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 Gilbert and Sullivan together to produce a Christmas entertainment, "Thespis", at his Gaiety Theatre, a large West End house. The piece was an extravaganza in which the classical Greek gods, grown elderly, are temporarily replaced by a troupe of 19th-century actors and actresses, one of whom is the eponymous Thespis, the Greek father of the drama. Its mixture of political satire and grand opera parody mimicked Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld" and "La belle Hélène", which (in translation) then dominated the English musical stage. "Thespis" opened on Boxing Day and ran for 63 performances. It outran five of its nine