THE answer given to the question in Monday's quiz: "Which London theatre first staged the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan?" - The Savoy - is incorrect.
Gilbert and Sullivan's first operetta, Thespis (now lost) was premiered in 1871 at The Gaiety; Trial by Jury (first in the current canon) in 1875 at Royalty Theatre. The Sorcerer (1877), HMS Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1880), Patience (1881) were all premiered at Opera-Comique. (The Pirates of Penzance was given a "copyright performance" at Paignton in 1879, but perhaps that could not be described as "staged" - and was certainly not in London).
Patience transferred to the newly-built Savoy Theatre - the first to be lit by electric light - on October 10, 1881 and all subsequent G&S operettas were indeed first staged there.
Robert Stevens,
Bootham Crescent,
York.
Updated: 10:36 Tuesday, July 26, 2005
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