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,
Spa town Spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word "spa" is derived from the name of Spa, a town in Belgium. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He became interested in the curative properties of the hot mineral waters there and in 1676 wrote "A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water". This brought the purported health-giving properties