Princess Ida, or Castle Adamant

by W.S. Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan

Gilbert, William S. (1836 - 1911) & Sullivan, Arthur S. (1842 - 1900)

Genres: Plays, Humor, Music

216 pages, Sheet music

First published January 1, 1884

About the author

British playwright and lyricist Sir William Schwenck Gilbert wrote a series of comic operas, including Her Majesty's Ship Pinafore (1878) and The Pirates of Penzance (1879), with composer Sir Arthur Sullivan. This English dramatist, librettist, poet, and illustrator in collaboration with this composer produced fourteen comic operas, which include The Mikado , one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre. Opera companies, repertory companies, schools and community theatre groups throughout and beyond the English-speaking world continue to perform regularly these operas as well as most of their other Savoy operas. From these works, lines, such as "short, sharp shock", "What, never? Well, hardly ever!", and "Let the punishment fit the crime," form common phrases of the English language.

Gilbert also wrote the Bab Ballads , an extensive collection of light verse, which his own comical drawings accompany.

His creative output included more than 75 plays and libretti, numerous stories, poems, lyrics and various other comic and serious pieces. His plays and realistic style of stage direction inspired other dramatists, including Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. According to The Cambridge History of English and American Literature , the "lyrical facility" of Gilbert "and his mastery of metre raised the poetical quality of comic opera to a position that it had never reached before and has not reached since."

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Konstantin R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

[rating = A-]
Oh it is so wonderful to hear my favorite playwright and a brilliant composer working together in this little commentary about society and feminism. Although not all the songs (musically) are not up out of the top draw, the dresser (weighed down by the second or third highest draws) (in its musical entirety) does not fall over, but sits pleasantly balanced. The characters are perhaps not complex, though they retain a brilliant individuality with Princess Ida politely transforming her morality, as she is supposed to. She leads a school of woman against the idea of Man (with a capital letter indeed). But she is betrothed to Prince Hilarion (in one scene hilariously dressed as a woman), yet she refuses, though her father, King Gama, is held prisoner in the throes of luxury "with nothing whatever to grumble at"! Oddly this changes the daughter's mind; fatherly love one supposes, ironically against Castle Adamant (how it is build on sand) policy. Anyway, the story is cleverly humorous and the songs are well-written. It is really about the false stereotypes that society places n both men and women and the need for enlightenment by experience, not just one-sided teachings. Feminism is necessary, but it would be superfluous without Man in its way (hehe)! I enjoyed "Princess Ida" immensely, though I would have loved to have had more of king Gama's snarky soliloquies.

[Rebecca Rosen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's said of Princess Ida that the plot is terrible, the characters are better than the plot, and the music is better than both. This much is true. While the story itself makes little to no sense, the characters are written in typical Schwenky fashion, alternating between ecstatic and dejected at the drop of a hat. A preponderance of patter songs among the musical numbers makes certain roles difficult to play, but for the true G&S enthusiast, it possesses all of the typical Savoy hallmarks: swearing off of marriage, sexism, romantic tenor lead, sassy contralto whose actions lead to resolutions, and several songs where characters proudly reveal their names, occupations, intentions, and character flaws. It pales in comparison to the big 3, but is still a valid source of enjoyment in its own right.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gilbert and Sullivan's house style was adaptable to some extent, and the second half of their career saw them experimenting with genre-blending in new ways. Here, they mash the Savoy opera style with a cross-dressing farce of the traditional kind: men disguise themselves as women to escape punishment or gain something, fall in love with women who do not suspect them, and ultimately risk detection. That said, it's not a perfect blend, and the show attempts to be a satire of too many things at once: chivalric romances, war stories, academia, etc. Not the best-known for a reason, but not without its own quirky merits.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Princess Ida was the last Gilbert & Sullivan operetta that I was a part of. I found that it was an interesting and fun story that moved along very well.

[Edie Walls · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read that this would be difficult to stage today because the story would be unpopular with audiences and I'm inclined to agree. At least the music is good.

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wherein Gilbert and Sullivan discuss the feasibility of women's organizations and drop the N-word.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2½ stars. Read on my Kindle as part of The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan while watching the video.

As always with these Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, it is nearly impossible to really separate the "play" or libretto from the music. In this instance, my rating reflects the fact that I found Sullivan's score was not up to his standards in the other operettas I have seen. I also think that while the plot had some very funny bits, the operetta was a bit too long (3 acts as opposed to the typical 2 so some parts lost humor because they went on too long).