Gilbert and Sullivan change the characters, which Sullivan found artificial and lacking in "human interest and probability", as well as being too similar to their earlier opera, "The Sorcerer". As dramatised in the film "Topsy-Turvy", the author and composer were at an impasse until 8 May 1884, when Gilbert dropped the lozenge idea and agreed to provide a libretto without any supernatural elements. The story focuses on a "cheap tailor," Ko-Ko, who is promoted to the position of Lord High Executioner of the town of Titipu. Ko-Ko loves his ward, Yum-Yum, but she loves a musician, who is really the son of the
Gilbert and Sullivan statements had been hurtful to his partners. Nevertheless, the partnership had been so profitable that, after the financial failure of the Royal English Opera House, Carte and his wife sought to reunite the author and composer. In late 1891, after many failed attempts at reconciliation, Gilbert and Sullivan's music publisher, Tom Chappell, stepped in to mediate between two of his most profitable artists, and within two weeks he had succeeded, eventually leading to two further collaborations between Gilbert and Sullivan. "Utopia, Limited" (1893), their penultimate opera, was a very modest success, and their last, "The Grand Duke" (1896), was an