I Came Across A Utube Clip Of The Late...

[sandyRoe]

... Jonathan Miller talking about the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.

He didn't think much of them apart from The Mikado.

Was he setting the bar too  high?  I don't suppose they thought themselves in the same league as Shakespeare.

[davebro3]

no - did Shakespeare write musicals?

like saying Arsenal aren't in the same league at the Harlequins🤣

[sandyRoe]

With the masques in some of his dramas he might have been moving towards musicals.

Had he lived longer who knows where his muse might have lead him?

[Khandro]

Gilbert and Sullivan brought & still brings more joy into Britain than Jonathan Miller ever did.

[Khandro]

When I was a lad I served a term
As office boy to an Attorney's firm.
I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor,
And I polished up the handle of the big front door.
(He polished up the handle of the big front door.)
I polished up that handle so carefully
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navy!
(He polished up that handle so carefullee,
That now he is the ruler of the Queen's Navee!)

😄

[sandyRoe]

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[Peter Pedant]

Monteverdi did the first opera 1598 - Masques, were [art of the downfall of Charles I as they were intended as spectacle, had a few words and involved the King and Queen mincing around in expensive cozzies - he borrowed lulu to put them on ( the masque not the cozzie)

G and S is NOT opera - - operetta. The words are spoken rather than sung in recitative ( yes that is ressit-tat-teev) - even stuff like " do you want a flat white?" " yes please"

He also writes in forms that opera do NOT have - there is a spoof going the rounds in G+S style, a patter song. these were very popular in Music Halls, 1800-1900 ( I am the model of a modern major general)

Music Hall songs ( 3 mins) cd if the audience were charmed, last up to 15 mins, along with dialog - ALbert Finney reconstructs one, as his g-f was a music hall arteest.

Mikado, three little girls was based on a 17 syllable haiku but They werent looked on as cultural leaders

[Peter Pedant]

Had he lived longer who knows where his muse might have lead him?

well Ben Jonson lasted until 1636 - His last play - The Magic Lady - everyonne expressed suprise that he was still alive

oh, and G B Shaw thought of himself as good as or better than Shakey....incredz now...

[Canary42]

A significant number of people "don't think much of" Jonathan Miller.