Old Sarah

Old Sarah is a one-act comic opera composed by François Cellier with a libretto by Harry Greenbank.

The piece was first produced at the Savoy Theatre from 17 June to 31 July 1897 and from 16 August to 20 November 1897 as a companion piece to The Yeomen of the Guard, from 10 December 1897 to 12 March 1898 with The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, and from 22 March to 21 May 1898 with The Gondoliers, for a total of 252 performances.

A copy of the vocal score (published in 1898 by J. Williams), but no printed libretto, is found in British Library. The score contains all the dialogue.

When the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership disbanded after the production of The Gondoliers in 1889, the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte filled the Savoy Theatre with a combination of new works and revivals of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The fashion in the late Victorian era was to present long evenings in the theatre, and so producer Richard D'Oyly Carte preceded his Savoy operas with curtain raisers.W. J. MacQueen-Pope commented, concerning such curtain raisers:

To create Old Sarah, Carte selected two artists who he knew could deliver a good piece. Cellier was the long-time music director of the Savoy Theatre and had produced other works for Carte. Greenbank was also a known quantity, first for having supplied the theatre with two other curtain raisers, Captain Billy (1891) and Mr. Jericho (1893). In addition, by this time, Greenbank's reputation was well established, having supplied lyrics for a number of hit musicals, including A Gaiety Girl (1893), An Artist's Model (1895), The Geisha (1896), and The Circus Girl (1896).

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