The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan
Book Review: The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan
Summary: 4 Stars
The book nicely provides the (almost) complete librettos with detailed notes on, among other things, the various versions from preproduction onward to twentieth century changes, the origins, the inspirations, and the meaning of words Bradley thinks are obscure. He is much more likely to explain reasonably familiar words than to assume too much. The introductions nicely trace the history down to the most recent productions. Those who have seen the current movie Topsy-Turvy will find the notes helpful in seeing some of the actual events depicted in the movie. The one omission is Thespis, the first collaboration. The libretto, but not the score, survived. Two areas of omission are exhaustive treatment of either the major performers or recordings. However, this is an excellent source for lovers of G&S.Book Review: Excellent guide for G&S fans
Summary: 5 Stars
This omnibus edition of the complete Gilbert and Sullivan librettos is a handbook for the G&S enthusiast who wants to know everything about the operas and their librettos. Each opera contains the complete libretto, as well as an interesting and entertaining introduction, which reflects the nature of the annotations in the libretto. The annotations are also humorous, which adds to the reading pleasure. As for the librettos, they are well-produced, with only slight inaccuracies, yet are still readable. The book is well-organised, with the lyrics on one page and the annotations on another. Overall, to all G&S fans, this is excellent value for money. I would encourage all G&S enthusiasts to buy this book whenever they can.Book Review: The "only G&S text you will ever need"
Summary: 5 Stars
Although I hate that expression (see above), I must admit it applies totally to this marvelous edition. Granted that if you listen to Gilbert & Sullivan, you will want to follow the words--which are not always provided with many recordings nowadays. Then given the words, you will also want to know the meanings of most of Gilbert's more esoteric words ("Daphnephoric"), or simple words that have lost or changed their meanings since Gilbert's day ("Be firm, my pecker"!), or references to people (Captain Shaw), places (Basingstoke), or even objects (Parliamentary trains). Then too, the complete G&S nut will want to see the original versions of some of the songs and certainly the texts to songs that were cut just after opening night or even during rehearsals. In fact, I still have a lot of fun just looking at the left-hand pages to brush up on my G&S trivia. So while this book sells at twice the price of other collections of the "Savoy" plays, it gives twice as much and should be as welcome as the flowers that bloom in the Spring.