1881–1882 Gilbert & Sullivan, three programs for the comic opera “Patience” at the Savoy Theatre, London.

A fine trio in lovely condition

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Three variant Savoy Theatre programs for Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic opera Patience; or, Bunthorne’s Bride, a satire on the aesthetic movement. The lead character Reginald Bunthorne, “a Fleshy Poet,” was inspired by poets Algernon Charles Swinburne and Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Oscar Wilde. Wilde, who visited America in 1882 after the opera’s New York debut, adopted foppish dress similar to Bunthorne.

The opera premiered in London in April 1881 at the Opera Comique, moving that October to the Savoy Theatre:

•  Savoy Theatre. ...Patience, Aesthetic Opera by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan [cover title]. [London:] Herbert Fitch & Co., London and Paris Printing Works, [1881?]. The program notes a Frank Desprez and Eaton Fanning’s Mock Turtles, first produced at the Savoy Theatre in October 1881. That play is described here as “a New and Original Vaudeville.”

•  Savoy Theatre. Patience by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan [cover title]. London: Clement Smith & Comp., [1882]. Printed by chromolithography. Vignette illustrations depict characters and scenes from the opera plus portraits of Gilbert and Sullivan and Savoy Theatre proprietor, Richard D’Oyly Carte. An annotation on the program notes a change in the cast. With dated ticket.

•  Savoy Theatre. Patience or Bunthorne’s Bride by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan [cover title]. [London:] Marcus Ward & Co., c.1881-1882. Printed by chromolithography.

A fine trio in lovely condition.

Price: $650.00