About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Utopia, Limited

Encyclopedia : U : UT : UTO : Utopia, Limited

Utopia Limited, or The Flowers of Progress, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was the second-to-last of Gilbert and Sullivan's fourteen collaborations, premiering on October 7 1893 for a run of 245 performances.

During the production of Gilbert and Sullivan's previous opera, The Gondoliers, Gilbert became embroiled in a legal dispute with their producer, Richard D'Oyly Carte, over the cost of a new carpet for the Savoy Theatre – and, more generally, over the accounting for expenses over the course of their long partnership. Sullivan sided with Carte, and the partnership was forced to disband.

After The Gondoliers closed, it would be more than two years before Utopia appeared. The lawsuit had left Gilbert and Sullivan somewhat embittered, and their last two works together may have suffered from the less collegial working relationship than the two men had typically enjoyed while writing earlier operas. Many commentators have found flaws in both the writing and post-premiere editing of these last works that, in earlier days, Gilbert and Sullivan would have been able to fix.

Gilbert's libretto satirizes limited liability companies, and particularly the idea that a bankrupt company could leave creditors unpaid without any liability to its owners. It also lampoons the "Stock Company Act" by imagining the absurd convergence of natural persons and legal entities. In addition, it mocks the conceits of the late 19th-century British empire and several of the nation's beloved institutions. The libretto has been criticized as too long and rambling, and several subplots are never resolved.

Utopia is performed much less frequently than most other Gilbert and Sullivan operas. It can be expensive to produce, requiring a large principal cast and two costumes for most of the performers. The subject-matter and plot are obscure for modern audiences. And although it contains some fine music, it perhaps has less than Sullivan's usual quota of unforgettable tunes. Still, Utopia has its fans. George Bernard Shaw stated: "I enjoyed the score of Utopia more than that of any of the previous Savoy operas."

Contents

Roles

Imported Flowers of Progress

Synopsis

Act I

The action takes place on the imaginary South Pacific island of Utopia, whose monarch, King Paramount, has sent his daughter, Princess Zara, on a voyage to Britain to learn how to civilise his people. The Public Exploder, Tarara, enters, disturbing the langour of the chorus to discuss how he as the duty to blow up the King if the two "Wise Men", Scaphio and Phantis, order him to do so. The Wise Men enter, heralded by the chorus ("O make way for the Wise Men"). The King himself soon enters ("A King of autocratic power we") and, expressing no ill will towards his perpetual blackmailers, he joins the two in a trio commenting on life's farce ("First you're born"). In fact, the King is quite upset – he is unable to marry the Lady Sophy, his younger daughters' English governess, because of self-mocking articles Scaphio and Phantis have forced him to write under a pseudonym.

Princess Zara now returns to Utopia with six British gentleman (the "Flowers of Progress") in tow ("Five years have flown"). She sings a duet with her love interest, Captain Fitzbattleaxe ("Ah! gallant soldier, brave and true") while Scaphio and Phantis agree to duel one another for her love ("It's understood, I think"). In the act's finale, the Utopians assemble and Zara introduces the Flowers of Progress one by one – Fitzbattleaxe (of the army), Sir Bailey Barre (Q.C. and M.P.), Lord Dramaleigh (a Lord Chamberlain), Mr. Blushington (of the county council), Mr. Goldbury (a company promoter) and Captain Corcoran (of the navy – a joking reference to the popular Gilbert and Sullivan character from HMS Pinafore). The Utopian people are duly impressed, and they listen closely to Mr. Goldbury, who convinces the King to transform his entire country into a limited liability corporation – even before Britain herself has accepted such an "innovation"! Everyone but Scaphio, Phantis and Tarara is enthusiastic, and the act ends with the rapturous acceptance of the infusions of British society and institutions.

Act II

Zara and Fitzbattleaxe share a tender scene. Utopia has transformed itself into a "more perfect" replica of Britain – it has built an army, a navy, and courts, purified its literature, and wholeheartedly adopted Mr. Goldbury's proposal, and every person now has limited liability. The Flowers of Progress exult in their success ("Society has quite forsaken"), and the people sing of the country's newfound glory ("Eagle high in cloudland soaring"). Scaphio and Phantis are furious because the change poses a threat to their power ("With fury deep we burn"). They demand that Paramount revoke the change, and when he refuses, they remind him of their power over his life ("If you think that when banded in unity"). But the King points out that they cannot blow up a limited company. Scaphio and Phantis plot with Tarara on how to reverse the course of events and retire.

The King, his dignity rediscovered, approaches Lady Sophy and tells her the truth about the articles written about him, and she now happily agrees to marry him ("Oh, rapture unrestrained"). But Scaphio and Phantis succeed in convincing the people of Utopia that the changes are for the worse – they have put an end to war, making the army and navy useless; sanitation is so good that doctors are unemployed; so perfect are the laws that crime has all but ended, emptying the courts – and all demand that the changes be revoked. Puzzled, Paramount asks his daughter for a solution, and she immediately realizes that she has forgotten "the most essential element of all": Government by Party! With this adopted, each party will so confound the efforts of the other that no progress will be made at all, leading to the prosperity that everyone seeks. The crowd is overjoyed, Scaphio and Phantis are thrown in prison, and the curtain falls as the people sing their praises of "a little group of isles beyond the wave."

Musical numbers

Act I

Act II

1 On the 1976 recording, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company preceded the Introduction with Sullivan's Imperial March, which he composed around the same time.

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: