Utopia, Limited

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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 October 7, 1893 for a run of 245 performances.

Gilbert's libretto satirizes 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 "Stock Company Act" by imagining the absurd convergence of natural persons and legal entities. 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 of the cultural values of a more "advanced" nation, it takes a tilt at the cultural aspects of imperialism. The libretto has been criticized as too long and rambling, and several subplots are never resolved, due to Sullivan refusing to set some scenes.

Utopia is performed much less frequently than most other Gilbert and Sullivan operas. It can be expensive to produce, requiring a large principal cast and two costumes for most of the performers. The subject-matter and plot are obscure for modern audiences. And although it contains some fine music, it perhaps has less than Sullivan's usual quota of unforgettable tunes. Still, Utopia has its fans. George Bernard Shaw, who approved of what he saw as Gilbert's "sport made with socialist propaganda",^[1] wrote in his highly favourable review in The World, "I enjoyed the score of Utopia more than that of any of the previous Savoy operas."^[2]

Contents 1 Background 2 Roles 3 Synopsis 3.1 Act I 3.2 Act II 4 Musical numbers 5 Historical cast information 6 Recordings 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Background

During the production of Gilbert and Sullivan's previous opera, The Gondoliers, Gilbert became embroiled in a legal dispute with their producer, Richard D'Oyly Carte, over the cost of a new carpet for the Savoy Theatre – and, more generally, over the accounting for expenses over the course of their long partnership. Sullivan sided with Carte, and the partnership was forced to disband.

After The Gondoliers closed, it would be more than two years before Utopia appeared. The lawsuit had left Gilbert and Sullivan somewhat embittered, and their last two works together may have suffered from a less collegial working relationship than the two men had typically enjoyed while writing earlier operas. Many commentators have found flaws in both the writing and post-premiere editing of these last works that, in earlier days, Gilbert and Sullivan would have been able to fix. Utopia had a less successful run than the previous Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and these flaws were only one of the reasons. In addition, the taste of the London theatregoing public had shifted away from comic opera and towards musical comedies, such as A Gaiety Girl and Morocco Bound (both opening in 1893), which were to dominate the London stage for the next two decades and beyond.^[3]

In 1893, the year Utopia, Limited was produced, Princess Kaiulani of the independent monarchy of Hawaii attended a private school in England. She was the talk of the society pages, with much speculation as to the influence English "civilization" would have on the Princess and eventually her homeland. Two decades earlier, in 1870, Anna Leonowens wrote about her a six-year stint as governess to the children of the king of Siam (Thailand). The first of these books was called The English Governess at the Siamese Court....^[4] The famous stories of two ladies likely influenced the characters of Princess Zara and Lady Sophy, respectively. Another impetus for Gilbert in the genesis of the work was his disdain for England's Limited Liability Act of 1862, which he had begun to explore in the previous opera with Sullivan, The Gondoliers.^[5]

By using an imaginary setting, Gilbert was emboldened to level some sharp satire at British imperialism, politics and institutions that might have touched a more sensitive nerve if the opera had a British setting. In this work, Gilbert returns to the idea of an anti-Utopia, which he had explored, in various ways, in his early one-act operas, Happy Arcadia, Our Island Home, Topsyturveydom, and some of his other early works. Gondoliers also concerns an imaginary island kingdom where the rules of court are considerably different from those in Britain. Here, the island begins as a virtual paradise, is thrown into chaos by the importation of "English" influences, and is eventually saved by an English political expedience. Apart from satirical elements, in Utopia, Gilbert indulges in some small guilty pleasures throughout the libretto. For instance, he was up-to-date in his technology references (as he had been in H.M.S. Pinafore with the mention of the telephone), by mentioning George Eastman's new product, the Kodak camera, and its slogan. He throws some barbs at the Lord Chamberlain's office, as he loved to do. Also, he refers back to his early operas more often than most of the other libretti in the G&S series, for example in the re-use of the character Captain Corcoran. The Court of St. James's is mockingly confused with St James's Hall and its minstrel shows.

