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Synopsis
"Iolanthe", or "The Peer and the Peri", opened at the Savoy Theatre on November 25, 1882, three nights after the final performance of Patience at the same theatre, and ran for 398 performances.
Short Attention Span Plot
"Whenever I see you kissing a very young lady, I shall know it's an elderly relative."
As a service to our readers, who may not have the time to keep up with all the little details in the world of culture, Paragraphs herewith presents the "Short Attention Span Plot" for this summer's show, Iolanthe.
First off, as a choice for a summer evening's entertainment, Iolanthe starts out with two strikes against it. Strike one is that hardly anybody can pronounce the name of the show at first glance. It's sort of like "Puyallup" or "Sequim" that way. So to preclude any of our loyal readers from embarrassing themselves in front of an opera snob, let's agree among ourselves that we will call it "eye-oh-lan-thee." Practice this a few times while stuck in freeway traffic and you should have it cold by opening night.
Strike two is that the show is also called "The Peer and the Peri." Be careful, this one's a curveball with a subtle pronunciation trap all its own."Peer" isn't so bad (compare it with "Pier 91," for example), and I assume you have mastered the "little" words involved. However, look out for "Peri!" This refers to some sort of evil spirit from Persia (no, not the Ayatollah), and it has to be pronounced "Peery," or else a bunch of the songs don't rhyme.
So, who or what is an "Iolanthe," and what has it all got to do with Peers and Peeries, and why do we care? Well, Iolanthe is the name of an elderly (by a couple of hundred years) fairy who has the misfortune of always appearing to be seventeen (poor dear). As a youngster, she made a kids mistake and married a mortal. (Can't really blame her. Watch the show carefully and count all the males in fairyland.) Not just any mortal, mind you, but the presiding noble of the House of Lords. His close friends call him "The Lord Chancellor."
It turns out that, for some arcane reason, it is a capital offence under Fairy Law for a fairy to marry a mortal. Fortunately, the old Fairy Queen had a soft spot for Iolanthe and commuted her sentence to banishment for life (a fairly long sentence when one is immortal) provided that she leave her husband and never tell him why.
But (just to keep the plot perking along) it seems that Iolanthe was a little bit pregnant at the time of her banishment, and in the intervening 25 years had a son who is now 24. And, it would seem (still perking along), that this young lad is (naturally enough) half mortal and half fairy. In addition, he is a shepherd with a fiancée who doesn't know anything about the slight confusion in his gene pool.
As a service to our readers, who may not have the time to keep up with all the little details in the world of culture, Paragraphs herewith presents the "Short Attention Span Plot" for this summer's show, Iolanthe.
First off, as a choice for a summer evening's entertainment, Iolanthe starts out with two strikes against it. Strike one is that hardly anybody can pronounce the name of the show at first glance. It's sort of like "Puyallup" or "Sequim" that way. So to preclude any of our loyal readers from embarrassing themselves in front of an opera snob, let's agree among ourselves that we will call it "eye-oh-lan-thee." Practice this a few times while stuck in freeway traffic and you should have it cold by opening night.
Strike two is that the show is also called "The Peer and the Peri." Be careful, this one's a curveball with a subtle pronunciation trap all its own."Peer" isn't so bad (compare it with "Pier 91," for example), and I assume you have mastered the "little" words involved. However, look out for "Peri!" This refers to some sort of evil spirit from Persia (no, not the Ayatollah), and it has to be pronounced "Peery," or else a bunch of the songs don't rhyme.
So, who or what is an "Iolanthe," and what has it all got to do with Peers and Peeries, and why do we care? Well, Iolanthe is the name of an elderly (by a couple of hundred years) fairy who has the misfortune of always appearing to be seventeen (poor dear). As a youngster, she made a kids mistake and married a mortal. (Can't really blame her. Watch the show carefully and count all the males in fairyland.) Not just any mortal, mind you, but the presiding noble of the House of Lords. His close friends call him "The Lord Chancellor."
It turns out that, for some arcane reason, it is a capital offence under Fairy Law for a fairy to marry a mortal. Fortunately, the old Fairy Queen had a soft spot for Iolanthe and commuted her sentence to banishment for life (a fairly long sentence when one is immortal) provided that she leave her husband and never tell him why.
But (just to keep the plot perking along) it seems that Iolanthe was a little bit pregnant at the time of her banishment, and in the intervening 25 years had a son who is now 24. And, it would seem (still perking along), that this young lad is (naturally enough) half mortal and half fairy. In addition, he is a shepherd with a fiancée who doesn't know anything about the slight confusion in his gene pool.
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