Editing Iolanthe (section)

==Productions==
[[File:H. M. Brock - Poster for Iolanthe.jpg|thumb|upright|Early 20th-century poster by [[H. M. Brock]]]]
''Iolanthe'' had a successful initial run in London of 398 performances, spanning the holiday seasons of both 1882 and 1883. Gilbert designed the costumes himself, and sets were by the Drury Lane designer Henry Emden.<ref name=R&WAppendixVII>Rollins and Witts, Appendix, p. VII</ref> In an unprecedented first for any play, the New York premiere was given on the same date &ndash; 25 November 1882, with the composer's assistant, [[Alfred Cellier]], conducting there.<ref>[http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=4143 Information about early American productions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210014232/http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=4143 |date=10 December 2008 }}; and Bradley, p. 357</ref> In Australia, ''Iolanthe'' was first seen on 9 May 1885 at the Theatre Royal, [[Melbourne]], produced by [[J. C. Williamson]].<ref>Ainger, p. 204</ref>

In the British provinces, ''Iolanthe'' played &ndash; either by itself, or in repertory &ndash; continuously from February 1882 through 1885, then not again until late 1891. From then on, it was always present in the [[D'Oyly Carte Opera Company]]'s touring repertory, being included in some part of every season until the company's closure in 1982.<ref>Rollins and Witts, ''passim''</ref> Most of the costumes were redesigned by [[Percy Anderson (designer)|Percy Anderson]] in 1915 and by [[George Sheringham]] in 1932, and [[Peter Goffin]] designed new sets in 1957 and some new costumes in 1960.<ref name=R&WAppendixVII/> After its original production, ''Iolanthe'' was not revived in London until 1901, making it the first of the operas to be revived after the composer's death the year before. It was also included in two Savoy repertory seasons, in 1907 and 1908&ndash;09.<ref>Rollins and Witts, pp 19–22</ref>

''Iolanthe'' was the first Gilbert and Sullivan opera performed professionally in Britain by a non-D'Oyly Carte company. It was produced by the [[Sadler's Wells Opera]] (now English National Opera) in January 1962, immediately after the Gilbert copyrights expired.<ref>"Gilbert and Sullivan Out of Copyright", ''The Times'', 1 January 1962, p. 14; and "Savoy Opera Prospect in the New Era", ''The Times'', 5 January 1962, p. 4</ref> It was well received and was successfully revived for many seasons by Sadler's Wells until 1978.<ref>"Entertainments", ''The Times'', 9 October 1978, p. 11</ref> [[Michael Heyland]] restaged ''Iolanthe'' for D'Oyly Carte in 1977, the year of Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee, with silver-themed designs.<ref>The new sets were by Bruno Santini. See [https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O172555/theatre-costume-santini-bruno/ "Theatre Costume"], Victoria and Albert Museum, retrieved 28 June 2015; and Bradley, pp. 40 and 359</ref> ''Iolanthe'' has remained one of the most popular of the Gilbert and Sullivan works.<ref name="Bradley, p. 359">Bradley, p. 359</ref> Thousands of professional and amateur productions of the opera have been given throughout the English-speaking world, and the opera continues to be performed regularly today.<ref>Rice, David M. [http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=13243 "New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players – Iolanthe – conducted & directed by Albert Bergeret"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130220141/http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=13243 |date=30 January 2016 }}, Classical Source, 8 November 2015</ref> The [[Internet Broadway Database]] lists 20 productions of the opera on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] alone.<ref>[http://www.ibdb.com/Show/View/4759 ''Iolanthe''], [[Internet Broadway Database]], retrieved 24 January 2016</ref>

The following table shows the history of the D'Oyly Carte productions in Gilbert's lifetime (not including touring companies):

{|class="wikitable"
!Theatre!!Opening date!!Closing date!!Perfs.!!Details
|-
|nowrap|[[Savoy Theatre]]||25 November 1882||1 January 1884||align=center|398||
|-
|[[Manhattan Theatre|Standard Theatre]], <br>New York City||nowrap|25 November 1882||nowrap|24 February 1883||align=center|105||Authorised American production
|-
|Savoy Theatre||7 December 1901||29 March 1902||align=center|113||First London revival
|-
|Savoy Theatre||11 June 1907||23 August 1907||align=center|43||First Savoy repertory season; played with three other operas. Closing date shown is of the entire season.
|-
|nowrap|Savoy Theatre||19 October 1908||27 March 1909||align=center|38||Second Savoy repertory season; played with five other operas. Closing date shown is of the entire season.
|}