Editing Gilbert and Sullivan (section)

==Legacy and assessment==
Gilbert died in 1911, and Richard's son, [[Rupert D'Oyly Carte]], took over the opera company upon his step-mother's death in 1913. His daughter, [[Bridget D'Oyly Carte|Bridget]], inherited the company upon his death in 1948. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company toured nearly year-round, except for its many London seasons and foreign tours, performing exclusively the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, until it closed in 1982. During the 20th century, the company gave well over 35,000 performances.<ref>Rollins and Witts, ''passim''</ref><ref>Joseph, passim</ref> The Savoy operas, from the beginning, were produced extensively in North America and Australasia, and soon afterwards in Germany, Russia, and elsewhere in Europe and around the world.<ref>Jellinek, Hedy and George. "The One World of Gilbert and Sullivan", ''Saturday Review'', 26 October 1968, pp. 69–72 and 94</ref>

[[Image:D'oyly-carte-the-joy-of-three-generations-1921.jpg|thumb|225px|right|upright|1921 cartoon of Gilbert and Sullivan audiences]]
In 1922, Sir [[Henry Wood]] explained the enduring success of the collaboration as follows:
{{quote|Sullivan has never had an equal for brightness and drollery, for humour without coarseness and without vulgarity, and for charm and grace. His orchestration is delightful: he wrote with full understanding of every orchestral voice. Above all, his music is perfectly appropriate to the words of which it is the setting.... He found the right, the only cadences to fit Gilbert's happy and original rhythms, and to match Gilbert's fun or to throw Gilbert's frequent irony, pointed although not savage, into relief. Sullivan's music is much more than the accompaniment of Gilbert's libretti, just as Gilbert's libretti are far more than words to Sullivan's music. We have two masters who are playing a concerto. Neither is subordinate to the other; each gives what is original, but the two, while neither predominates, are in perfect correspondence. This rare harmony of words and music is what makes these operas entirely unique. They are the work not of a musician and his librettist nor of a poet and one who sets his words to music, but of two geniuses.<ref>[[Henry Wood|Wood, Henry]]. [http://gsarchive.net/books/walbrook/foreword.html Foreword] in Walbrook</ref>}}

[[G. K. Chesterton]] similarly praised the combination of the two artists, anticipating the operas' success into the "remote future". He wrote that Gilbert's satire was "too intelligent to be intelligible" by itself, and that perhaps only Sullivan could have given "wings to his words ... in exactly the right degree frivolous and exactly the right degree fastidious. [The words'] precise degree of levity and distance from reality ... seemed to be expressed ... in the very notes of the music; almost ... in the note of the laughter that followed it."<ref>Chesterton, p. xv</ref> In 1957, a review in ''The Times'' gave this rationale for "the continued vitality of the Savoy operas":
{{quote|[T]hey were never really contemporary in their idiom.... Gilbert and Sullivan's [world], from the first moment was obviously not the audience's world, [it was] an artificial world, with a neatly controlled and shapely precision which has not gone out of fashion – because it was never in fashion in the sense of using the fleeting conventions and ways of thought of contemporary human society.... For this, each partner has his share of credit. The neat articulation of incredibilities in Gilbert's plots is perfectly matched by his language.... His dialogue, with its primly mocking formality, satisfies both the ear and the intelligence. His verses show an unequalled and very delicate gift for creating a comic effect by the contrast between poetic form and prosaic thought and wording.... How deliciously [his lines] prick the bubble of sentiment.... [Of] equal importance... Gilbert's lyrics almost invariably take on extra point and sparkle when set to Sullivan's music.... Sullivan's tunes, in these operas, also exist in a make-believe world of their own.... [He is] a delicate wit, whose airs have a precision, a neatness, a grace, and a flowing melody.... The two men together remain endlessly and incomparably delightful.... Light, and even trifling, though [the operas] may seem upon grave consideration, they yet have the shapeliness and elegance that can make a trifle into a work of art.<ref>"The Lasting Charm of Gilbert and Sullivan: Operas of an Artificial World", ''The Times'', 14 February 1957, p. 5</ref>}}

