Savoy Theatre

In 1881 Carte founded the Savoy Theatre, home of the immensely popular Gilbert and Sullivan productions and London’s first theatre to use electric lighting. In an attempt to establish serious opera, Carte built the Royal English Opera House (1887; now the Palace Theatre), for which Sullivan wrote Ivanhoe (1891). Despite…

Carte built the Savoy Theatre in 1881 for productions of the partners’ work, and their works collectively became known as the “Savoy Operas”; they included Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri (1882), Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant (1884), The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu (1885), Ruddigore;…

He remodeled the Savoy Theatre by adding an apron, or extension of the stage, and doors in front of the proscenium. He divided the stage into three parts—the apron, a main acting area, and a raised inner stage with curtains. This permitted a continuous flow of action and…