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
The Happy Land Gilbert. Not only had he written a short story on the theme in 1871, but he returned to it in his 1909 comic opera, "Fallen Fairies". Indeed, the general theme of mortals disturbing the peaceful state of affairs in fairyland is featured in a number of other Gilbert works, including the Gilbert and Sullivan opera "Iolanthe" (1882). Gilbert followed "The Happy Land" with "The Realm of Joy", set in the lobby of a theatre performing a thinly-disguised "The Happy Land", which directly parodies the scandal, even describing the costumes used. In "The Happy Land", "The Realm of Joy" (1873) and