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''Sweethearts'' is a comic play billed as a "dramatic contrast" in two acts by W. S. Gilbert. The play tells a sentimental and ironic story of the differing recollections of a man and a woman about their last meeting together before being separated and reunited after 30 years. It was first produced on 7 November 1874 at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in London, running for 132 performances until 13 April 1875. It enjoyed many revivals, thereafter, into the 1920s. The first professional production of ''Sweethearts'' in Britain in recent memory was given in the spring of 2007 at the Finborough Theatre in London, along with Arthur Sullivan's ''The Zoo''.〔(Notice of upcoming first modern professional production )〕 ==Background== This romantic comedy of manners was written for Squire Bancroft and his wife Marie (née Wilton), managers of the Prince of Wales's Theatre, and starred Mrs. Bancroft. Gilbert wanted his friend John Hare to play the male lead, but the Bancrofts were not satisfied with him and cast Canadian Charles Francis Coghlan instead.〔Stedman, chapter 8〕 The Bancrofts had produced the best plays of Tom Robertson in the 1860s, and ''Sweethearts'' was Gilbert's tribute to Robertson's "realist" style. The importance of small incidents is emphasized, characters are revealed through "small talk," and what is left unsaid in the script are as important to the play as what is said in the dialogue. These are all Robertson trademarks, though they are not key features of Gilbert's other plays. However, the play combines sentiment with a typically Gilbertian sense of irony. The story of the play deals with themes such as the differences between men's and women's recollections of romantic episodes, and the spread of housing developments to greenfield land. The initial production of the play ran for 132 performances until 13 April 1875.〔Moss, Simon. ("Sweethearts" ) at ''Gilbert & Sullivan: a selling exhibition of memorabilia'', c20th.com, accessed 16 November 2009〕 ''The Times'' was much impressed with Mrs. Bancroft and the little play, writing, "the subtlest of mental conflicts and the most delicate nuances of emotion are expressed in graceful dialogue.... That the piece is thoroughly successful, and that it will be much talked about as one of the theatrical curiosities of the day, there can be no doubt".〔("Prince of Wales's Theatre", ) ''The Times'', 9 November 1874〕 Squire Bancroft called ''Sweethearts'' "one of the most charming and successful plays we ever produced." Thereafter, it enjoyed many revivals and was toured extensively by the Bancrofts and the Kendals.〔 The play continued to be produced through at least the 1920s. Early in his career, Gilbert experimented with his dramatic style. After a number of broad comedies, farces and burlesques, he wrote a series of short comic operas for the German-Reeds at the Gallery of Illustration. At the same time, he created several 'fairy comedies' at the Haymarket Theatre, including ''The Palace of Truth'' (1870) and ''Pygmalion and Galatea'' (1871).〔("Miss Anderson as Galatea", ''The New-York Times'', 1883 January 23 32(9791): 5, col. 3 Amusements ) Downloaded 15 October 2006.〕 These works, as well as another series of plays that included ''The Wicked World'' (1873), ''Sweethearts'', ''Charity'' (1874), and ''Broken Hearts'' (1875), established that Gilbert's capabilities extended far beyond burlesque, won him artistic credentials, and demonstrated that he was a writer of wide range, as comfortable with human drama as with farcical humour.〔 The success of these plays gave Gilbert a prestige that would be crucial to his later collaboration with as respected a musician as Sullivan. 1874 was a busy year for Gilbert. He illustrated ''The Piccadilly Annual''; supervised a revival of ''Pygmalion and Galatea''; and, besides ''Sweethearts'', he wrote ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern'', a parody of ''Hamlet''; ''Charity'', a play about the redemption of a fallen woman; a dramatisation of ''Ought We to Visit Her?'' (a novel by Annie Edwardes), an adaptation from the French, ''Committed for Trial'', another adaptation from the French called ''The Blue-Legged Lady'', and ''Topsyturveydom'', a comic opera. He also wrote a Bab-illustrated story called "The Story of a Twelfth Cake" for the ''Graphic'' Christmas number. A drawing room ballad of the same name was created in 1875 to help advertise the play, based on the story-line of the play, with music by the composer who would go on to become Gilbert's most famous collaborator, Arthur Sullivan. It is one of only three Gilbert and Sullivan songs that were not part of a larger work. 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「Sweethearts (play)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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