operas, Gilbert found a way to express his own conflict that "also had tremendous appeal to the general public".[155] He creates "a highly intelligent parody of nautical melodrama ... [though] controlled by the conventions it mocks".[155] While nautical melodrama exalts the common sailor, in Pinafore Gilbert makes the proponent of equality, Sir Joseph, a pompous and misguided member of the ruling class who, hypocritically, cannot apply the idea of equality to himself.[n 12] The hero, Ralph, is convinced of his equality by Sir Joseph's foolish pronouncements and declares his love for his Captain's daughter, throwing over the accepted "fabric of social order". At this point, Crowther suggests, the logic of Gilbert's satiric argument should result in Ralph's arrest. But to satisfy convention, Gilbert creates an obvious absurdity: the captain and Ralph were switched as babies. By an "accident of birth", Ralph is suddenly an appropriate husband for Josephine, and both the social order and the desire for a romantic happy ending are satisfied at once.[156] Crowther concludes, "We have an opera which uses all the conventions of melodrama and ridicules them; but in the end it is difficult to see which has won out, the conventions or the ridicule." Thus, Pinafore found broadbased success by appealing to the intellectual theatregoer seeking satire, the middle-class theatre-goer looking for a comfortable confirmation of the "existing social order" and the working-class audience who saw a satisfying melodramatic victory for the common man.[155]

According to musicologist Arthur Jacobs, Gilbert's plot "admirably sparked off Sullivan's genius".[147] Sullivan embraces the nautical setting; in "We Sail the Ocean Blue", for example, he "presents his twist on a traditional sea shanty".[157] In the Captain's opening song, "I am the Captain of the Pinafore", he admits that his gentlemanliness "never ... well, hardly ever" gives way to swearing at his men, and although he has experience at sea, he "hardly ever" suffers from seasickness.[157] Sullivan "unerringly found the right musical setting for the key phrase 'What never?' ... cunningly sharpened ... through the chromatic touch on the bassoon."[158] Audrey Williamson argued that the music of Pinafore is quintessentially English and free of European influences throughout most of the score, from the "glee" for Ralph, the Boatswain and the Carpenter, to "For He Is an Englishman".[159]

Gilbert's Illustration of "A British tar" (1906)

The best-known songs from the opera[160][161] include "I'm called Little Buttercup", a waltz tune introducing the character, which Sullivan repeats in the entr'acte and in the Act II finale to imprint the melody on the mind of the audience;[162] and "A British tar" (a glee for three men describing the ideal sailor), composed by Sir Joseph "to encourage independent thought and action in the lower branches of the service, and to teach the principle that a British sailor is any man's equal, excepting mine".[147] Sullivan's voicing advances the satiric lyric, which mocks the "equality" plays while underlining the hypocrisy of Sir Joseph.[155] Another popular number is Sir Joseph's song "When I was a Lad", recounting the meteoric rise of his career, which bears similarities to that of W. H. Smith, the civilian news entrepreneur who had risen to the position of First Lord of the Admiralty in 1877.[118]

In Pinafore, Sullivan exploits minor keys for comic effect, for instance in "Kind Captain, I've important information".[163] Further, he achieves a musical surprise when he uses the subdominant minor in "Sorry her lot".[164] The musicologist Gervase Hughes was impressed with the introduction to the opening chorus which includes "a rousing nautical tune ... in a key of no nonsense, C major ... a modulation to the mediant minor, where to our surprise a plaintive oboe gives us the first verse of "Sorry her lot" in 2/4 [time]. After this closes on the local dominant B major the violins (still in 2/4) introduce us to Little Buttercup ... meeting her under these conditions one would hardly expect her to blossom out later as a queen of the waltz." He continues, "the bassoon and basses ... assert vigorously who is the Captain of the Pinafore ... in the improbable key of A flat minor. ... Buttercup makes a last despairing attempt to make herself heard in D flat minor, but the others have never known that such an outlandish key existed. So in a flash they all go back to C major on a good old 6/4".[165]

