211:. Chloe: "I always pinch my lamb when nobody's looking." Strephon: "And I always play out of tune when nobody's listening". They irritably agree to break off their engagement. Chloe's parents are also miserable. Her father was a criminal who evaded punishment by fleeing to Arcadia and is now tired of living a life of innocence. He would happily return to a life of iniquity if he could do so without being sentenced to penal servitude. Meanwhile, Strephon's lodger, Astrologos, owes him three months' rent, but as an Arcadian, Strephon can't ask him to pay it, since Arcadians don't care about money. Astrologos notes that he has four magic items, a stick, a ring, a cloak, and a cap, each of which grants one wish, but that he has used up the wishes.
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Strephon's shoes, and she immediately changes into
Strephon. Meanwhile, Colin has turned into Daphne – as a woman, he would be able to get away with crimes. Chloe has changed into Colin, hoping to be "a grumpy... old bear like papa," to be out from between her two suitors. Strephon has turned into Chloe. Everyone is distressed by their transformations, and the idea occurs to them that if they exchange magic items, they will each get another wish. They do so and wish to return to their original forms, which they do, and they all happily embrace. Lycidas returns, declaring that Arcadia is no place for him, and he is leaving. They auction all the items to Lycidas, and all ends happily.
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appears, saying he will live in
Arcadia, and he asks to be left alone with Chloe. Strephon reluctantly withdraws, and Lycidas asks Chloe to "be mine". Strephon returns with a stick, and Lycidas withdraws, agreeing to return in half an hour. Strephon says that he is no longer an Arcadian and will smash Lycidas if he presumes to address Chloe again.
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is a satire on the genre of pastoral plays, which were set in an ideal world. The piece has a typical
Gilbertian topsy-turvy plot in which magic items grant wishes, and each of the characters uses his or her wish to become someone else. The magic items cause the sort of transformation that fascinated
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Astrologos has departed, leaving a package for
Strephon containing the four magic items. The instructions say, "Distribute them as you think fit". Strephon decides to auction off three of the items. Each item is auctioned off for four pence. Daphne, left alone, inadvertently wishes that she were in
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Daphne has news: The handsome, wealthy, gifted
Lycidas has determined to renounce the vanities of a worldly life and is going to become an Arcadian, and he has taken a fancy to Chloe. Strephon protests that Chloe is betrothed to him, and that, to put up a fight, he'll resign from Arcadia. Lycidas
52:. It was one of four collaborations between Gilbert and Clay between 1869 and 1876. The music is lost. The piece is a satire on the genre of pastoral plays in which the characters, who each wish that they could be someone else, have their wish granted, with unhappy results.
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at their
Gallery of Illustration beginning in 1855. The German Reeds did not call their venue a theatre because, at that time, the theatre in Britain had gained a poor reputation as an unsavory institution and was not attended by much of the middle class;
68:, in which two of the characters, Strephon and Phyllis, are "Arcadian" shepherds. Phyllis, like Chloe, is torn between two suitors. The character of Lycidas also anticipates the character of Archibald Grosvenor in another Gilbert and Sullivan opera,
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noted that "the highlight of the show was a scene in which, various jealousies having arisen, everyone is simultaneously wishing he were one of the others – and consequently everyone is! favourite theme of change of identity or personality."
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and incomprehensible broad farces. The
Gallery of Illustration was a 500-seat theatre with a small stage that only allowed for four or five characters with accompaniment by a piano, harmonium and sometimes a harp.
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5. Entrance of
Lycidas: "Welcome to this spot" (Chloe, Daphne, Strephon, Colin), "Far away from care and strife" (Lycidas) and "On the banks of every stream" (Ensemble)
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is an oxymoron, as the inhabitants of this fictional
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was one of the later pieces by
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As the original score is long lost, others have created their own, and Jonathan Strong's adaptation of Sullivan's non-
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music may be heard on the video of the work by the Boston Massachusetts-based group, Royal Victorian Opera Company.
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8. Finale. "In this innocent little vale" (Strephon and ensemble; reprises "Good people all, attend, attend to me")
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Chloe and Strephon are "completely and intensely miserable. Bored beyond expression." They hate their lambs and
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7. Identity quartette. "The question of identity, Suppose we now discuss" (Colin, Chloe, Daphne, Strephon)
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Gilbert throughout his career and that he used in all his "lozenge plot" works, including
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1b. Song. "When I was seventeen" (Daphne; only appears in early versions of the libretto)
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The Life and Reminiscences of Jessie Bond, the Old Savoyard (as told to Ethel MacGeorge)
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5b. Ballad: "The Way of Wooing" (Chloe; only appears in early versions of the libretto)
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This work is the fifth in a series of six one-act musical plays written by Gilbert for
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was played, but most theatrical entertainments consisted of poorly translated French
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played from 28 October 1872 to 2 May 1873. A revival, produced by and starring
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6. Quartette. "Good people all, attend, attend to me" (Strephon and ensemble)
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4. Song. "There's naught but care, and toil, and strife. (Strephon)
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3. Scene. "Fair love" (Strephon, with interjections by Astrologos)
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Gilbert Before Sullivan: Six Comic Plays by W.S. Gilbert
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Contradiction Contradicted – The Plays of W. S. Gilbert
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W. S. Gilbert, A Classic Victorian & His Theatre
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An elderly Arcadian, Chloe's mama (married to Colin)
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302:(then Emily Cross, then Marion German Reed)
223:Roles and casts of 1872 and 1895 productions
367:1. Duet. "Let us sing" (Strephon and Chloe)
323:Maria Garcia (replaced by Chrystal Duncan)
16:Operetta by W. S. Gilbert and Frederic Clay
414:The Life and Reminiscences of Jessie Bond
48:that premiered on 28 October 1872 at the
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309:A happy Arcadian, betrothed to Strephon
266:A virtuous old peasant, father of Chloe
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518:. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head.
74:, who is cursed with perfect beauty.
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481:Smith, J. Donald. "Happy Arcadia",
472:, A Gilbert and Sullivan Discography
243:A happy Arcadian, betrothed to Chloe
347:The handsomest man in all the world
340:George Traill (then Roland Carse)
28:as Strephon in an 1895 revival of
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595:(with an introduction by Stedman)
527:. Associated University Presses.
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577:Six comic plays by W. S. Gilbert
373:2. Song. "Only a Woman" (Colin)
575:Stedman, Jane W., Ed. (1969).
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560:. Oxford University Press.
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634:English-language operas
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436:5 July 2008 at the
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60:comic opera
618:Categories
508:References
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209:flageolets
148:Kurt Gänzl
105:burlesques
78:Background
585:cite book
289:contralto
283:Daphne –
103:, risque
101:operettas
88:Priscilla
609:libretto
466:Archived
434:Archived
307:Chloe –
270:baritone
264:Colin –
193:Synopsis
71:Patience
65:Iolanthe
313:soprano
639:Operas
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