Because of the unusual success of the operas, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company were<!--British usage--> able, from the start, to license the works to other professional companies, such as the [[J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company]], and to amateur troupes. For almost a century, until the British copyrights expired at the end of 1961, and even afterwards, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company influenced productions of the operas worldwide, creating a "performing tradition" for most of the operas that is still referred to today by many directors, both amateur and professional.<ref name=JoyRapture>Bradley, Ian. ''Oh Joy! Oh Rapture! The Enduring Phenomenon of Gilbert and Sullivan'' (2005)</ref> Indeed, Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte had an important influence on amateur theatre. Cellier and Bridgeman wrote in 1914 that, prior to the creation of the [[Savoy opera]]s, amateur actors were treated with contempt by professionals. After the formation of amateur Gilbert and Sullivan companies in the 1880s licensed to perform the operas, professionals recognised that the amateur performing groups "support the culture of music and the drama. They are now accepted as useful training schools for the legitimate stage, and from the volunteer ranks have sprung many present-day favourites."<ref>Cellier and Bridgeman, p. 393</ref> Cellier and Bridgeman attributed the rise in quality and reputation of the amateur groups largely to "the popularity of, and infectious craze for performing, the Gilbert and Sullivan operas".<ref>Cellier and Bridgeman, p. 394</ref> The [[National Operatic and Dramatic Association]] (NODA) was founded in 1899. It reported, in 1914, that nearly 200 British troupes were performing Gilbert and Sullivan that year, constituting most of the amateur companies in the country (this figure included only the societies that were members of NODA). The association further reported that almost 1,000 performances of the [[Savoy opera]]s had been given in Britain that year, many of them to benefit charities.<ref>Cellier and Bridgeman, pp. 394–96</ref> Cellier and Bridgeman noted that strong amateur groups were performing the operas in places as far away as New Zealand.<ref>Cellier and Bridgeman, pp. 398–99</ref> In the U.S., and elsewhere where British copyrights on the operas were not enforced, both professional and amateur companies performed the works throughout the 20th century – the [[Internet Broadway Database]] counts about 150 productions on Broadway alone from 1900 to 1960. [[The Savoy Company]], an amateur group formed in 1901 in Philadelphia, continues to perform today.<ref>Fletcher, Juliet. [http://www.citypaper.net/articles/092001/ae.theater.shtml "''Yeomen of the Guard'': The Savoy Company celebrates 100 years of taking on Gilbert and Sullivan"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001161921/http://citypaper.net/articles/092001/ae.theater.shtml |date=1 October 2015}}, CityPaper, September 2001, accessed 25 February 2012</ref><ref>[http://www.savoy.org/ The Savoy Company official website], accessed 25 February 2012</ref> In 1948, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine reported that about 5,000 performances of Gilbert and Sullivan operas were given annually in the US, exceeding the number of performances of Shakespeare plays.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dEoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA86 "The Land of Gilbert and Sullivan"], ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'', 11 October 1948, vol. 25, pp. 86–87</ref>

