Patience

Show Description:

In none of their 14 collaborations did Gilbert and Sullivan deal as directly with contemporary society as in their 1881 Patience. Designed as a mere spoof of the aesthetic movement that was sweeping England, the work was so popular that it wound up actually enhancing the movement. With an initial run exceeding those of both H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance, Patience remains a fascinating portrayal of the fanaticism that can accompany social fads—something not totally foreign to our time. All the village lasses except the milkmaid Patience worship the pretentious poet Reginald Bunthorne (modeled after Oscar Wilde). She sets her heart on her childhood sweetheart—the handsome Archibald Grosvenor. But to love such a perfect creature is selfish, she reasons, so she turns her attentions to the boring Bunthorne. The other maidens now desert him for Grosvenor, who is ultimately convinced by his rival to de-aestheticize and become commonplace. But Bunthorne’s plan backfires. Sullivan’s score bubbles over with melodic gems: “Love Is a Plaintive Song,” “When I First Put This Uniform On,” “The Magnet and the Churn,” and the irresistibly engaging Bunthorne-Grosvenor duet “When I Go Out of Door.”