Editing Gilbert and Sullivan (section)

====''Thespis''====
{{main|Thespis (opera)}}
[[Image:Thespis - Illustrated London News Jan 6 1872.png|upright=1.25|thumb|A contemporary illustration of ''Thespis'' from ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'' of 6 January 1872]]
In 1871, producer [[John Hollingshead]] brought Gilbert and Sullivan together to produce a Christmas entertainment, ''Thespis'', at his [[Gaiety Theatre, London|Gaiety Theatre]], a large West End house. The piece was an [[extravaganza]] in which the classical Greek gods, grown elderly, are temporarily replaced by a troupe of 19th-century actors and actresses, one of whom is the eponymous [[Thespis]], the Greek father of the drama. Its mixture of political satire and [[grand opera]] parody mimicked [[Jacques Offenbach|Offenbach's]] ''[[Orpheus in the Underworld]]'' and ''[[La belle Hélène]]'', which (in translation) then dominated the English musical stage.<ref name=Tillett>Tillett, Selwyn and Spencer, Roderic. [https://www.gsarchive.net/thespis/Thespis40.pdf "Forty Years of Thespis Scholarship"], accessed 20 July 2021</ref>

''Thespis'' opened on [[Boxing Day]] and ran for 63 performances. It outran five of its nine competitors for the 1871 holiday season, and its run was extended beyond the length of a normal run at the Gaiety,<ref>Walters, Michael. "Thespis: a reply", ''W. S. Gilbert Society Journal'', Vol. 4, part 3, Issue 29. Summer 2011.</ref> but no one at the time foresaw that this was the beginning of a great collaboration. Unlike the later Gilbert and Sullivan works, it was hastily prepared, and its nature was more risqué, like Gilbert's earlier [[Victorian burlesque|burlesques]], with a broader style of comedy that allowed for improvisation by the actors. Two of the male characters were played by women, whose shapely legs were put on display in a fashion that Gilbert later condemned.<ref>Williams, p. 35</ref> The musical score to ''Thespis'' was never published and is now lost, except for one song that was published separately, a chorus that was re-used in ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'', and the Act II ballet music.<ref name=Tillett/>

Over the next three years, Gilbert and Sullivan did not have occasion to work together again, but each man became more eminent in his field. Gilbert worked with Frederic Clay on ''[[Happy Arcadia]]'' (1872) and [[Alfred Cellier]] on ''[[Topsyturveydom]]'' (1874) and wrote ''[[The Wicked World]]'' (1873), ''[[Sweethearts (play)|Sweethearts]]'' (1874) and several other libretti, farces, extravaganzas, fairy comedies, dramas and adaptations. Sullivan completed his ''[[Festival Te Deum]]'' (1872); another oratorio, ''The Light of the World'' (1873); his only [[song cycle]], ''[[The Window; or, The Song of the Wrens]]'' (1871); [[incidental music]] to ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]]'' (1874); and more songs, parlour ballads, and [[hymn]]s, including "[[Onward, Christian Soldiers]]" (1872). At the same time, the audience for theatre was growing because of the rapidly expanding British population; improvement in education and the standard of living, especially of the middle class; improving public transport; and installation of street lighting, which made travel home from the theatre safer.<ref>Richards, p. 9</ref> The number of pianos manufactured in England doubled between 1870 and 1890 as more people began to play [[parlour music]] at home and more theatres and concert halls opened.<ref>Jacobs, pp. 2–3</ref>{{refn|At the beginning of the century there were only two main theatres in London;<ref>Bratton, Jacky, "[https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/19th-century-theatre Theatre in the 19th century"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710130926/https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/19th-century-theatre |date=10 July 2022 }}, British Library, 2014</ref> by the late 1860s there were 32.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/jstor-20647868/page/n1/mode/2up "The Theatres of London"], ''Watson's Art Journal'', 22 February 1868, p. 245</ref>|group=n}}