Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: Producer Richard D'Oyly Carte has called on Sullivan and playwright to create new piece for Savoy, Fact2: Gilbert 's idea for next opera features transformative magic potion, Fact3: Sullivan transformative magic potion feels is too similar to magic lozenge and other magic talismans used in previous operas, Fact4: Gilbert and wife visit popular exhibition of Japanese arts and crafts in Knightsbridge, Fact5: katana sword there falls off wall of study
Output (English): On the opening night of Princess Ida at the Savoy Theatre in January 1884, composer Sir Arthur Sullivan Allan Corduner, who is ill from kidney disease, is barely able to make it to the theatre to conduct. He goes on a holiday to Continental Europe hoping that the rest will improve his health. While he is away, ticket sales and audiences at the Savoy Theatre wilt in the hot summer weather. Producer Richard DOyly Carte Ron Cook has called on Sullivan and the playwright W. S. Gilbert Jim Broadbent to create a new piece for the Savoy, but it is not ready when Ida closes. Until a new piece can be prepared, Carte revives an earlier Gilbert and Sullivan work, The Sorcerer. Gilberts idea for their next opera features a transformative magic potion, which Sullivan feels is too similar to the magic lozenge and other magic talismans used in previous operas and appears mechanical in its reliance on a supernatural device. Sullivan, under pressure to write more serious music, says he longs for something that is probable and involves human interest, and is not dependent on magic. Gilbert sees nothing wrong with his libretto and refuses to write a new one, which results in a standoff. The impasse is resolved after Gilbert and his wife visit a popular exhibition of Japanese arts and crafts in Knightsbridge, London. When the katana sword he purchases there falls noisily off the wall of his study, he is inspired to write a libretto set in exotic Japan. Sullivan likes the idea and agrees to compose the music for it. Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte work to make The Mikado a success, and many glimpses of rehearsals and stressful backstage preparations for the show follow: Cast members lunch together before negotiating their salaries. Gilbert brings in Japanese girls from the exhibition to teach the ladies chorus how to walk and use fans in the Japanese manner. The principal cast react to the fittings of their costumes designed by C. Wilhelm. The entire cast object to Gilberts proposed cut of the title characters Act Two solo, A more humane Mikado, which persuades the playwright to restore the solo. The actors face firstnight jitters in their dressing rooms. Finally The Mikado is ready to open. As usual, Gilbert is too nervous to watch the opening performance and paces the streets of London. Returning to the theatre, however, he finds that the new opera is a resounding success.