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,
New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players seen on The Today Show on Saturday morning on NBC. In 2002, the company produced a Gilbert and Sullivan potpourri CD titled "Oh Joy! Oh, Rapture!". The company celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2014 with a New York season at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York University and a return to the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in England. In 2015, the company withdrew a planned revival of "The Mikado" after a protest by Asian-Americans about stereotypical elements of their production reflected in the company's publicity materials. The company redesigned its production after consulting with an