The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan

Sullivan is encouraged by friends and Grace to pursue serious works. He gains acclaim for the music to Trial by Jury, but Grace leaves him, warning that he is wasting his gifts on triviality.

Sullivan teams up with playwright W.S. Gilbert and impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte to create more light operas. They produce The Sorcerer and HMS Pinafore, works that become massively successful and are widely pirated in America.

The Pirates of Penzance premieres in New York to widespread acclaim, signaling their growing popularity beyond Britain. Carte soon builds a new theatre in London to present the partnership's evolving operas.

The Savoy Theatre opens with the premiere of Iolanthe. Sullivan conducts the performance while Gilbert, anxious as ever, leaves the theatre to wander the streets, returning just in time for a triumphant curtain call.

Sullivan longs to devote himself to serious music, while Gilbert envisions a new comic plot. Bennett drafts The Golden Legend, but is distracted when he sees Sullivan rehearsing The Mikado instead.

The Mikado and The Golden Legend debut, and Sullivan is knighted soon afterward. The Queen also inquires whether he will undertake a grand opera, signaling a shift toward more ambitious works.

Before the premiere of Ruddigore, Sullivan asks Gilbert to write the libretto for his first grand opera; Gilbert declines, arguing that words must not be subordinate to music. Ruddigore receives negative reviews and some audience pushback, though it ends up financially successful.

Mrs. Helen Carte travels to Monte Carlo to urge Sullivan to compose for the new theatre, and he agrees, even as Gilbert writes another comic opera. The Gondoliers becomes a hit, reinforcing the partnership's continued success.

Gilbert, suffering from gout, audits the partnership’s finances and confronts Carte over lavish expenses. He then quarrels with Sullivan and declares that he will write no more Savoy operas.

Sullivan's grand opera Ivanhoe debuts, and the Queen commands a private Windsor Castle performance. To everyone's surprise, she chooses to hear The Gondoliers instead.

Richard and Helen Carte toast the arrival of the twentieth century, hoping for a revival of the partnership. Gilbert and Sullivan meet again at a Yeomen of the Guard rehearsal, with Sullivan ill and using a wheelchair; they plan a joint curtain call with Carte.

During the curtain call at the Yeomen rehearsal, news arrives of Sullivan's death. Some years later, Gilbert is knighted, marking a somber but ceremonial end to their long collaboration.