Gilbert and Sullivan Ida" showed signs of flagging, Carte realised that, for the first time in the partnership's history, no new opera would be ready when the old one closed. On 22 March 1884, he gave Gilbert and Sullivan contractual notice that a new opera would be required in six months' time. In the meantime, when "Ida" closed, Carte produced a revival of "The Sorcerer". The most successful of the Savoy Operas was "The Mikado" (1885), which made fun of English bureaucracy, thinly disguised by a Japanese setting. Gilbert initially proposed a story for a new opera about a magic lozenge that would
Cultural influence of Gilbert and Sullivan the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Al Goodman and Groucho Marx also released Gilbert and Sullivan recordings. The operas are referred to in other popular media, including video games. For example, in "", a casino is called "Pirates in Men’s Pants", a crude play on "Pirates of Penzance". The 1970s popular music singer Gilbert O'Sullivan adopted his stage name as a pun on "Gilbert and Sullivan" when his manager suggested that it would be good marketing. In the 1950s, the British radio show "Take It From Here" featured parodies of Gilbert and Sullivan songs with lyrics about the buses in London.