page_title: Utopia, Limited
section_title: Musical numbers
hierarchical_section_title: Utopia, Limited / Musical numbers
caption_attribution_description: en:Souvenir programme from the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Utopia Limited (1893)
context_page_description: Utopia, Limited; or, The Flowers of Progress, is a Savoy opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was the second-to-last of Gilbert and Sullivan's fourteen collaborations, premiering on 7 October 1893 for a run of 245 performances. It did not achieve the success of most of their earlier productions.
  Gilbert's libretto satirises limited liability companies, and particularly the idea that a bankrupt company could leave creditors unpaid without any liability on the part of its owners. It also lampoons the Joint Stock Company Act by imagining the absurd convergence of natural persons with legal commercial entities under the limited companies laws. In addition, it mocks the conceits of the late 19th-century British Empire and several of the nation's beloved institutions. In mocking the adoption by a "barbaric" country of the cultural values of an "advanced" nation, it takes a tilt at the cultural aspects of imperialism. The libretto was criticised as too long and rambling by some critics and later commentators, and several subplots introduced in Act I are never resolved.
  Utopia is performed much less frequently than most other Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
context_section_description: Introduction¹
  Act I
  1. "In lazy languor motionless" (Phylla and Chorus of Girls)
  2. "O make way for the Wise Men" (Chorus)
  2a. "In every mental lore" (Scaphio and Phantis)
  3. "Let all your doubts take wing" (Scaphio and Phantis)
  4. "Quaff the nectar" (Chorus)
  4a. "A King of autocratic power we" (King with Chorus)
  4b. "Although of native maids the cream" (Nekaya and Kalyba)
  4c. "Bold-faced ranger" (Lady Sophy with Chorus)
  5. "First you're born" (King with Scaphio and Phantis)
  6. "Subjected to your heavenly gaze" (King and Lady Sophy)
  7. "Oh, maiden rich in Girton lore" (Zara, Fitz., Troopers, and Chorus)
  8. "Ah! gallant soldier" (Zara, Fitz., Troopers, and Chorus)
  9. "It's understood, I think" (Zara, Fitz., Scaphio, and Phantis)
  10. "Oh, admirable art" (Zara and Fitz.)
  (11. Cut song for Zara, "Youth is a boon avowed", sung on the first night but now lost.)
  12. Act I Finale: "Although your Royal summons to appear" (Ensemble) and "When Britain sounds the trump of war" (Zara, Sir Bailey Barre, and Chorus)
  12a. "What these may be" (Zara, Dramaleigh, Blushington, and Chorus) and "A company promoter this" (Zara, Goldbury, and Chorus)
  12b. "I'm Captain Corcoran, K.C.B." (Capt. Corcoran with Chorus) and "Ye wand'rers from a mighty State" (Quartet, Chorus, and Soli)
  12c. "Some seven men form an association" (Mr. Goldbury with Chorus), "Well, at first sight it strikes us as dishonest" (Ensemble),  and "Henceforward of a verity" (King Paramount and Ensemble)
  Act II
  13. "Oh, Zara!" and "A tenor, all singers above" (Fitz.)
  14. "Words of love too loudly spoken" (Zara and Fitz.)
  15. "Society has quite forsaken" (King with Chorus of Six Flowers of Progress)
  16. Entrance of Court
  17. Drawing Room Music
  18. "This ceremonial", "Eagle high in cloudland soaring" (King and Ensemble)
  19. "With fury deep we burn" (Scaphio, Phantis, and King Paramount)
  20. "If you think that when banded in unity" (King, Scaphio and Phantis)
  21. "With wily brain" (Scaphio, Phantis, and Tarara)
  22. "A wonderful joy our eyes to bless" (Mr. Goldbury)
  23. "Then I may sing and play?" (Nek., Kal., Lord D., and Mr. Goldbury)
  24. "Oh, would some demon pow'r", "When but a maid of fifteen year" (Lady Sophy)
  25. "Ah, Lady Sophy, then you love me!" (King and Lady Sophy)
  25a. "Oh, rapture unrestrained" (King and Lady Sophy)
  25b. Tarantella
  26. "Upon our sea-girt land" (Chorus)
  27. Finale Act II: "There's a little group of isles beyond the wave" (Zara, King Paramount, and Ensemble)
  ¹ On the 1976 recording, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company preceded the Introduction with Sullivan's Imperial March, which he composed around the same time.
caption: Souvenir programme for Utopia, Limited
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