Utopia Limited
or
The Flowers of Progress
Utopia Ltd opened October 7, 1893 at the Savoy Theatre and
ran for 245 performances. This was the second-to-last
collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan. It opened more
than two years after Gondoliers closed, following a legal
dispute between Gilbert on the one hand and Carte and
Sullivan on the other, involving the expenses of
Gondoliers, including the purchase of a new carpet for the
theatre lobby. Unfortunately, the lawsuit left both Gilbert
and Sullivan somewhat embittered, and they had a less
collegial working relationship during their last two shows.
Utopia calls for a very large cast and some extravagantly
expensive costuming and settings. In addition, its libretto
seems somewhat less cohesive than many of the previous
operas. Therefore, it is revived less often than the
previous G&S works, although many find the music to be
delighful and enjoy the clever satiric elements of the
opera. Utopia was one of Gilbert's favorites, and George
Bernard Shaw stated: "I enjoyed the score of Utopia more
than that of any of the previous Savoy operas."
King Paramount of the south seas island of Utopia decides
that his people should adopt all English customs and
institutions, but he goes a bit overboard and decrees that
the kingdom and each of its inhabitants should become a
"company limited" based on the English "companies act" of
1862. The kings daughter Princess Zara brings six "flowers
of progress" from England to train the Utopian people in
these "English" customs. The English reforms go too far,
which upsets the judges of the Utopian Supreme Court, the
"Public Exploder" and ultimately the entire populace, which
revolts against the reforms. In the end, the king
compromises to solve some of the most extreme results of
the earlier reforms by converting the kingdom to a limited
monarchy and instituting the two-party system.