After the copyrights on the operas expired, other professional companies were free to perform and record the operas, even in Britain and [[Commonwealth of Nations|The Commonwealth]]. Many performing companies arose to produce the works, such as [[Gilbert and Sullivan for All]] in Britain,<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narrster-gsfa.htm "The Gilbert and Sullivan for All recordings"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, accessed 8 September 2011, accessed 5 October 2014</ref> and existing companies, such as [[English National Opera]], [[Carl Rosa Opera Company]] and [[Opera Australia|Australian Opera]], added Gilbert and Sullivan to their repertories.<ref>[http://www.ausstage.edu.au/indexdrilldown.jsp?xcid=59&f_org_id=210&f_event_id=66753 The Australian Opera list of productions 1970–1996], AusStage, accessed 25 May 2009</ref> The operas were presented by professional repertory companies in the US, including the competing [[Light Opera of Manhattan]] and [[NYGASP]] in New York City. In 1980, a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and [[West End theatre|West End]] production of ''Pirates'' produced by [[Joseph Papp]] brought new audiences to Gilbert and Sullivan. Between 1988 and 2003, a new iteration of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company revived the operas on tour and in the West End.<ref name=Digital>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narrdig-series.htm "G&S Discography: The Digital Era"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 27 August 2002, accessed 5 October 2014</ref> Today, various professional repertory companies, such as [[NYGASP]], [[Opera della Luna]], [[National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company]], [[Opera North]], [[Ohio Light Opera]], [[Scottish Opera]] and other regional opera companies,<ref>[https://gsarchive.net/html/perf_grps/websites/pros.html List of professional companies that perform Gilbert and Sullivan], ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive'', accessed 26 December 2021</ref> and numerous amateur societies, churches, schools and universities continue to produce the works.<ref name=Hewett/><ref>[http://gsarchive.net/html/perf_grps/websites/index.html Websites of Performing Groups], ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive'', accessed 26 December 2021; Wilkinson, Sue. [https://www.harrogateadvertiser.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-and-comedy/facts-and-figures-of-harrogate-s-g-s-festival-1-9083154 "Facts and figures of Harrogate’s G&S Festival"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326191442/https://www.harrogateadvertiser.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-and-comedy/facts-and-figures-of-harrogate-s-g-s-festival-1-9083154 |date=26 March 2018}}, ''Harrogate Advertiser'', 26 March 2018</ref> The most popular G&S works also continue to be performed from time to time by major opera companies,<ref>[http://www.operabase.com/oplist.cgi?id=none&lang=en&is=&by=Sullivan&loc=&stype=abs&sd=30&sm=10&sy=2005&etype=abs&ed=31&em=10&ey=2007 Performances, by city – Composer: Arthur Sullivan], operabase.com, accessed 21 May 2007</ref>{{refn|Although opera companies have rarely embraced Gilbert and Sullivan as part of the regular opera repertory, commentators have questioned the wisdom of this attitude.<ref>[[Jessica Duchen|Duchen, Jessica]]. [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/its-time-to-reassess-gilbert-and-sullivan-2078399.html "It's time to reassess Gilbert and Sullivan"]. ''The Independent'', 14 September 2010</ref>|group= n}} and recordings of the operas, overtures and songs from the operas continue to be released.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120910120458/http://www.selbytimes.co.uk/music-reviews/The-Gala-Ensemble-The-Best.4769862.jp "The Gala Ensemble: The Best of Gilbert & Sullivan"], ''Selby Times'', 7 December 2008 (Compilation recording)</ref><ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narrdig-other.htm#other "The Ohio Light Opera Recordings"], ''A Gilbert and Sullivan Discography'', 16 July 2005</ref> Since 1994, the [[International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival]] has been held every August in England (except 2020), with some two dozen or more performances of the operas given on the main stage, and several dozen related "fringe" events given in smaller venues.<ref name=JoyRapture/><ref>Lee, Bernard. [http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/classical/Gilbert-and-Sullivan-are-still.4348394.jp "Gilbert and Sullivan are still going strong after a century"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006142908/http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/classical/Gilbert-and-Sullivan-are-still.4348394.jp |date=6 October 2008}}, ''Sheffield Telegraph'', 1 August 2008; Wilkinson, Sue. [https://www.harrogateadvertiser.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-and-comedy/facts-and-figures-of-harrogate-s-g-s-festival-1-9083154 "Facts and figures of Harrogate’s G&S Festival"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326191442/https://www.harrogateadvertiser.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-and-comedy/facts-and-figures-of-harrogate-s-g-s-festival-1-9083154 |date=26 March 2018}}, ''Harrogate Advertiser'', 26 March 2018</ref> The Festival records and offers videos of its most popular professional and amateur productions.<ref>[http://cnb-host4.clickandbuild.com/cnb/shop/musicalcollectablesltd?op=catalogue-products-null&prodCategoryID=1 Gilbert and Sullivan Festival DVDs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813191823/http://cnb-host4.clickandbuild.com/cnb/shop/musicalcollectablesltd?op=catalogue-products-null&prodCategoryID=1 |date=13 August 2011}}. Accessed 20 May 2010</ref> In connection with the 2009 festival, a contemporary critic wrote, "The appeal of G&S's special blend of charm, silliness and gentle satire seems immune to fashion."<ref name=Hewett/> There continue to be hundreds of amateur companies performing the Gilbert and Sullivan works worldwide.<ref>See Bradley (2005), pp. 30 and 68. See also [https://books.google.com/books?id=Lc0GAQAAIAAJ&q=%22gilbert+and+Sullivan+Societies%22 ''Saturday review of literature''], vol. 33, issue 1, p. 27, Saturday Review Associates, 1950; Foreman, Edward. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fnEJAQAAMAAJ&q=%22gilbert+and+Sullivan+Societies%22 ''Authentic Singing: The history of singing'']. Pro Musica Press, 2001, vol. 1, p. 392; and [https://books.google.com/books?id=5YIVAAAAIAAJ&q=%22gilbert+and+Sullivan+Societies%22 ''Library review'']. Vol. 22, p. 62, MCB University Press Ltd., 1970</ref>

