The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan provides the complete text ofall the Gilbert and Sullivan operas which are still performed today, togetherwith extensive annotations covering 'lost' songs, alterations and additions,obscure allusions, production points, and comments of interest. Each opera hasan introduction which places it in its context and provides a potted history ofperformances up to the present. No other book provides such extensive commentaryon the texts of the Savoy Opera nor provides such a source of innocent merrimentto fans of the incomparable Victorian duo.For each opera, there is a short introduction describing how the work came to bewritten, and giving its performance history. The text, including stagedirections, is given on the right-hand page, and on the left (keyed in by linenumbers) are notes. These give such information as the identity of a real-lifeperson appearing or mentioned as a character, wordings that were different inthe original edition (the one sent to the Lord Chamberlain for licensing),changes made for the first American performance, glosses on technical terms(e.g. legal terms), literary references, cross-references to similar items inother Savoy operas, comments from first-night critics, and many other things