And now for something completely different part 2

[Steve Harrison]

Robert Dooley sent me a copy of a favourite Gilbert and Sullivan song 'When all night long' from the opera Iolanthe. He sang it when at high school. I don't think many G and S songs have ever been arranged for banjo but my attempt is now in the library plus the midi....Steve.

[Joel Hooks]

Cool, I'll check it out!

G&S pieces were a favorite of banjoists.  They were popular, and so was the banjo.

Frank Converse published a few.  "The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring" is in the "Analytical Banjo Method."

Here is Carl playing it...

Here are a couple of old ones I did...

[Trapdoor2]

Aye, the tutors of the 1880's often have several G&S pieces and many other Operatic selections. By the 1890s, most have gone by the wayside and have been replaced by "music hall" songs, etc.

Good to see Carl and Joel keeping G&S alive on the banjo!

[Mike Moss]

I wouldn't say there is that much of a difference between the earlier and the late stuff... If anything, the "Savoy Operas" were the direct ancestors of modern forms of musical theatre. Popular, catchy tunes, eminently watchable, with funny and often absurd storylines, they were a more family-friendly, toned-down version of the more risque French and Viennese operettas (which at times almost ressembled burlesque shows). They may seem very "classical" to us now but in the UK musicals had a very "opperetta-ish" flavour all the way into the 1950s.