Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert was questioning his good faith, and in any event, Sullivan had other reasons to stay in Carte's good graces: Carte was building a new theatre, the Royal English Opera House, to produce Sullivan's only grand opera, "Ivanhoe". Gilbert brought suit, and after "The Gondoliers" closed in 1891, he withdrew the performance rights to his libretti, vowing to write no more operas for the Savoy. Gilbert next wrote "The Mountebanks" with Alfred Cellier and the flop "Haste to the Wedding" with George Grossmith, and Sullivan wrote "Haddon Hall" with Sydney Grundy. Gilbert eventually won the lawsuit, but his actions and
Gilbert and Sullivan de Corneville"). Hundreds of unauthorised, or "pirated", productions of "Pinafore" appeared in America. During the run of "Pinafore", Richard D'Oyly Carte split up with his former investors. The disgruntled former partners, who had invested in the production with no return, staged a public fracas, sending a group of thugs to seize the scenery during a performance. Stagehands successfully managed to ward off their backstage attackers. This event cleared the way for Carte, Gilbert and Sullivan to form the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, which then produced all of their succeeding operas. The libretto of "H.M.S. Pinafore" relied on stock character types,