The Mountebanks - Background

Background

The story of the opera revolves around a magic potion that transforms those who drink it into whoever, or whatever, they pretend to be. The idea was clearly important to Gilbert, as he repeatedly urged his famous collaborator, Arthur Sullivan, to set this story, or a similar one, to music. For example, he had written a treatment of the opera in 1884, which Sullivan rejected, both because of the story's mechanical contrivance, and because they had already written an opera with a magic potion, The Sorcerer.

When the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership temporarily disbanded due to a quarrel over finances after the production of The Gondoliers, Gilbert tried to find another composer who would collaborate on the idea, eventually finding a willing partner in Alfred Cellier. Cellier was a logical choice for Gilbert. The two had collaborated once before (Topsyturveydom, 1874), and Cellier had been the music director for Gilbert and Sullivan's early operas. His comic opera Dorothy (1886) was a smash hit. It played for over 900 performances, considerably more than The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan's most successful piece. Dorothy set and held the record for longest-running piece of musical theatre in history until the turn of the century.

Cellier died of tuberculosis while The Mountebanks was still in rehearsals. The score was completed by the Lyric Theatre's musical director, Ivan Caryll, a successful composer in his own right. Caryll composed the entr'acte, the song "When your clothes from your hat to your socks", and probably another number or two, and chose one of Cellier's orchestral pieces, the Suite Symphonique for the overture. However, the exact responsibility for other parts of the final version remains uncertain. Three songs whose lyrics were printed in the libretto available on the first night were never set. Gilbert rewrote the libretto around the gaps. Despite the opera's warm reception, he wrote on 7 January 1892, shortly after the premiere, "I had to make rough & ready alterations to supply gaps – musical gaps – caused by poor Cellier's inability to complete his work. It follows that Act 2 stands out as a very poor piece of dramatic construction ... this is the worst libretto I have written. Perhaps I am growing old." Nonetheless, The Mountebanks' initial run of 229 performances surpassed most of Gilbert's later works and even a few of his collaborations with Sullivan. Gilbert engaged his old friends John D'Auban to choreograph the piece and Percy Anderson to design costumes.

The reception of the London production led its producer, Horace Sedger, to establish touring companies, which visited major towns and cities in Britain for more than a year, from April 1892 to 1893. Louie René played Ultrice on one tour in 1893. While playing in Manchester, one touring company found itself competing with a D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring company at a nearby theatre. The strained relations between Carte and Gilbert after The Gondoliers did not prevent the two companies from playing a cricket match in May 1892. Relations between Gilbert and his new producer had also deteriorated, and the author unsuccessfully sued Sedger for cutting the size of the chorus in the London production without his approval.

The work has rarely been revived, but the Lyric Theatre Company of Washington D.C. recorded it in 1964.