Utopia introduced Gilbert's last protégée, Nancy McIntosh, as Princess Zara, and the role was much expanded to accommodate her - which scholar John Wolfson believes^[6] damaged and unbalanced the script by detracting from its parody of government. Gilbert and Sullivan disagreed about this and other matters, and Sullivan refused to set one of Gilbert's scenes for McIntosh, which left the Scaphio-Phantis-Zara subplot partially unresolved. Utopia, Limited was to be McIntosh's only part with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Discussions over her playing the role of Yum-Yum in a proposed revival of The Mikado led to another row between the two that prevented the revival, and Gilbert's insistence upon her appearing in His Excellency caused Sullivan to refuse to set the piece.^[7] Three more years would pass before Gilbert and Sullivan collaborated again, on their last work, The Grand Duke.

After the original production and provincial tours, Utopia, Limited was not revived by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company until 4 April 1975, during the company's centenary season.^[8] Various amateur companies had performed the opera during the 20th century, however, and some professional companies, such as the Light Opera of Manhattan, began to produce the opera after the copyright expired in 1961. Although productions are still less frequent than of the better-known Gilbert and Sullivan Operas, and professional productions are rare, Utopia is regularly presented by some of the Gilbert and Sullivan repertory companies and can usually be seen each summer at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.

[edit] Roles

Utopians

• King Paramount the First, King of Utopia (baritone)
• Phantis, Scaphio, Judges of the Utopian Supreme Court (comic baritones)
• Tarara, The Public Exploder (comic baritone)
• Calynx, The Utopian Vice-Chamberlain (speaking)
• The Princess Zara, eldest daughter of King Paramount (soprano)
• The Princess Nekaya (soprano) and The Princess Kalyba (mezzo-soprano), her younger sisters
• The Lady Sophy, their English Gouvernante (contralto)
• Salata (speaking), Melene (speaking), and Phylla (soprano), Utopian Maidens

Imported Flowers of Progress

• Lord Dramaleigh, a British Lord Chamberlain (high baritone)
• Captain Fitzbattleaxe, First Life Guards (tenor)
• Captain Sir Edward Corcoran, KCB, of the Royal Navy (bass)
• Mr. Goldbury, a Company Promoter, afterwards Comptroller of the Utopian Household (baritone)
• Sir Bailey Barre, Q.C., MP (tenor)
• Mr. Blushington, of the County Council (baritone)

[edit] Synopsis

[edit] Act I

On the fictional South Pacific island of Utopia, the monarch, King Paramount, has sent his daughter, Princess Zara, to Girton College in England. He hopes that her training will contribute to his plan to civilise his people. The Public Exploder, Tarara, disturbs the languor of the Utopian maidens ("In lazy langour, motionless") to remind them of his duty to blow up the King if the two "Wise Men", Scaphio and Phantis, order him to do so. The Wise Men appear, heralded by the chorus ("O make way for the Wise Men") and note that their duty is to spy upon the King ("In every mental lore"). The senior wise man, Scaphio, is in love with the Princess Zara ("Let all your doubts take wing").

The King soon arrives ("A King of autocratic power we"). He presents his two younger daughers, Nekaya and Kalyba, as models of English-style deportment ("Although of native maids the cream"), and their English governness, Lady Sophy, explains how young ladies should behave when approached by amorous gentlemen ("Bold-faced ranger). The king joins the two Wise Men, commenting that life is a farce ("First you're born"). The King is quite upset about the Wise Men's power over him: he is unable to marry the Lady Sophy because of self-mocking articles that Scaphio and Phantis have forced him to write under a pseudonym. Lady Sophy discovers the articles to her horror ("Subjected to your heavenly gaze").

