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''Captain Billy'' is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by Harry Greenbank and music by François Cellier. It was first performed at the Savoy Theatre on 24 September 1891〔"Captain Billy", ''The Era'', 26 September 1891, p. 11〕 until 16 January 1892, as a curtain raiser to ''The Nautch Girl'', and from 1 February 1892 to 18 June 1892, as a curtain raiser to ''The Vicar of Bray'', for a total of 217 performances.〔(Introduction and cast list for Captain Billy )〕 The first stage production with an orchestra for over 100 years was done in May 2007 by the Chapel End Savoy Players at the Deaton Theatre, Forest School, Snaresbrook, London as a curtain raiser for their production of ''The Pirates of Penzance''.〔(Article about 2007 production )〕 The vocal score was published by Chappells and is in the British Library. There is no printed libretto. A copy of the libretto was filed in the Lord Chamberlain's collection in January/February 1880. A recording of an abridged version was made by a Leicester (UK) G&S Society in the 1970s.〔(Article about a modern production of ''Captain Billy'' )〕 ==Background== When the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership disbanded after the production of ''The Gondoliers'' in 1889, impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte needed new works to fill the Savoy Theatre. The first of these was ''The Nautch Girl''. 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.〔Lee Bernard. ("Swash-buckling Savoy curtain-raiser", ) ''Sheffield Telegraph'', 1 August 2008〕 W. J. MacQueen-Pope commented, concerning such curtain raisers: :This was a one-act play, seen only by the early comers. It would play to empty boxes, half-empty upper circle, to a gradually filling stalls and dress circle, but to an attentive, grateful and appreciative pit and gallery. Often these plays were little gems. They deserved much better treatment than they got, but those who saw them delighted in them. ... () served to give young actors and actresses a chance to win their spurs ... the stalls and the boxes lost much by missing the curtain-raiser, but to them dinner was more important.〔MacQueen-Pope, Walter James. ''Carriages at Eleven'' (1947), London: Robert Hale and Co., p. 23〕 To create a curtain raiser for ''The Nautch Girl'', Carte turned to Cellier, who was the long-time music director of the Savoy Theatre and had produced other works for Carte. Greenbank, on the other hand, was a new writer who would go on to a very productive and successful career writing lyrics for hit musicals, although he lived to the age of only 33. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Captain Billy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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