Secco Recit

In Gilbert and Sullivan's penultimate opera  Utopia (Limited) W.S. Gilbert proposes a system of government designated “Despotism tempered by Dynamite.” According to this system, the land of Utopia is governed by a King who wields absolute autocratic power, but is supervised by two Wise Men. If the two Wise Men feel the King is abusing his power, they denounce him to the Public Exploder. The Public Exploder then blows the King up with dynamite, at which point the Public Exploder becomes the new King. The result, according to the opera, is “an autocrat who dares not abuse his autocratic powers.” An absurd system of government to be sure, but on closer analysis, it presents an interesting example of the concept of Separation of Powers. Separation of Powers is a model utilized by many modern major governments with the aim of preventing any one individual from acquiring too much power. The idea, as stated by James Madison in Federalist No. 51 , is that in giving each branch of govern...

I give a bit of background information about  Haddon Hall  and its major dramatic issues at the beginning. If you're just here for the production review, you can skip down a few paragraphs. *** The actual Haddon Hall *** The 1892 Sullivan and Grundy opera  Haddon Hall  is sort of like  H.M.S. Pinafore , but on land. Dorothy Vernon is to be engaged to her cousin Rupert, in a generally advantageous match. George Vernon, Dorothy's father, is the Lord of Haddon Hall, and wants the estate to stay in the family. (Rupert, meanwhile, wants the hall all to himself.) But Dorothy is in love with John Manners, a royalist. Rupert shows up, Dorothy refuses him. Dorothy makes plans to elope with Manners. Dorothy elopes with Manners. Parliament grants Rupert lordship over Haddon Hall. Charles II is reinstated to the throne, making Haddon Hall property of the crown, and, at the last second, Manners swoops in with an order from the king restoring George Vernon as the...