Gilbert and Sullivan: Modern Major Geniuses

This world-famous opera-making duo did more than make audience members laugh—they laid the foundations for the 20th-century musical.

Welsh schoolchildren perform Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" in 1953. Public Domain

Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas are considered the forerunners of the modern musical. Their story is one of the great creative partnerships in theater.

In their deft blend of music and lyrics, they are comparable to Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte a century prior, or the team of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman responsible for the early films of the Disney Renaissance.