According to Jacobs, "Ralph, Captain Corcoran, Sir Joseph and Josephine all live in their interactive music (particularly 'Never mind the why and wherefore'), and almost as much musical resource is lavished on two characters parodied from opera or melodrama, Little Buttercup with 'gypsy blood in her veins' and the heavy-treading Dick Deadeye."[166] Jacobs also opined that the leading tone that begins "Never mind the why and wherefore" "serves to emphasize the phrase like a Johann Strauss-ian grace-note".[147] The Sullivan scholar David Russell Hulme noted Sullivan's parody of operatic styles, "particularly the Handelian recitatives and the elopement scene (evocative of so many nocturnal operatic conspiracies), but best of all is the travesty of the patriotic tune in 'For he is an Englishman!'"[167] Buttercup's Act II song, in which she reveals the dark secret of the baby-switching is preceded by a quote from Franz Schubert's "Erlkönig" and also parodies the opera Il trovatore.[115] Jacobs notes that Sullivan also adds his own humorous touches to the music by setting commonplace expressions in "Donizettian recitative". But on the serious side, he enhances the moments of true emotional climax, as in Josephine's Act II aria, and added musical interest to concerted numbers by "subtly shifting the rhythms and bar groupings."[158]

During rehearsals for the original production, Gilbert added a ballad for Captain Corcoran in which he urged his daughter to forget the common sailor with whom she is in love, because "at every step, he would commit solecisms that society would never pardon." The ballad was meant to be sung between No. 5 and No. 6 of the current score, but it was cut before opening night. The words survive in the libretto that was deposited with the Lord Chamberlain for licensing. Before 1999, all that was known to survive of Sullivan's setting was a copy of the leader violin part.[168]

In April 1999, Sullivan scholars Bruce I. Miller and Helga J. Perry announced that they had discovered a nearly complete orchestration – lacking only the second violin part – in a private collection of early band parts. These materials, with a conjectural reconstruction of the partially lost vocal lines and second violin part, were later published and professionally recorded.[168][169] This piece has now been performed a number of times by amateur and professional companies, although it has not become a standard addition to the traditional scores or recordings.[170]

Bond as Hebe with Grossmith as Sir Joseph, 1887 revival

In the licensing copy of the libretto, Sir Joseph's cousin Hebe had lines of dialogue in several scenes in Act II. In the scene that follows No. 14 ("Things are seldom what they seem"), she accompanied Sir Joseph onstage and echoed the First Lord's dissatisfaction with Josephine. After several interruptions, Sir Joseph urged her to be quiet, eliciting the response "Crushed again!" Gilbert would later re-use this passage for Lady Jane in Patience. Hebe was also assigned several lines of dialogue after No. 18 ("Carefully on tiptoe stealing") and again after No. 19 ("Farewell, my own").[171][172]

Late in rehearsals for the original production, Jessie Bond assumed the role of Hebe, replacing Mrs Howard Paul. Bond, who at this point in her career was known primarily as a concert singer and had little experience as an actress, did not feel capable of performing dialogue, and these passages were revised to cut Hebe's dialogue.[173] Hebe's cut dialogue is occasionally restored in modern performances.[174][175]

The dialogue preceding the Act II finale, starting with "Here, take her sir, and mind you treat her kindly", was originally recitative. The music for this passage was printed in the first edition of the vocal score as No. 20a. Shortly after opening night, the recitative was dropped, and the lines thereafter were performed as spoken dialogue. In modern productions, the recitative is occasionally restored in place of the dialogue.[170][172]

Cabinet card of W. S. Gilbert in about 1880 by Elliott & Fry

Among its other influences on popular culture, Pinafore had perhaps its most profound influence on the development of musical theatre. According to theatre historian John Kenrick, Pinafore "became an international sensation, reshaping the commercial theater in both England and the United States."[216] The music writer Andrew Lamb notes, "The success of H.M.S. Pinafore in 1879 established British comic opera alongside French opéra bouffe throughout the English-speaking world".[217] The historian John Bush Jones opines that Pinafore and the other Savoy operas demonstrate that musical theatre "can address contemporary social and political issues without sacrificing entertainment value" and that Pinafore created the model for a new kind of musical theatre, the "integrated" musical, where "book, lyrics, and music combined to form an integral whole".[218] He adds that its "unprecedented ... popularity fostered an American audience for musical theatre, while the show itself became a model for form, content, and even intention of ... musicals ever since, especially socially relevant musicals."[219] Its popularity also led to the musical theatre adaptations of Pinafore described above, musicals in which the story line involves a production of Pinafore[220] and other musicals that parody the opera or that use or adapt its music.[n 14] The first such parody was a short-lived burlesque presented at the Opera Comique in 1882, called The Wreck of the Pinafore by William Horace Lingard and Luscombe Searelle; the opera's characters are shipwrecked on a desert island. It was described by The Era as "chiefly remarkable for its impudence".[222]