===Recordings and broadcasts===
[[File:Mikado-1917.jpg|thumb|upright|Advertisement for the first recording of ''[[The Mikado]]'', 1917]]
The first commercial recordings of individual numbers from the Savoy operas began in 1898.{{refn|The first was "Take a pair of sparkling eyes", from ''The Gondoliers''.<ref>Wolfson, John (1973). "A history of Savoyard recordings", Notes to Pearl LP set GEM 118/120</ref>|group= n}} In 1917 the [[Gramophone Company]] (HMV) produced the first album of a complete Gilbert and Sullivan opera, ''The Mikado'', followed by recordings of eight more.<ref>Rollins and Witts, Appendix pp. x–xi; and Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narracou-doc.htm "The First D'Oyly Carte Recordings"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 18 November 2001, accessed 5 October 2014</ref> [[Sound recording and reproduction#Electrical|Electrical recordings]] of most of the operas were then issued by HMV and [[Victor Talking Machine Company|Victor]], beginning in the late 1920s, supervised by [[Rupert D'Oyly Carte]].<ref>Rollins and Witts, Appendix, pp. xi–xiii; and Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narrelec.htm "G&S Discography: The Electrical Era"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 18 November 2001, accessed 5 October 2014</ref> The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company continued to produce well-regarded recordings until 1979, helping to keep the operas popular through the decades. Many of these recordings have been reissued on CD.<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narrster-doc.htm "The D'Oyly Carte Stereo Recordings"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 24 December 2003, accessed 5 October 2014</ref> After the company was revived in 1988, it recorded seven of the operas.<ref name=Digital/>

After the copyrights on the operas expired, numerous companies around the world released popular audio and video recordings of the operas.<ref name=Digital/><ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narrvisual.htm "G&S on Film, TV and Video"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 18 November 2001, accessed 5 October 2014</ref> In 1966 and again in the 1980s, [[BBC Radio]] presented complete cycles of the thirteen extant Gilbert and Sullivan operas, with dialogue.<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narradio.htm#bbc "The G&S Operas on Radio"], ''Gilbert and Sullivan Discography'', 10 September 2008, accessed 9 December 2016</ref> Ad hoc casts of operatic singers conducted by [[Malcolm Sargent|Sir Malcolm Sargent]] in the 1950s and 60s<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narrster.htm "G&S Discography: The Stereo Era"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, accessed 18 November 2001, accessed 5 October 2014</ref> and [[Charles Mackerras|Sir Charles Mackerras]] in the 1990s<ref name=Digital/> have made audio sets of several Savoy operas, and in the 1980s [[Alexander Faris]] conducted video recordings of eleven of the operas (omitting the last two) with casts including show-business stars as well as professional singers.<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narrvideo-walker.htm "The Brent Walker Videos"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 5 April 2003, accessed 5 October 2014</ref> [[Joseph Papp]]'s Broadway production of ''The Pirates of Penzance'' was put on record in 1981.<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/title/pirates-of-penzance-broadway-cast-album/oclc/173201312&referer=brief_results "The Pirates of Penzance: Broadway cast album], Elektra/Asylum Records LP VE-601, WorldCat, accessed 11 December 2017</ref><ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/pirpapp.htm "Papp's Pirates (1980)"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 5 April 2003, accessed 11 September 2011</ref> Since 1994, the [[International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival]] has released numerous professional and amateur CDs and videos of its productions.<ref>[http://www.gsfestivals.org/product-category/dvds/ "DVDs"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205174946/https://www.gsfestivals.org/product-category/dvds/ |date=5 February 2020 }}, International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, accessed 10 December 2017</ref> [[Ohio Light Opera]] has recorded several of the operas in the 21st century.<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/narrdig-other.htm "The Ohio Light Opera Recordings"], the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 18 April 2010, accessed 2 December 2017</ref> The Really Authentic Gilbert and Sullivan Performance Trust (RAGSPT) of [[Dunedin]], New Zealand, recorded all 13 extant Savoy Operas between 2002 and 2012 and licensed the recordings on [[Creative Commons]].<ref>RAGSPT Revisited. [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiAdlZ1jPr9cU4tMyBB8lOA/videos Videos of the 13 extant Gilbert and Sullivan operas], YouTube, accessed 20 June 2022; and [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Really_Authentic_Gilbert_and_Sullivan_Performance_Trust Wikimedia Commons copies of the videos], accessed 20 June 2022</ref>

