H.M.S Pinafore

Creation

Gilbert hadn’t been lazing around while The Sorcerer was being enthusiastically received. He had an outline of a possible next plot that he sent Sullivan in December of 1877. Gilbert, having made fun of law courts in Trial by Jury, and English society in The Sorcerer, turned his attention to the British Navy. Sullivan responded enthusiastically to Gilbert’s outline, and Gilbert immediately started on the libretto.

Gilbert soon finished the libretto, and sent it to Sullivan. He had less trouble with this libretto, because now he had a company of people prepared to play his quirky parts. He tailored the different parts to suit the individual’s style and personality. This is noticeable throughout all the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. There are always parts for a handsome tenor, a portly baritone, a comic bass, a pretty soprano, and a stout elderly alto.

Sullivan finished the music in less than five months. He was in Nice, France. Unfortunately, the composer was suffering from kidney stones the whole time he wrote the music. He wrote in his diary:

“It is, perhaps, rather a strange fact that the music to Pinafore, which was thought to be so merry and spontaneous, was written while I was suffering agonies from a cruel illness. I would compose a few bars, and then be almost insensible from pain…Never was music written under such disturbing conditions.”

The composer did succeed in composing the music rather quickly, despite his physical condition.

H.M.S Pinafore opened May 28, 1878 at the Opera Comique. This was a scant three days after The Sorcerer finished its first run.

Plot Synopsis

The curtain rises on a chorus of sailors making everything “shipshape” because the First Lord of the Navy is going to pay them a visit. He is looking into marrying the captain’s daughter, Josephine. The sailors are excited about the First Lord’s visit (after all, a bevy of beautiful maids who are his sisters, his cousins, and his aunts follow him around wherever he goes.) All except Ralph Rackstraw (his friends call him “Rafe” for some unknown reason), who is in love with Josephine.

Just then, the captain comes on deck. He confesses to Little Buttercup (an elderly bumboat woman) that Josephine doesn’t seem to want to marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord, even though he’s extremely rich. Little Buttercup replies that Josephine is probably in love with someone else. As she leaves, Captain Corcoran remarks to himself that if she wasn’t so below his station, he’d like to marry Little Buttercup. Josephine enters and laments to her father how she is in love with Ralph Rackstraw, a lowly sailor. The Captain tells her to ignore him.

Then Sir Joseph appears with his sisters and his cousins and his aunts. He explains how he became the First Lord (“I thought so little they rewarded me by making me the ruler of the Queen’s Navee”).

Ralph then goes and tells Josephine he loves her, and they agree to sneak away to get married that very night. All the sailors, sisters, cousins, and aunts are very enthusiastic about this idea, except for one. Dick Deadeye doesn’t think that a captain’s daughter should marry a foremast hand. He decides to warn the captain about Ralph and Josephine’s plot.

Act two opens at night with Captain Corcoran serenading the moon. Little Buttercup comes in, and hints that “things are seldom what they seem” and “there is a change in store for [the Captain]”. Sir Joseph comes above, and remarks that Josephine “won’t do” because she doesn’t seem to accept his suit. The Captain replies that “perhaps your [Sir Joseph’s] exalted rank dazzles her”. Sir Joseph tries again, telling her that “love levels all ranks”. He thinks he succeeds in pressing his suit, but all he does is convince her to elope with Ralph. Then Josephine and Sir Joseph leave. Dick Deadeye comes in and warns Captain Corcoran.

Corcoran conceals himself, and the crew with sisters etc. come on board. Before they can leave, Corcoran reveals himself. The crew protests that Ralph “is an Englishman, behold him”. Corcoran replies:

Sir Joseph walks in on this bad language and sends the Captain to his room. He finds out about Josephine and Ralph, and sends Ralph to the brig (prison). Then Little Buttercup reveals a secret--when she was young, she nursed two babies, and accidentally switched them around. One was Ralph, and one was the Captain. So Ralph is the captain, and Captain Corcoran is Ralph (somehow, Gilbert skimmed over the age difference). Ralph is free to marry Josephine, Corcoran can marry Little Buttercup, and Sir Joseph contents himself by marrying his cousin Hebe.

Public Reception

The H.M.S Pinafore was very good, and praised by critics. Despite that, business didn’t go very well. That summer was blisteringly hot, and the last thing people wanted to do was sit in a stuffy theater. Six times the other managers of the Opera Comique tried to close the operetta, but Carte wouldn’t let that happen. The actors agreed to take half-pay until it was more popular.

Sullivan conducted several evening concerts during the summer. At one such concert, he put an arrangement of songs from the Pinafore on the program. London went crazy. Everyone went to see the Pinafore. The music stores sold over 1,000 copies per day. Newspaper headlines announced “Pinafore Mania”. The Pinafore ran for 571 performances.

Pirates!

There were some things that were irritating Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte. Those American imbeciles did not follow international copyright rules. Therefore, for each performance in the US, the partnership was getting exactly £ 0 in royalties. Not only that, but the pirated productions were all wrong. The music was played horribly, and the parts were cast and performed incorrectly. Carte decided that America needed to see the real Pinafore, so he set off to make preliminary arrangements.

While Carte was gone, an even more bizarre piratical thing happened. The other directors of the Opera Comique decided that they would terminate the agreement with Carte and set up a rival production of the Pinafore-- right next door. They decided that the scenery belonged to them. They hired a bunch of roughs that broke into the theater through the stage door, while the Pinafore was being performed. The audience couldn’t see what was going on, and started screaming that there was a fire. The loyal stagehands fought the roughs backstage. George Grossmith tried to comfort the audience. The lady playing Little Buttercup tried to continue playing her part. After a one-hour free-for-all, the stagehands drove the roughs from the stage. The rivals continued on with their version of the Pinafore but they received no public support, and the company went bankrupt.