This is the front cover of a programme from a production of Ruddi(y)gore performed by ‘The Really Authentic Gilbert and Sullivan Performance Trust’ at the Mayfair Theatre in Dunedin from the 23rd August until the 30th August 2008.
By Gilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck), 1836-1911 - This image is available from the National Library of Scotland under the sequence number or Shelfmark ID Weir.1(18). You can see this image in its original context, along with the rest of the Library's digital collections, in the NLS Digital Gallery, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33864826
It was first performed at the Savoy Theatre on 22nd January 1887. Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill, parents of Sir Winston Churchill, were in the audience at the first performance. It was originally called Ruddygore. It followed the production of The Mikado.
In 1886 Franz Liszt was visiting London and Sullivan helped to entertain him. Later that year, Gilbert berated Sullivan for not working on Ruddygore. Sullivan spent the summer of 1886 composing the music for Ruddygore as well as the score for a cantata, The Golden Legend for the Leeds Music Festival. Also at the Leeds Festival in 1886, Dvorak was present to conduct his St. Ludmilla and Stanford conducted his The Revenge. Sullivan completed the music for the score one week before its first performance. The Mikado has its last performance at the Savoy Theatre on the 19th January which left the theatre free for three days for rehearsals of Ruddygore.
By Barraud (photographer) - MS Thr 1024 (15), Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36273595
It was a complicated operetta to stage with its use of portraits coming to life and many costumes. One concern was the orchestra being able to see Sullivan’s baton in the blacked-out stage. Because of unfavourable reviews, the operetta underwent changes, there were numerous cuts and alterations.
One article in the New Zealand papers stated that the production cost was between £6000 - £7000. When the Wellington Amateur Operatic Society performed Ruddigore in 1895 during a season of seven nights, the production cost £500 to stage it and they made a profit of £100. This was the first performance of the operetta in Australasia. In the Evening Post dated 22nd May 1895 it states ‘the opera is practically a musical burlesque upon the old style of melodrama, with its bad aristocratic and its virtuous maiden and all the other etceteras’. The New Zealand Mail dated 31st May 1895, has an article concerning the Vice-Regal party, His Excellency the Governor and Lady Glasgow, attending the first performance of Ruddigore. There are descriptions of the people who attended and what the ladies wore.
Evening Post 25th May 1895
In the Otago Witness dated 23rd May 1895 there is an article about the upcoming production of Ruddigore. It states ‘two beautiful scenes have been painted by Mr J. S. Allan for the production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera “Ruddigore” by the Amateur Society on Wednesday next. The first set represents the fishing village of Rederring, in Cornwall. It is a picturesque and characteristic scene, and the best thing that Mr Allen has done in this way. The second is the picture gallery in Ruddigore Castle, a very fine representation of an oak chamber with handsome carvings and life-size portraits of the baronets of Ruddigore, who become animated during the progress of the opera and step out of their frames.
Sir William Gilbert By Ellis & Walery - Cellier, François; Bridgeman, Cunningham (1914) Gilbert and Sullivan and their operas; with recollections and anecdotes of D'Oyly Carte & other famous Savoyards, Boston: Little, Brown & Company, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101064923
Sir Arthur Sullivan By Ellis & Walery - Cellier, François; Bridgeman, Cunningham (1914) Gilbert and Sullivan and their operas; with recollections and anecdotes of D'Oyly Carte & other famous Savoyards, Boston: Little, Brown & Company, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101064921
Richard D’Oyly Carte By Ellis & Walery - Cellier, François; Bridgeman, Cunningham (1914) Gilbert and Sullivan and their operas; with recollections and anecdotes of D'Oyly Carte & other famous Savoyards, Boston: Little, Brown & Company, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101064927
In 1898, the Invercargill Amateur Operatic society performed Ruddigore in September.
Not long after, in May 1887, when the operetta was produced in London, the vocal score, the piano score, Ruddygore waltz, lancers, polka and quadrilles arrived in New Zealand. The name had not been changed at that stage.
There is an interesting article in the Auckland Star dated 28th January 1899 which discussed the popularity of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. The article states that the public throughout the world have paid £3,000,000 to see and listen to the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. At the time of writing there had been 5,953 Gilbert and Sullivan performances and that The Mikado had been the most popular of them all. The totals of performances are as follows – Mikado (1147), Pinafore (820), Gondoliers (679), Yeomen of the Guard (609), Pirates of Penzance (440), Iolanthe (398), Sorcerer (362 – still running at the time), Ruddigore (287), Princes Ida (246), Utopia Limited (245) and Grand Duke (123).
The Gilbert and Sullivan book, Leslie Baily, Spring Books, reprinted 1967.