Would list members recommend books on Gilbert and Sullivan? I have
become a recent convert, having seen Mike Leigh's film 'Topsy Turvy'.  By
the way, the latter film, having won 2 Oscars, was never shown at my local
multi-plex - a scandalous state of affairs.  I had to travel many more
miles to the nearest 'arts' cinema to see it.  I complained to the manager
of my local multi-plex, and he was both apologetic and sympathetic, but
explained that his managers had taken a view that 'Topsy Turvy' wasn't
commercial enough to be shown.  They also thought the film 'too long'!

By the way, I recently bought a full-price recording of 'The Gondoliers'
on the 'That's Entertainment' label and was disappointed to discover that
the libretto was not included in the CD booklet.  I really do think that
at full-price, music lovers ought to be able to expect the libretto of an
opera to be part of the package.  After all, excellent labels like Hyperion
now give full texts (with translations where appropriate) in the CD
booklets on their BUDGET label Helios.  (Other budget-priced labels seem
to be following suit, which is encouraging).

The CD booklet which came with my version of 'The Gondoliers' had a number
of colour photographs of a past production, and a synopsis of the plot, but
I would have gladly sacrificed these for the libretto.

Ian Foster