HMS Pinafore

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For over 50 years of costuming excellence Costume Holiday House has been providing quality costumes at affordable prices for High Schools, Colleges, Community Theatres, Operas and Professional stock companies. With over 50,000 quality costumes, our competent staff of theatrical professionals are anxious to serve your every need. Please, feel free to contact us for any question inquires or special needs for your next production.

In H.M.S. Pinafore or The Lass That Loved a Sailor, W.S. Gilbert satirizes the snobbery and hypocrisy of the English social system of his day. He tells the story of a lowly able seaman named Ralph who has fallen in love with Josephine, his Captain’s daughter. Josephine, however, has been pledged by her father to Sir Joseph Porter, First Lord of the Admiralty. Although Josephine is in love with Ralph, she is determined to remain true to her breeding and marry the man her father has chosen. Sir Joseph, for his part, professes to be a man of new ideals, informing the Captain that “a British sailor is any man’s equal, excepting mine,” and requiring him to soften his commands to the crew by adding such civilities as “if you please.” But when Little Buttercup, a local bumboat woman, lets slip that all is not what it seems, Sir Joseph’s liberal notions are put to the test. The much anticipated premiere of H.M.S. Pinafore took place at the Opera Comique in London on May 25, 1878 with a cast that included George Grossmith (Sir Joseph), Rutland Barrington (Captain Corcoran), George Power (Ralph), Richard Temple (Dick Deadeye), Emma Howson (Josephine), and Miss Everard (Little Buttercup). This production turned out to be Gilbert and Sullivan’s first smash hit and enjoyed a run of 571 performances. One reviewer wrote of the opening night performance: “Seldom, indeed, have we been in the company of a more joyous audience, more confidently anticipating an evening’s amusement than that which filled the Opera Comique in every corner. The expectation was fulfilled completely. Those who believed in the power of Mr. Gilbert to tickle the fancy with quaint suggestions and unexpected forms of humour were more than satisfied, and those who appreciated Mr. Arthur Sullivan’s inexhaustible gift of melody were equally gratified. The result, therefore, was ‘a hit, a palpable hit’ – a success in fact, there could be no mistaking, and which, great as it was on Saturday, will be even more decided when the work has been played a few nights.” In fact, HMS Pinafore was so popular that by the time the official New York premiere took place at the Standard Theatre on January 15, 1879, there had already been numerous pirated versions presented in the city. The official New York cast featured Thomas Whiffen (Sir Joseph), Eugene Clarke (Captain Corcoran), Henri Laurent (Ralph), Eva Mills (Josephine), and Blanche Galton (Little Buttercup).