Shift of Wind Needed Before Pinafore Sails. "HMS Pinafore" by Gilbert and Sullivan. Carl Rosa Company. Her Majesty's Theatre [review]

Abstract

The Carl Rosa Opera Company occupied a distinguished part of English operatic history from its establishment in 1873 through to the late 1950s. It presented the first English productions of Carmen, Lohengrin and Aida and would have staged the works of Gilbert and Sullivan had the D’Oyly Carte company not got their hands on them first. Now, 131 years later, under artistic director Peter Mulloy, a new Carl Rosa Company is staging Gilbert and Sullivan with an attention to authenticity that is Gilbertian in its detail - even using sets, props and costumes once owned by D’Oyly Carte.