4: Savoy Theatre. Backstage at the Savoy, Donald Macleod walks down the same stairs that Sullivan trod in the theatre which was to stage his greatest triumphs. Opening in October 1881, the Savoy Theatre was built by the impresario
Richard D'Oyly Carte especiallyforthe famous operatic partnership he'd brought together-Gilbert and Sullivan. Today's programme features highlights from Patience, lolanthe, Princess Ida,
Ruddigore, The Yeomen of the Guard and The Mikado, their greatest hit, which ran for 672 nights, vindicating Sullivan's somewhat unusual composing regime:
"Worked all night at Finale Act 1, finished at 5am - 63 pages of the score at one sitting!" Plus highlights from Sullivan's incidental music for The Merry Wives of Windsor and a rather surprising collaboration with Gilbert: the sacred musical drama The Martyr of Antioch.