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''No Cards'' is a "musical piece in one act" for four characters, written by W. S. Gilbert, with music composed and arranged by Thomas German Reed. It was first produced at the Royal Gallery of Illustration, Lower Regent Street, London, under the management of German Reed, opening on 29 March 1869 and closing on 21 November 1869. The work is a domestic farce of mistaken identities and inept disguises, as two men desperately compete to marry a wealthy young lady. One is young and poor, and the other is a rich miser. Each disguises himself as her guardian. ''No Cards'' was the first of Gilbert's six pieces for the Gallery of Illustration. It was also Gilbert's first libretto with prose dialogue and the first stage work for which he wrote lyrics to be set to music, rather than lyrics to pre-existing music. ''No Cards'' was played on a double bill with Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand's ''Cox and Box'', although Gilbert and Sullivan did not meet until later that year. After a successful 139 performances, the bill toured the British provinces.〔Kidd, Patrick. ("Revival of a long-lost Gilbert but no Sullivan ", ) ''The Times'', 14 November 2009, p. 16〕〔Ainger, pp. 81–82〕 Gilbert liked German Reed's setting of the Babbetyboobledore song enough to reuse it later in 1879 in his next show, ''The Pretty Druidess''.〔Stedman (1967), pp. 24–25〕 Music publisher Joseph Williams & Co. reissued "No Cards" in 1895 with a score by "Lionel Elliott", which appears to be a pseudonym.〔〔Stedman (1967), p. 24, note 62, notes that the score is credited to Elliot "on a program for St. George's Hall, March 29 (). It is faintly possible that this person was really J. W. Elliott, who did arrangements for the Gallery of Illustration. ... J. W. Elliott was also pianist and chorus master for German Reed's English opera venture at St. George's Hall. It seems likely that L. Elliott's score is a new setting".〕 A production mounted at St. George's Hall in London in 1873 appears to have been the first to use this "Elliott" score, and a revival took place at St. George's Hall in 1902.〔(''No Cards'' ) at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 13 July 2013〕 The Royal Victorian Opera Company of Boston, Massachusetts made a video of the piece in 1996 using the Elliott score.〔Shepherd, Marc and Donald Smith. ("No Cards (1869)", ) ''A Gilbert and Sullivan Discography'', 7 November 2001, accessed 14 November 2009〕 The first British revival in over a century is being produced by the Centenary Company at the Greenwich Theatre from 18 to 21 November 2009 (as a curtain raiser to ''The Pirates of Penzance'') using Elliott's score retrieved from the British Library.〔 ==Background== At the time that W. S. Gilbert began writing plays: To fill this gap, Thomas German Reed opened his German Reed Entertainments at the Gallery of Illustration. Seeing the quality of Gilbert's early burlesques, he brought in Gilbert to write a series of six one-act operettas.〔 The Gallery of Illustration was a 500-seat theatre with a small stage that only allowed for four or five characters with accompaniment by a piano, harmonium and sometimes a harp.〔Stedman (1996), pp. 66–68〕 Gilbert's libretto, his first with lyrics written to be set by a composer, instead of written to existing melodies, gives hints of some elements of his later works.〔 For instance, the "uncivilised" island of Babbetyboobledore is an early look at a Gilbertian utopia, such as in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera ''Utopia, Limited'', written 25 years later. Compare these lyrics from ''No Cards'': :Civilization takes no stride.... :There's nothing like self-respect or pride :In Babbletyboobledore. :"They've little regard for money or birth – :Unless it's allied to genuine worth" with these from ''Utopia'': :(are ) little better than half-clothed barbarians.... :"The Brewers and the Cotton Lords no longer seek admission, :And literary merit meets with proper recognition." There is also a verse on the subject of disguises, with reference to Paddington Pollaky, who was later mentioned in ''Patience''. In addition, the libretto of ''No Cards'', as in Gilbert's later works, includes topical references to subjects like siamese twins. It also includes the interpolated Bab Ballad "The Precocious Baby" and the interpolated music hall numbers "Champagne Charlie"〔〔 and Gilbert's 1868 song "Thady O'Flynn".〔〔Bond, Ian. (Introduction to ''No Cards'' ), Ian Bond, 1996, accessed 14 November 2009〕 In the accompanying presentation of ''Cox and Box'', Reed played Cox, Arthur Cecil played Box, and J. Seymour was Bouncer.〔 The production marked the stage debut of Cecil.〔 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「No Cards」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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