===Cultural influence===
[[Image:Detail from Design for an Aesthetic theatrical poster.png|thumb|upright|Detail from a ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' cartoon, showing Sullivan and Gilbert.]]
{{Main|Cultural impact of Gilbert and Sullivan}}
For nearly 150 years, Gilbert and Sullivan have pervasively influenced popular culture in the English-speaking world,<ref>Bradley (2005), Chapter 1.</ref> and lines and quotations from their operas have become part of the English language (even if not originated by Gilbert), such as "[[short, sharp shock]]", "What never? Well, hardly ever!", "let the punishment fit the crime", and "A policeman's lot is not a happy one".<ref name=Lawrence1/><ref name="Green">Green, Edward. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3634126.stm "Ballads, songs, and speeches"] (sic).<!--Please do not correct the punctuation in this article title. It is wrong at the BBC, indicated by sic, and if the article link goes dead, the correct title is needed, including the error--> BBC, 20 September 2004, accessed 21 May 2007</ref> The operas have influenced political style and discourse, literature, film and television, have been widely parodied by humorists, and have been quoted in legal rulings.<ref>References to Gilbert and Sullivan have appeared in the following [[U.S. Supreme Court]] rulings, for example, ''Allied Chemical Corp. v. Daiflon, Inc.'', 449 U.S. 33, 36 (1980) ("What never? Well, hardly ever!"); and ''Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia'', 448 U.S. 555, 604 (1980) (dissent of Justice Rehnquist, quoting the Lord Chancellor).</ref>

