The popular failure of W.S. Gilbert after 1890: A study of the reception and value of Gilberts later stage works: With extensive bibliographical material

Abstract

W. S. Gilbert, one of the foremost writers of the London stage between 1870 and 1890, had little popular success with the ten works he brought to London audiences during the last twenty years of his life (1891-1911). This study examines the critical reception of those later works, speculates on the reasons for their popular failure, and reveals the chief defects and merits of each work The study attempts to provide exhaustive lists of early London reviews of the original predictions of these works and concludes with what is hoped to be a complete bibliography of all other material related to these works written both during and sinee Gilbert's lifetime. Included throughout the test arc facsimiles of reviews, illustrations, and photographs of the original productions. Although the study admits that these later works of Gilbert had serious Haws and discusses their limitations in detail, it also provides evidence to show that Gilbert's artistic genius was not exhausted, and that these neglected pieces contain important expressione of his philosophy of life and dramatic art.