New-York tribune., 1885-08-09
THE STORY OF A STAGE PLAY,
COMPOSED BY GILBERT AND SULLIVAN.

COMPOSED BY GILBERT AND SULLIVAN.
-, GILBERT RELATES THE HISTORY or THE Ev0-
LUTON OF THE MIKADo."
Copyright, 1885.
Vary few people have any idea OF the
.mount of earnest thought that dramatic
.utIor must bestow upon his original work before
A. ia In acondion to be presented to the very exact
ing audiences that fill good London theatre on the
oocsson OF the first performance of a now play.
do not moan to say that original dramatic COM
Dositiou involves necessarily high order OF
literary ability. On the contrary. believe the
chief secret of practical suocessi to keep we'll within
the understanding of the least intelligent se,tion OF
the audience The dramatic author is IN the
nosition of a caterer who has to supply one dish Of
which all members of every class OF society are
invited to partake If he supplies nothing but
crSus de rolaille he may please the epicure in the
stalls but he will surely irritatc the costermonger
in the gallery. If he supplies nothing but baked
sleeps head, thu costermonger will be delighted
but the epcure will be disgusted. Probably the
dish that will be acceptable to the largest number
of every class is rump steak and oyster sauce which
is after all capital thing in its way. and may De
taken as type of tho class of piece which Is most
likely to succeed. It does not call f0r very hlgh
order of merit on the part OF the chg' put IL
reouires good deal of practical skill nevertheless
entitled to have his moneys worth as the phoso
nhor in the stalls, and it must not be forgotten that
the occupant of the sixpenny gallery is the man
who is in the habit of expressing his disapprobation
in the loudest and most embarrassing manner.
II has occurred to me that the difficulties OF
dramatic authorship-and that of anything but an
elevated character be effectively set forth by
narrstng the history Of piece from its germ to Its
production upon the stage and as the incidents Oh
q The Mikado" are fresh in my mind, that piece
will serve my purpose as well as another.
In May, 1884, 1t became necessary to decide upon
. subject for the next Savoy opera. japanese
executioners sword hanging on the wall OF my
library-the very sword carried by MT. Grossmith
at his entrance in the first act-suggested the broai
idea upon which the libretto is based. Japanese
piece would afford opportunities for picturesque
scenery aud costumes. and, moreover. nothing OF
the kind had ever been attempted in England.
There we're difficulties IN the way. Could sufficient
number of genuine Japanese dresses in good cOndl-
tiou be procured in London How would tho ladies
of our chorus look in black wigsf Could they be
taught to wear the Japanese COSTUME effectively
However, none of these difficulties appeared to be
insuperable and the schome Of Japanese piece was
decided upon. Then 1t became necessary to fit the
company with parts, and this was not 80 easy a
.lnatter as 1t may appear at first sight to be. we
had written six operas for practically the same COM
pany. and in this. our seventh. 1t was OF course
necessary 70 steer clear of everything that we had
already done, and yet to t our company with parts
to which they could do justice, and which would do
Justice to them Asthe principal character was to be
Japanese executioner. it obvious that this part
must be written for Mr.. Gr0ssmith. aud equally
obvious that he must be represented as an excep-
ticnally tender hearted person whose natural
instincts in direct opposition to the nature OF
his official duties Then 1t became necessary to fit
Mr.. Darlington, and was Tor some weeks unable to
invest Mr.. BarringtOn's character with distinctive
attributes of an effective description In an early
draft of the plot find that he was Remembrancer.
who was engaged by Mr.. Grossmith to check that
gentIeman's tendency to think too highly OF him
self. b, continually reminding him of injudcious
acts and speeches of which he had. at one time or
other, been guilty. Mr.. Darlington was at the
same time in love with Mr. Grossmiths daughter.
and his natural desire to concilate Mr.. Grossmith
caused him to temper his irritating duties rs
Remembrancer with profusion Of statesman-like
apologies The reader will perhaps agree with me
that in abandoning this device was not ill-advsed
! fnd on referring TO my notebook, that MI.
harrington remained c0loress Japanese nobleman
until last August, when he suddenly developed an
inordinate quantity OF family pride. which he
endeavored to counteract by committing decds OF
iudescrbable meauness Assisted by these attri-
butes. Mr.. Darlington came rapidly to the front,
and ran neck and neck with Mr.. Grossmith at the
finish With Mr. Lely had some little difficulty at
first. for he presented himself in the guse of an
Agent in Advance to strolling theatrical company,
and as it is proverbially dangerous to Introduce
theatrical topics into dramatic composition. l
hesitated to deal with Mr. Lcly in that capacity.
certain indistinctness of outline that characterized
Mr. Lely as an Agent In Advance induced Inc TO
examine him moro closely. The result was tn 1t 1
saw through his hmsy disguise at once and identi-
fed him as no less parsonage than the son OF the
Mikado, disguised lfor family reasons) as wan
dering ballad singer AS the Agent In Advance nc
was in love with Mr.. Grossmith's ward. Miss Jessie
Bond, but as the disguised son of the Mikado he
succuinbed to the charms of MISS Leonora Brahaln
If am not mistaken this transfer of his affections
was prompted by Sir Arthur Sullivan, who had
professional reasons for insisting that tenor shall
always fall in love with soprano. Then MI
Temple had to be provided for. Mr.. Temple is al
excellent baritone singer and capital actor, and
as it is advisable in q two-act opera to reserve Q
striking effect for the middle of the second act Mr
Temple was cast for the Mikado who does not
until that period Then the Ladies' had to be con
sidered- The accident that Miss Braharn. Mis-
Jessie Bond and Miss Sybi Grey are short in stature
and all of q height suggested the advsablity o.
grouping them as three Japanese schoolgirls VINO
should work together throughout the piece. Miss
Brandram is a personabe yonng lady who has nc
objection to amake up" old and ugly-and OF hei
good-naturcd readiness to sacrifice ber own persona
attractions to the exigences OF the plot We have
perhaps taken an undue advantage Miss Bran
dram, an admirable contralto singer and an
excellent actress, found herself transformed once
more into AN elderly and undesirable lady. with
whose affections Mr.. Lely had untaly trifled-
The next thing was to decide upon two scenes
,.hiah ai..id La aracteristic and ELECTIVE. The