The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan the same time, Gilbert has written a libretto for another comic opera. Sullivan also accepts this libretto, and "The Gondoliers" is another hit. Gilbert, suffering from gout, and in a particularly foul temper, examines the financial accounts of the partnership, seeing a large item for the purchase of a new carpet at the Savoy Theatre. He confronts Carte, at the new theatre, over lavish expenses. He also quarrels with Sullivan, and Gilbert announces that he will write no more Savoy operas. Sullivan's grand opera "Ivanhoe" debuts, and he presents a bound volume to the Queen. She commands a private performance
Gilbert and Sullivan Penzance", and so on. Similarly, Mrs. Partlet in "The Sorcerer" transformed into Little Buttercup in "Pinafore", then into Ruth, the piratical maid-of-all-work in "Pirates". Relatively unknown performers whom Gilbert and Sullivan engaged early in the collaboration would stay with the company for many years, becoming stars of the Victorian stage. These included George Grossmith, the principal comic; Rutland Barrington, the lyric baritone; Richard Temple, the bass-baritone; and Jessie Bond, the mezzo-soprano soubrette. "The Pirates of Penzance" (New Year's Eve, 1879) also poked fun at grand opera conventions, sense of duty, family obligation, the "respectability" of civilisation and the peerage, and