Princess Zara now returns to Utopia with six British gentlemen (the "Flowers of Progress") in tow ("Oh, maiden rich in Girton lore"). She has become romantically involved with one of them, Captain Fitzbattleaxe ("Ah! gallant soldier"). Meanwhile, both Scaphio and Phantis have become smitten with love for the princess and agree to duel one another for her hand ("It's understood, I think"). Fitzbattleaxe comes up with a clever way to stall the Wise Men, by saying that in England, two rivals must entrust the lady at the centre of the controversy to an officer of household cavalray "as stakeholder". Thus, he and Zara can remain together.

Soon, the Utopians assemble, and Zara introduces the Flowers of Progress one by one – Fitzbattleaxe (of the army), Sir Bailey Barre (Q.C. and MP), Lord Dramaleigh (a Lord Chamberlain), Mr. Blushington (of the county council), Mr. Goldbury (a company promoter) and Captain Corcoran (of the navy – a joking reference to the character from Gilbert and Sullivan's early popular opera, H.M.S. Pinafore). The Utopian people are duly impressed, and they listen as Mr. Goldbury explains the British Limited Liability Companies law. The King decides to transform his entire country into a limited liability corporation – an innovation that even England herself has not yet accepted. Everyone but Scaphio, Phantis and Tarara is enthusiastic.

[edit] Act II

Fitzbattleaxe is concerned that the ferver of his love has affected his singing ("A tenor, all singers above"). He and Zara share a tender scene ("Words of love too loudly spoken"). Utopia has transformed itself into a "more perfect" replica of Britain – it has built an army, a navy, and courts, purified its literature, and wholeheartedly adopted Mr. Goldbury's proposal, so that every person now is a limited liability entity.

The Flowers of Progress exult in their success ("Society has quite forsaken"), and the people, pleased with English fashion, sing of the country's newfound glory ("Eagle high in cloudland soaring"). Scaphio and Phantis are furious because the change poses a threat to their power ("With fury deep we burn"). They demand that Paramount revoke the change, and when he refuses, they remind him of their power over his life ("If you think that when banded in unity"). But the King points out that they cannot blow up a limited company. Scaphio and Phantis plot with Tarara on how to reverse the course of events and retire ("With wily brain").

The younger princesses, Nekaya and Kalyba meet with Mr. Goldbury and Lord Dramaleigh, who explain that English girls are not so demure and are instead hearty and fun-loving ("A wonderful joy our eyes to bless). The princesses are pleased at the prospect of abandoning some of the "musty, fusty rules" that they have been living under ("Then I may sing and play?") Meanwhile, Lady Sophy bemoans Paramount's flaw that prevents her loving him ("When but a maid of fifteen year"). The King, his dignity rediscovered, approaches Lady Sophy and tells her the truth about the articles written about him, and she now happily agrees to marry him ("Oh, rapture unrestrained").

Scaphio and Phantis have succeeded in convincing the people of Utopia that the changes are for the worse ("Upon our sea-girt land") – they have put an end to war, making the army and navy useless; sanitation is so good that doctors are unemployed; so perfect are the laws that crime has all but ended, emptying the courts and leaving lawyers unemployed – and all demand that the changes be revoked. Puzzled, Paramount asks his daughter for a solution, and, after a little prodding from Sir Bailey Barre, she realizes that she has forgotten "the most essential element" of British civilisation: Government by Party! With this adopted, each party will so confound the efforts of the other that no progress will be made, leading to the prosperity that everyone seeks. The crowd is overjoyed, Scaphio and Phantis are thrown in prison, and the curtain falls as the people sing their praises of "a little group of isles beyond the wave" – Great Britain.

[edit] Musical numbers

• 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.

