Comic opera in two acts; music by Sir Arthur Sullivan; text by W. S. Gilbert. First produced at the Opera Comique, London, May 28, 1878. The first American performance, New York, 1878, was unauthorized; the first important American production took place November, 1897, at the Boston Museum. The success of Pinafore seems to be as lasting as the mighty deep itself, and nearly as widespread: certainly wherever the English language is spoken it is one of the most popular of comic operas. It sprang to instant popularity in the United States, its success being rivaled among Gilbert and Sullivan’s works only by the Mikado. Its popularity is well deserved for it contains some of Gilbert’s most clever sallies of wit and some of Sullivan’s most charming melodies. Moreover, the former’s satire on matters nautical in England during victorian days and the latter’s parody of “sea music” can be as well appreciated and enjoyed now as ever.

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