25 May: HMS Pinafore

On this date in 1878 Gilbert/Sullivan's opera HMS Pinafore premièred in London. 10 things you might not know about HMS Pinafore.

1. The alternative title for HMS Pinafore is The Lass That Loved a Sailor.
2. The setting for the operetta is on board a British warship called H.M.S. Pinafore which is anchored off Portsmouth.
3. The plot (spoiler alert) is as follows: in Act I, Little Buttercup the bumboat woman (ie a dockside vendor who goes out to the ships to sell things to the sailors) arrives and hints that she has a secret to share. Meanwhile, one of the sailors, Ralph Rackstraw, has fallen in love with the captain's daughter, Josephine, but is advised he doesn't stand a chance with her because of the difference in their social class status. Little Buttercup and Captain Corcoran have a conversation in which the captain tells her that he wants Josephine to marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty, but Josephine seems reluctant. Little Buttercup confesses that she knows what it's like to love in vain. Enter Josephine, who explains why she is reluctant to marry Sir Joseph - because she is in love with one of the sailors, but that as a dutiful daughter she will do as her father asks. Sir Joseph arrives with an entourage of "cousins and aunts" and tells the captain he should treat his crew well, because "A British sailor is any man's equal" (except, of course, his own). This spurs Ralph on to declare his love to Josephine. Needless to say, he is the sailor she is secretly in love with, but at first, she tells him she is going to do her duty and marry Sir Joseph. Ralph is about to commit suicide when Josephine returns and admits she is in love with Ralph. They make plans to elope.
4. Act II opens with the captain having a heart to heart with Buttercup in which he offloads all his concerns - his daughter in love with a sailor, Sir Joseph threatening to court martial him and so on. He confesses that the only reason he doesn't return Buttercup's love for him is the difference in their social standing. She hints again that she has a secret which will change everything. A little later, another sailor, Dick Deadeye, rats on the eloping couple and so they are caught by the captain. The Captain blurts out, "Why, damme, it's too bad!" (The "Big D" he says he "never, well, hardly ever" utters) which shocks Sir Joseph and his family - so he has the Captain confined to his quarters. Ralph is sent to the brig. At this point, Buttercup finally reveals her secret, that she once "practised baby-farming" and at one point had been looking after two babies, one "of low condition", the other "a regular patrician", and had mixed them up. She reveals the identity of the babies - Captain Corcoran and Ralph Rackstraw. (So Ralph is therefore old enough to be Josephine's father!) Sir Joseph declares he is no longer interested in marrying Josephine because she is too lowly. Enter the captain and Ralph, who have changed roles. Josephine, who had secretly been having second thoughts about giving up her life of luxury to marry a common sailor, and Ralph are now of equal rank and can get married openly. The former captain can now marry Buttercup. Even Sir Joseph gets a happy ending as he marries one of his cousins.
5. The first production opened on 25 May 1878 at the Opera Comique. Although initial reviews were favourable, the show nearly closed before the end of the summer due to low ticket sales. The reason for this was that there was a heatwave that year, and people didn't want to sit in a stuffy theatre when it was so hot. Come the autumn, however, the weather cooled and the performances began to sell out.
6. Gilbert and Sullivan neglected to put in place any international copyright protection for HMS Pinafore. About 150 unauthorised productions appeared in America, from which Gilbert and Sullivan didn't get any money. Their efforts to sue the various companies and claim royalties met with little success. It also meant that when the official version opened in America, it didn't do so well because many people had already seen one of the unauthorised versions.
7. The unauthorised versions included spoofs, all male, all female and cross-gender versions, minstrel shows, burlesques, all black or all Jewish productions and productions in other languages (A Yiddish version, for example, was called Der Shirtz - Yiddish for "apron") or in different settings, such as the Caribbean Sea.
8. There was also a version for children, which proved so popular that the D'Oyly Carte company put on their own children's production at the Opera Comique in 1879. The score was adapted for children's voices, but the line in which Captain Corcoran uses the "Big D" was left in, which offended some audiences. Author Lewis Carroll was one who thought it completely wrong for children to say such words and dismissed the production as "vile trash".
9. The character of Sir Joseph Porter was believed by many to be based on a politician of the time called WH Smith. Yes, he is connected with the UK shops of the same name. He'd started his career as a newsagent and had expanded the family firm by selling books and newspapers at railway stations. In 1868, he became a Member of Parliament and within ten years had achieved the position of First Lord of the Admiralty despite having had no naval experience whatsoever.
10. In 1909, W. S. Gilbert wrote a 1909 children's book called The Pinafore Picture Book, based on the plot of the operatta and including much of the backstory not included on stage. The book was illustrated by Alice Woodward.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

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Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two