Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company its first production, "The Mikado", received such a favourable response that they changed their name to Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company to more clearly reflect the new city base and repertoire of the company. In the 1980s, the company played a couple of 'guest weeks' at the Buxton Opera House with "The Mikado" and later "The Yeomen of the Guard". Under the direction of co-founder Andrew Nicklin, the company began to build a reputation for presenting updated, or "non-traditional" G&S productions. Under Nicklin, the company took "The Mikado" to The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England, in 1996,
The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan at Windsor Castle but astonishes Sullivan by choosing to hear "The Gondoliers". Apart from Gilbert, Sullivan comes to realise that his true gifts lie with light music. Richard and Helen Carte toast the arrival of the twentieth century, hoping for a revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership. Stopping by at a rehearsal for a revival of "The Yeomen of the Guard", Gilbert runs into Sullivan, after having been apart for years. Sullivan is ill and using a wheelchair. The two men make up and propose taking a curtain call together with Carte, all three of them in wheelchairs. During