G&S satire

Tues night in Jerusalem we went to the opening of "HMS Pinafore,"
one of Gilbert & Sullivan's most successful plays. It was put on by the
Jerusalem English Speaking Theater (JEST), an amateur group, and the
Jerusalem G&S Society. It was very well done, the principal players had
excellent voices and the whole thing was a lot of fun. We went to their
production of "Pirates of Penzance" two years ago, and I wrote about that
then.
The object this time is to point out the difference between G&S and most
American musicals. G&S were definitely making stinging social comment,
while most American musicals are purely for entertainment value. Not that
that's necessarily against them, they have become classics, such musicals as
"Oklahoma," "Carousel" and this year's LOGON presentation, Cole Porter's
"Anything goes," could hardly be called satirical. But, in G&S they
lambasted the Victorian powers-that-be in a way rarely equaled since. For
example, one of my favorites: "I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee,"
When I was a lad I served a term
As office boy to an Attorney's firm.
I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor,
And I polished up the handle of the big front door.
I polished up that handle so carefullee
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!
As office boy I made such a mark
That they gave me the post of a junior clerk.
I served the writs with a smile so bland,
And I copied all the letters in a big round hand—
I copied all the letters in a hand so free,
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!
In serving writs I made such a name
That an articled clerk I soon became;
I wore clean collars and a brand-new suit
For the pass examination at the Institute,
And that pass examination did so well for me,
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!
Of legal knowledge I acquired such a grip
That they took me into the partnership.
And that junior partnership, I ween,
Was the only ship that I ever had seen.
But that kind of ship so suited me,
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!
I grew so rich that I was sent
By a pocket borough into Parliament.
I always voted at my party's call,
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all.
I thought so little, they rewarded me
By making me the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!
Now landsmen all, whoever you may be,
If you want to rise to the top of the tree,
If your soul isn't fettered to an office stool,
Be careful to be guided by this golden rule—
Stick close to your desks and never go to sea,
And you all may be rulers of the Queen's Navee!
Now if you were a Lord of the British Admiralty I doubt you would find this
quite so funny.
In pursuing their satire of Victorian mores and hypocrisy, G&S managed to
savage most "holy cows." For example, once I took a Japanese friend to a
presentation of "The Mikado," not a conspicuously intelligent thing to do.
But, I explained to him that in those days criticism of the Monarchy and the
Royal Family was unacceptable, so they did it by satirizing the Japanese
Royal family as a substitute. This is a common stratagem of playwrights,
Shakespeare used it to satirize Queen Elizabeth, which if he had done so
directly it would have been "off with his head!" Mikhail Bulgakov in "The
Master and Margharita" managed to satirize Stalin and get away with it.
So I recommend G&S, not only for their likeable tunes, but for their role
in satirizing Victorian England and helping to bring them down to size.