The American and British musical owes a tremendous debt to G&S,<ref>Jones, J. Bush. [https://books.google.com/books?id=WqQH31qkYNoC&dq=Bordman+pinafore&pg=PA4 ''Our Musicals, Ourselves''], pp. 10–11, 2003, Brandeis University Press: Lebanon, N.H. (2003) 1584653116</ref><ref>Bargainnier, Earl F. "W. S. Gilbert and American Musical Theatre", pp. 120–33, ''American Popular Music: Readings from the Popular Press'' by Timothy E. Scheurer, Popular Press, 1989 {{ISBN|978-0-87972-466-5}}</ref> who were admired and copied by early musical theatre authors and composers such as [[Ivan Caryll]], [[Adrian Ross]], [[Lionel Monckton]], [[P. G. Wodehouse]],<ref>[http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-248,00.html PG Wodehouse (1881–1975)], The Guardian, accessed 21 May 2007</ref><ref>Robinson, Arthur. [http://home.lagrange.edu/arobinson/wodehousegilbert.htm "List of allusions to G&S in Wodehouse"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209093909/http://home.lagrange.edu/arobinson/wodehousegilbert.htm |date=9 December 2008 }}, Home.lagrange.edu, accessed 27 May 2009</ref> [[Guy Bolton]] and [[Victor Herbert]], and later [[Jerome Kern]], [[Ira Gershwin]], [[Yip Harburg]],<ref>Meyerson, Harold and Ernest Harburg ''Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz?: Yip Harburg, Lyricist'', pp. 15–17 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993, 1st paperback edition 1995)</ref> [[Irving Berlin]], [[Ivor Novello]], [[Oscar Hammerstein II]], and [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]].<ref>[[Ian Bradley|Bradley]] (2005), p. 9</ref> Gilbert's lyrics served as a model for such 20th-century Broadway lyricists as [[Cole Porter]],<ref>Millstein, Gilbert. [http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/98/11/29/specials/porter-words.html "Words Anent Music by Cole Porter"], ''The New York Times'', 20 February 1955; and [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/education/lesson35_procedures.html "Lesson 35 – Cole Porter: You're the Top"], PBS.org, American Masters for Teachers, accessed 21 May 2007</ref> [[Ira Gershwin]],<ref>Furia, Philip. [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ira-gershwin-9780195115703 ''Ira Gershwin: The Art of a Lyricist''], Oxford University Press, accessed 21 May 2007</ref> and [[Lorenz Hart]].<ref name=PeterDowns /> [[Noël Coward]] wrote: "I was born into a generation that still took light music seriously. The lyrics and melodies of Gilbert and Sullivan were hummed and strummed into my consciousness at an early age. My father sang them, my mother played them, my nurse, Emma, breathed them through her teeth.... My aunts and uncles... sang them singly and in unison at the slightest provocation...."<ref>Introduction to ''The Noel Coward Song Book'', (London: Methuen, 1953), p. 9</ref>

Professor Carolyn Williams has noted: "The influence of Gilbert and Sullivan – their wit and sense of irony, the send ups of politics and contemporary culture – goes beyond musical theater to comedy in general. Allusions to their work have made their way into our own popular culture".<ref>Schwab, Michael. [http://news.rutgers.edu/focus/issue.2012-02-29.4815209454/article.2012-03-26.5390961501 "Why Gilbert and Sullivan Still Matter"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902180148/http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/miscderv.htm |date=2 September 2006}}, ''Rutgers Today'', 26 March 2012</ref> Gilbert and Sullivan expert and enthusiast [[Ian Bradley]] agrees:

{{quote|The musical is not, of course, the only cultural form to show the influence of G&S. Even more direct heirs are those witty and satirical songwriters found on both sides of the Atlantic in the twentieth century like [[Michael Flanders]] and [[Donald Swann]] in the United Kingdom and [[Tom Lehrer]] in the United States. The influence of Gilbert is discernible in a vein of British comedy that runs through [[John Betjeman]]'s verse via [[Monty Python]] and [[Private Eye (magazine)|Private Eye]] to... television series like ''[[Yes Minister]]''... where the emphasis is on wit, irony, and poking fun at the establishment from within it in a way which manages to be both disrespectful of authority and yet cosily comfortable and urbane.<ref name=JoyRapture/>}}