Arthur Seymour Sullivan

The opera's popularity has led to the widespread parody and pastiche of its songs in comedy routines, literature and other media.[223] Many comedians have used Pinafore songs for comic and satiric effect. For example, in his comedy album My Son, the Celebrity, Allan Sherman parodies "When I Was a Lad" from the point of view of a young man who goes to an Ivy League school and then rises to prominence in business. At the end of the song, he "thanks old Yale", "thanks the Lord" and thanks his father, "who is chairman of the board".[224] Literary references to Pinafore songs include Harris's attempt to sing "When I Was a Lad" in Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat.[225] Another is found in the story "Runaround" from I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, where a robot sings part of "I'm Called Little Buttercup".[226] Pinafore and its songs have been performed by rock musicians such as Todd Rundgren, Taj Mahal and Michele Gray Rundgren, who performed "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore" on Night Music (Sunday Night) in 1989.[227]

Political references include a 1996 satiric pastiche of "When I Was a Lad" aimed at Tony Blair by Virginia Bottomley, heritage secretary under John Major.[228] Sporting references include a racehorse named "H.M.S. Pinafore".[229] Pinafore songs and images have been used extensively in advertising. According to Jones, "Pinafore launched the first media blitz in the United States" beginning in 1879,[139] and recent ads include a television campaign for Terry's Chocolate Orange featuring a pastiche of "When I Was a Lad".[230] Pinafore-themed merchandise includes trading cards that were created in the 1880s.[231]

Songs from Pinafore have been used to give period flavor to such films as the 1981 historical film Chariots of Fire, in which the protagonist, Harold Abrahams, and others from Cambridge University, sing "He Is an Englishman".[232] This song also features at the end of the 1983 BBC drama An Englishman Abroad.[232] In the 2003 movie Peter Pan, the Darling family sings "When I Was a Lad".[233] In Wyatt Earp (1994), the famed lawman meets his future wife when he sees her playing in an early production of Pinafore.[233] A 1953 biopic, The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan, uses music from Pinafore.

Characters also sing songs from Pinafore in such popular films as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)[234] and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), where Captain Picard and Lt. Commander Worf sing part of "A British Tar" to distract a malfunctioning Lt. Commander Data.[233] The Good Shepherd (2006) depicts an all-male version of Pinafore at Yale University in 1939; Matt Damon's character plays Little Buttercup, singing in falsetto.[235] Judy Garland sings "I Am the Monarch of the Sea" in the 1963 film, I Could Go On Singing.[236] The soundtrack of the 1992 thriller The Hand that Rocks the Cradle prominently features songs and music from Pinafore, and the father and daughter characters sing "I Am the Captain of the Pinafore" together.[237] An example of a film based on ideas from Pinafore is the 1976 animated film by Ronald Searle called Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done is based on the character and songs from Pinafore.[238] In the 1988 drama Permanent Record, a high school class performs Pinafore.[239]

Television series that include substantial Pinafore references include The West Wing, for example in the 2000 episode "And It's Surely to Their Credit", where "He Is an Englishman" is used throughout and quoted (or paraphrased) in the episode's title.[240] Among other notable examples of the use of songs from Pinafore on television are several popular animated shows. In the "Cape Feare" episode of The Simpsons, Bart stalls his would-be killer Sideshow Bob with a "final request" that Bob sing him the entire score of Pinafore.[241] Similarly, the 1993 "HMS Yakko" episode of Animaniacs consists of pastiches of songs from H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance.[242] In a Family Guy episode, "The Thin White Line" (2001), Stewie sings a pastiche of "My Gallant Crew".[243] Stewie also sings "I Am the Monarch of the Sea" (including the ladies' part, in falsetto) in "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story".[244] A 1986 Mr. Belvedere episode, "The Play", concerns a production of H.M.S. Pinafore, and several of the songs are performed.[245] In 1955, NBC broadcast a variety special including a 20-minute compressed jazz version, "H.M.S. Pinafore in Jazz", produced and directed by Max Liebman, starring Perry Como, Buddy Hackett, Kitty Kallen, Bill Hayes, Pat Carroll and Herb Shriner.[246]