Gilbert and Sullivan: The Official D'Oyly Carte Picture History

Yes, really lovely. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company ran for one hundred and seven years, from the moment in 1875 when founder Richard D'Oyly Carte [re]united two extremely different young luminaries of the British arts scene to create a one-act comic opera, Trial by Jury. The men's thirteen creations under D'Oyly Carte would prove the most lasting of all Victorian popular culture, rivalled only by the novels of Mr Dickens. Gilbert and Carte kept a firm hand on the staging of the works (Sullivan was somewhat more hands-off) until their deaths, after which time Rupert, Carte's son, led the company nobly, followed by his only child, Dame Bridget. Their performances upheld a remarkable tradition even if, dare I suggest, they threatened to show more protect Gilbert and Sullivan's operas in mothballs from time to time.

The company shuffled to its end in 1982. There had been a dramatic fall from grace since the celebrated centenary season of 1975. The cultural world was changing, as were the financial demands of taking a company on the road, and the Thatcher Government - despite public pressure - declined, through its Arts Council, to subsidise the company. An abbreviated last season was given in London, and the company went their separate ways, and a landmark of theatre was lost to time. Luckily they recorded all of the operas, some numerous times, and left an astonishing legacy.

This authorised picture book contains close to 500 pictures (largely black and white) from that first production of Trial by Jury through to the programme of the closing night. There is little text other than captions, and of course nothing that isn't out-and-out praise for The Company. But that's not to complain, given the gloriousness of the pictures and the nostalgia they conjure up. Treasures from a time long lost. show less