Mirror punishment a song satirizing mirror punishment. For example: The refrain line "to let the punishment fit the crime" has sometimes been quoted in the course of British political debates, though the concept predates Gilbert. For instance, episode 80 of the television series "Magnum, P.I.", entitled "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime", features bits of several songs from "The Mikado". The phrase and the Mikado's song also are featured in the "Dad's Army" episode, "A Soldier's Farewell." In "The Parent Trap" (1961), the camp director quotes the phrase before sentencing the twins to the isolation cabin together. Mirror punishment A mirror punishment
Gilbert and Sullivan a composer of comic opera—that a musical knight should not stoop below oratorio or grand opera. Sullivan, despite the financial security of writing for the Savoy, increasingly viewed his work with Gilbert as unimportant, beneath his skills, and repetitious. Furthermore, he was unhappy that he had to simplify his music to ensure that Gilbert's words could be heard. But paradoxically, in February 1883, just after "Iolanthe" opened, Sullivan had signed a five-year agreement with Gilbert and Carte requiring him to produce a new comic opera on six months' notice. "Princess Ida" (1884) spoofed women's education and male chauvinism and continued