The Theatre: Gilbert & Sullivan

As the little steamer brought him into New York Harbor one July day in 1879, Richard D'Oyly Carte nervously paced the narrow deck with many a grave misgiving. H. M. S. Pinafore, of which he was impresario, was being widely pirated in the U. S. Without recourse to any international copyright law, he was determined to give Manhattan a production of H. M. S. Pinafore which would rout his unscrupulous competitors. Then he was to plunge into rehearsals for the premiere of The Pirates of Penzance, whose...

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