Utopia, Limited
From Free net encyclopedia
| Revision as of 02:03, 21 April 2006 Marc Shepherd (Talk | contribs) Roles - fixed links ← Previous diff |
Current revision Marc Shepherd (Talk | contribs) Roles - fixed links |
Current revision
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 Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, 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 to its owners. In addition, it playfully mocks the conceits of the late 19th-century British empire and several of the nation's beloved institutions.
Utopia is performed much less frequently than most other Gilbert & Sullivan operas. It is expensive to produce, requiring a large cast of excellent singers and dancers; 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.
Contents |
Roles
- 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), The Princess Kalyba (mezzo-soprano), her younger sisters
- The Lady Sophy, their English Gouvernante (contralto)
- Salata (speaking), Melene (speaking), 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., M.P. (tenor)
- Mr. Blushington, of the County Council (baritone)
Synopsis
Act I
The action takes place on the imaginary South Pacific island of Utopia, whose monarch, King Paramount, has sent his daughter, Princess Zara, on a voyage to Britain to learn how to civilise his people. Two "Wise Men" enter, heralded by the chorus ("O make way for the Wise Men"). The two, Scaphio and Phantis, reveal that they have the power to murder the King if he displeases them ("In every mental lore"). The King himself soon enters ("A King of autocratic power we") and, expressing no ill will towards his perpetual blackmailers, he joins the two in a trio commenting on life's farce ("First you're born"). In fact, the King is quite upset – he is unable to marry the Lady Sophy because of self-mocking articles Scaphio and Phantis have forced him to write under a pseudonym. In the middle of the first act, Zara returns to Utopia with six British gentleman (the "Flowers of Progress") in tow ("Five years have flown"). She sings a duet with her love interest, Captain Fitzbattleaxe ("Ah! gallant soldier, brave and true") while Scaphio and Phantis agree to duel one another for her love ("It's understood, I think"). In the act's finale, the Utopians assemble and Zara presents the Flowers of Progress one by one – Fitzbattleaxe (of the army), Sir Bailey Barre (Q.C. and M.P.), Lord Dramaleigh (a Lord Chamberlain), Mr. Blushington (of the county council), Mr. Goldbury (a company promoter) and Captain Corcoran (of the navy – and a popular Gilbert and Sullivan character reused from HMS Pinafore). The people are duly impressed, but they are particularly intrigued by Mr. Goldbury, who convinces the people to transform their entire country into a limited liability corporation – even before Britain herself does! Everyone but Scaphio and Phantis is enthusiastic, and the act ends with the rapturous acceptance of the infusions of British society.
Act II
Utopia has transformed itself into a near-perfect replica of Britain – it has built an army, a navy, and courts, purified its literature, and wholeheartedly adopted Mr. Goldbury's proposal. The Flowers of Progress exult in their success ("Society has quite forsaken"), and the people sing of the country's newfound glory ("Eagle high in cloudland soaring"). Yet Scaphio and Phantis are furious, fearing that 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"). The King, his dignity rediscovered, approaches Lady Sophy and tells her the truth about the articles written about him, and they agree to marry ("Oh, rapture unrestrained"). But Scaphio and Phantis succeed in convincing the people of Utopia that the changes are for the worse – 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 all demand that they be reversed. Desperate, Paramount asks his daughter for help, and she immediately realizes that she has forgotten "the most essential element of all": Government by Party! With this adopted, each party will so confound the efforts of the other that no progress will be made at all, 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."
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 Kelyba)
- 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., and Troopers)
- 8. "Ah! gallant soldier" (Zara and Fitz.)
- 9. "It's understood, I think" (Zara, Fitz., Scaphio, and Phantis)
- 10. "Oh, admirable art" (Zara and Fitz.)
- (11. Cut song for Zara, 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 with 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) and "Henceforward with 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 Chorus)
- 19. "With fury deep we burn" (Scaphio and Phantis)
- 20. "If you think that when banded" (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" (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.