Gilbert and Sullivan There continue to be hundreds of amateur companies performing the Gilbert and Sullivan works worldwide. The first commercial recordings of individual numbers from the Savoy operas began in 1898. In 1917 the Gramophone Company (HMV) produced the first album of a complete Gilbert and Sullivan opera, "The Mikado", followed by recordings of eight more. Electrical recordings of most of the operas were then issued by HMV and Victor, beginning in the late 1920s, supervised by Rupert D'Oyly Carte. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company continued to produce well-regarded recordings until 1979, helping to keep the operas popular through the decades. Many
The Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island Mill Road School in Merrick, taking up residence at the Roland Chatterton School in Merrick, which remains its Tuesday-night home to the present day. The 1980s brought major changes to the group, beginning with its name: In 1980, due to a consensus that the group had evolved into something larger in scope and more professional than the word “Workshop” suggested, the group’s name was officially changed to The Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island. Two years later the first of the three founding members left the group, as Norman “Buddy” Packer retired to Coconut Creek, Fla., where