[edit] Historical cast information

The opening night principal cast and 1975 centenary cast were as follows:

Role	1893	1975
King Paramount the First	Rutland Barrington	Kenneth Sandford
Scaphio	W. H. Denny	John Reed
Phantis	John Le Hay	John Ayldon
Tarara	Walter Passmore	John Ellison
Calynx	Bowden Haswell	Michael Buchan
The Princess Zara	Nancy McIntosh	Pamela Field
The Princess Nekaya	Emmie Owen	Julia Goss
The Princess Kalyba	Florence Perry	Judi Merri
The Lady Sophy	Rosina Brandram	Lyndsie Holland
Salata	Edith Johnston	Beti Lloyd-Jones
Melene	May Bell	Marjorie Williams
Phylla	Florence Easton[9]	Rosalind Griffiths
Lord Dramaleigh	Scott Russell	James Conroy-Ward
Captain Fitzbattleaxe	Charles Kenningham	Meston Reid
Captain Sir Edward Corcoran, KCB	Lawrence Gridley	John Broad
Mr. Goldbury	R. Scott Fishe	Michael Rayner
Sir Bailey Barre	Hugh Enes Blackmore	Colin Wright
Mr. Blushington	Herbert Ralland	David Porter

Soon after Sir Luke Fildes had been rewarded by a grateful country for his services to Art, Gilbert met him at a social gathering and congratulated him on his new honours. In the course of conversation, Sir Luke reminded Gilbert that the Dairy Maid "Patience" had been made up to exactly resemble the subject of his first successful picture, Where are you going to, my pretty maid? "Yes, I remember borrowing the idea for my milkmaid's costume from your picture," replied Gilbert, "but I have repaid that debt long ago by being the responsible cause of your new title."

"Responsible for my new title, how do you make that out?" asked the puzzled Sir Luke.

"Oh, it's easily explained," answered Gilbert. Didn't I write in Utopia:[10] "Who knows but we may count among our intellectual chickens Like you, an Earl of Thackeray, and p'r'aps a Duke of Dickens— Lord Fildes and Viscount Millais (when they come) we'll welcome sweetly— In short this happy country has been Anglicised completely!"

"Well, your prophecy is certainly a pattern of modified accuracy," exclaimed Sir Luke, "I would like to be similarly accurate in your case."

-From Edith A. Browne's "Stars of the Stage: W. S. Gilbert" (1907), page 93.

[edit] Recordings

Few professional recordings of this opera have been made. The 1976 D'Oyly Carte Opera Company recording is considered uninspired but competent. The 2001 Ohio Light Opera recording, although recorded with a semi-pro American cast, is preferred by some.^[11]

Selected recordings

• 1976 D'Oyly Carte – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Conductor: Royston Nash^[12]
• 2001 Ohio Light Opera (with dialogue) – Conductor: J. Lynn Thompson^[13]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Wolfson, John (1976). Final curtain: The last Gilbert and Sullivan Operas. London: Chappell in association with A. Deutsch.  ISBN 0-903443-12-0
• Graham, Bruce: "From Bambouli to Utopia: Offenbach’s Whittington as a possible source for Utopia, Limited" in The Gaiety, Spring 2006, pp. 23-27. Editor: Roderick Murray.
• Browne, Edith A. (1907). Stars of the Stage: W. S. Gilbert. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head. 

[edit] External links

• Utopia Limited at The Gilbert & Sullivan Archive
• Utopia Limited at The Gilbert & Sullivan Discography
• Article comparing The Nautch Girl and Utopia Limited and analyzing the implications of the exotic settings as a reflection of British imperialism
• Utopia review
• Article on Utopia and Gilbert's satire of corporation law
• Article about Utopia, Limited

v • d • e Gilbert and Sullivan
The Triumvirate
W. S. Gilbert | Arthur Sullivan | Richard D'Oyly Carte
The Gilbert and Sullivan Operas
Thespis • Trial by Jury • The Sorcerer • H.M.S. Pinafore • The Pirates of Penzance • Patience • Iolanthe • Princess Ida The Mikado • Ruddigore • The Yeomen of the Guard • The Gondoliers • Utopia, Limited • The Grand Duke
Other Works, People and Related Matters
Other Works by W. S. Gilbert • Other Operas by Arthur Sullivan • Other Music by Arthur Sullivan People associated with Gilbert and Sullivan • Gilbert and Sullivan performers D'Oyly Carte Opera Company • Helen Carte • Rupert D'Oyly Carte • Bridget D'Oyly Carte Cultural influence of Gilbert and Sullivan • International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival