Gilbert and Sullivan and institutions more freely by clothing them in superficial Japanese trappings. Gilbert wrote, "The Mikado of the opera was an imaginary monarch of a remote period and cannot by any exercise of ingenuity be taken to be a slap on an existing institution." G. K. Chesterton compared it to Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels": "Gilbert pursued and persecuted the evils of modern England till they had literally not a leg to stand on, exactly as Swift did... I doubt if there is a single joke in the whole play that fits the Japanese. But all the jokes in the play fit
The Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island The premiere sold out, prompting the Company to revive it as a season fund-raiser for several years thereafter. The show, which tells the Charles Dickens story with new lyrics set to Gilbert & Sullivan songs, went on to score a hit Off-Broadway in 2001, and has now been staged more than 50 times throughout the United States and by groups in Canada, Great Britain and Macedonia. The Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island The Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is the promotion and performance of theater,