Gilbert and Sullivan was dedicated enough, and when she missed a rehearsal, he dismissed her. "Princess Ida" was the first of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas that, by the partnership's previous standards, was not a success. A particularly hot summer in London did not help ticket sales. The piece ran for a comparatively short 246 performances and was not revived in London until 1919. Sullivan had been satisfied with the libretto, but two months after "Ida" opened, Sullivan told Carte that "it is impossible for me to do another piece of the character of those already written by Gilbert and myself." As "Princess
Sullivan and Gilbert Jerome and Donna English. Subsequent productions followed. This is not the only show about the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership. A 1938 Broadway show, "Knights of Song", tells the story of the partnership, as do the musicals "The Savoyards", by Donald Madgwick (1971) and "Tarantara Tarantara", by Ian Taylor (1975), and the films "The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan" (1951) and "Topsy-Turvy" (1999). In December 1890, near the end of their collaboration, and still estranged by their famous carpet quarrel, W. S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan have neither seen nor spoken with each other in months. Now they must supervise