page_title: Opera Comique
section_title: Gilbert and Sullivan
hierarchical_section_title: Opera Comique / History / Gilbert and Sullivan
caption_attribution_description: English: Programme cover from The Sorcerer and Trial by Jury
context_page_description: The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street, Holywell Street and the Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway.
  The theatre was built cheaply as a speculative venture, and was known as one of the "rickety twins" along with the adjacent Globe Theatre. Numerous managements presented plays in English, French and German, and the house was also used for extravaganzas and English versions of French opéras bouffes. It is best remembered as the theatre where several early Gilbert and Sullivan operas had their first runs, between 1877 and 1881.
context_section_description: In November 1877 the Comedy Opera Company, managed by Carte, took on the lease and staged the premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer. This was followed in 1878 by the same team's H.M.S. Pinafore, which became a hit, running for 571 performances, the second-longest theatrical run in history, to that date. During the performance on 31 July 1879, Carte's former business partners in the Comedy Opera Company (with whom Carte, Gilbert and Sullivan had split) tried to seize the set, creating a celebrated fracas. Over Christmas 1878, during the run of H.M.S. Pinafore, the theatre was renovated and redecorated by E. W. Bradwell, reopening on 1 February 1879. The Era commented, "We can hardly overpraise the beauty and grace of the Opera Comique as it now appears to the delighted audience."
  Two more Gilbert and Sullivan successes followed, now produced by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company: The Pirates of Penzance (1880) and, finally, Patience (1881), which was later transferred to Carte's new and larger theatre, the Savoy. During this period, Carte also presented various companion pieces with the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, including the 1877 revival of Dora's Dream by Arthur Cecil and Alfred Cellier; The Spectre Knight (1878); revivals of Trial by Jury; several pieces by George Grossmith beginning in 1878: Beauties on the Beach, A Silver Wedding, Five Hamlets, and Cups and Saucers; revivals of Gilbert's After All!; a Children's Pinafore with an entirely juvenile cast (1878); In the Sulks (1880); and Uncle Samuel (1881).
caption: 1878 programme cover
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