H.M.S. Pinafore

H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor (1878). A landmark Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, it tells of a young lady who is pursued by the head of the English navy but who loves an ordinary tar. Her loyalty is rewarded when it is discovered that the sailor is really entitled to be a captain. Notable songs: I'm Called Little Buttercup; Never Mind the Why and Wherefore; We Sail the Ocean Blue; When I Was a Lad. The operetta's American premiere was in Boston in 1878, opening in New York two months later. Within weeks the so‐called “Pinafore craze” swept the nation. In Manhattan alone three companies performed at the same time, when New York had only a dozen first‐class theatres. By season's end twelve theatres had offered a version on one occasion or another. Pinafore's popularity can be attributed to its literate, witty libretto and captivating melodies, as well as the fact that it was such a clean show that ministers, who had heretofore railed against the theatre, encouraged their flocks to attend. The real beginnings of the popular American musical theatre can be traced to this work's unprecedented success. Prior to Pinafore's appearance, only a few of what could be called musicals were presented each season. Immediately thereafter and for almost the next hundred years Broadway never again saw fewer than fifteen or twenty musicals a year. The earliest great American musicals were openly modeled on this and other Gilbert and Sullivan works. H.M.S. Pinafore has been revived regularly ever since, making it arguably the most produced musical in the English language.