The works of Gilbert and Sullivan are themselves frequently pastiched and parodied.<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/miscderv.htm "List of links to reviews and analysis of recordings of G&S parodies"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902180148/http://www.cris.com/~oakapple/gasdisc/miscderv.htm |date=2 September 2006}}, Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, accessed 27 May 2009</ref>{{refn|Bradley (2005) devotes an entire chapter (chapter 8) to parodies and pastiches of G&S used in advertising, comedy and journalism.|group=n}} Well known examples of this include [[Tom Lehrer]]'s ''[[The Elements (song)|The Elements]]'' and ''Clementine'';<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/mdlehrer.htm Review and analysis of Lehrer's G&S parodies] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012064103/http://www.cris.com/~oakapple/gasdisc/mdlehrer.htm |date=12 October 2007}} Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, accessed 27 May 2009</ref> [[Allan Sherman]]'s ''I'm Called Little Butterball'', ''When I Was a Lad'', ''You Need an Analyst'' and ''The Bronx Bird-Watcher'';<ref>Sherman, Allan. ''[[My Son, the Celebrity]]'' (1963).</ref><ref>Sherman, Allan. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081007091114/http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/sherman_allan/albums.jhtml?albumId=696185 Track listing] from ''[[Allan in Wonderland]]'' (1964).</ref> and [[The Two Ronnies]]' 1973 Christmas Special.<ref>[https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000VA3J6G "The Two Ronnies' 1973 Christmas special", Amazon.co.uk, accessed 27 May 2009]</ref> Other comedians have used Gilbert and Sullivan songs as a key part of their routines, including [[Hinge and Bracket]],<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A759611 "Dame Hilda Brackett and Dr Evadne Hinge"]. BBC h2g2 guide, 17 July 2002, accessed 29 November 2010</ref> [[Anna Russell]],<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://gasdisc.oakapplepress.com/mdanna.htm Review and analysis of Anna Russell's G&S parody] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061025195749/http://www.cris.com/~oakapple/gasdisc/mdanna.htm |date=25 October 2006}}, ''Gilbert and Sullivan Discography'', accessed 27 May 2009</ref> and the ''HMS Yakko'' episode of the animated TV series ''[[Animaniacs]]''. Songs from Gilbert and Sullivan are often pastiched in advertising, and elaborate advertising parodies have been published, as have the likenesses of various Gilbert and Sullivan performers throughout the decades.{{refn|For example, in 1961 [[Guinness]] published an entire book of parodies of Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics, illustrated with cartoons, to advertise Guinness [[stout]]. The book, by Anthony Groves-Raines with illustrations by Stanley Penn is called ''My Goodness! My Gilbert and Sullivan!''  Numerous examples of advertising uses of Gilbert and Sullivan and the best-known Gilbert and Sullivan performers (likenesses, often in costume, or endorsements) are described in Cannon, John. "Gilbert and Sullivan Celebrities in the World of Advertising", ''Gilbert & Sullivan News'', pp. 10–14, Vol. IV, No. 13, Spring 2011.|group=n}} Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas are [[Cultural influence of Gilbert and Sullivan|commonly referenced]] in literature, film and television in various ways that include extensive use of Sullivan's music or where action occurs during a performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera, such as in the film ''[[The Girl Said No (1937 film)|The Girl Said No]]''.<ref>[http://www.allmovie.com/movie/v19807 "''The Girl Said No'' (1937)"], Allmovie.com, accessed 27 September 2015</ref> There are also a number of Gilbert and Sullivan biographical films, such as [[Mike Leigh]]'s ''[[Topsy-Turvy]]'' (1999) and ''[[The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan]]'' (1953), as well as shows about the partnership, including a 1938 Broadway show, ''Knights of Song''<ref>[http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=11585 "Knights of Song"] at the IBDB database</ref> and a 1975 West End show called ''Tarantara! Tarantara!''<ref>Lewis, David. [http://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_t/tarantara.htm "Tarantara! Tarantara!"] at ''The Guide to Musical Theatre'', accessed 20 November 2009.</ref><ref>See also ''[[Sullivan and Gilbert]]'' for an example of an off-Broadway show about the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership.</ref>

It is not surprising, given the focus of Gilbert on politics, that politicians and political observers have often found inspiration in these works. [[Chief Justice of the United States]] [[William Rehnquist]] added gold stripes to his judicial robes after seeing them used by the [[Lord Chancellor]] in a production of ''Iolanthe''.<ref>Borsuk, Alan J. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080628184625/http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=353263 "Sporting Stripes Set Rehnquist apart"], ''[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]'', 4 September 2005, accessed 21 August 2012</ref> Alternatively, [[Charles Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton|Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer]] is recorded as objecting so strongly to ''Iolanthe'''s comic portrayal of Lord Chancellors that he supported moves to disband the office.<ref name="Green" /> British politicians, beyond quoting some of the more famous lines, have delivered speeches in the form of Gilbert and Sullivan pastiches. These include Conservative [[Peter Lilley]]'s speech mimicking the form of "I've got a little list" from ''The Mikado'', listing those he was against, including "sponging socialists" and "young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing queue".<ref name="Green" />