The Hornet captioned its review, " Thespis ; or, the Gods Grown Old and!

Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old.

One of the first actors is believed to be an ancient Greek called Thespis of Icaria.

The piece was an extravaganza in which the classical Greek gods, grown elderly, are temporarily replaced by a troupe of 19th-century actors and actresses, one of whom is the eponymous Thespis, the Greek father of the drama.

The musical score to Thespis was never published and is now lost, except for one song that was published separately, a chorus that was re-used in The Pirates of Penzance, and the Act II ballet music.

It is implied that Thespis invented acting in the Western world, and that prior to his performances, no one had ever assumed the resemblance of another person for the purpose of storytelling.

In fact, Thespis is the first known actor in written plays.

A branch of the National Theater of Greece expressly instituted in 1939 to tour the country is named " The Wagon of Thespis " ( Greek: Άρμα Θέσπιδος, Árma Théspidos ) in his honour.

Any unexplainable mischief that befalls a production is likely to be blamed on Thespis, especially if it happens on November 23 ( the date he supposedly uttered the first lines ).

Because of these, Thespis is often called the " Father of Tragedy "; however, his importance is disputed, and Thespis is sometimes listed as late as 16th in the chronological order of Greek tragedians ; the statesman Solon, for example, is credited with creating poems in which characters speak with their own voice, and spoken performances of Homer's epics by rhapsodes were popular in festivals prior to 534 BC.

Jupiter asks Thespis whether he is impressed with the father of the gods.

Thespis rules on whether Sparkeion is married to the woman that suits his mythological role, or the one he actually married.

Thespis decides that Sparkeion is married to Daphne while they are gods, but his marriage to Nicemis will resume when they are mortals once again.

Thespis says that they should calm down, as the list of mortals ' complaints is about to be read.

How and when the pair came to collaborate on Thespis is uncertain.

The subject of Thespis is unquestionably funny .... Mr. Arthur Sullivan has entered with heart into the spirit of Mr. Gilbert's fun, he has brightened it up with the most fanciful and delightful music ".

Land and Water reported on 3 February that " Thespis is now in capital working order.

On 17 February, Henry Sutherland Edwards wrote in the Musical World: " In almost all conjunctions of music and words, there is a sacrifice of one to the other ; but in Thespis ...

Another possible explanation is that Gilbert and Sullivan came to regard Thespis, with its " brazen girls in tights and short skirts ", and broad burlesque-style humour, as " the kind of work they wished to avoid ".

Sullivan's nephew, Herbert Sullivan, wrote that the libretto was already in existence before his uncle became involved in the project: " Gilbert showed the libretto of an operatic Extravaganza Thespis, and Hollingshead forthwith sent it to Sullivan to set.

In 1871, W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan had written Thespis, an extravaganza for the Gaiety Theatre's holiday season that did not lead immediately to any further collaboration.

When Thespis stepped out from the chorus, he spoke as if he was the character ( for example, " I am Dionysus.

Carte proposed a revival of Thespis for the 1875 Christmas season, which Gilbert and Sullivan would have revised, but he was unable to obtain financing for the project.

Remembering Thespis, Carte reunited Gilbert and Sullivan, and the result was the one-act comic opera Trial by Jury.

Gilbert told a correspondent many years later that Sullivan was unable to recall his setting of the entrance of the women's chorus, so they substituted the chorus " Climbing over rocky mountain " from their earlier opera, Thespis.

Thespis () of Icaria ( present-day Dionysos, Greece ) ( 6th century BC ), according to certain Ancient Greek sources and especially Aristotle, was the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor playing a character in a play ( instead of speaking as him or herself ).

According to Aristotle, writing nearly two centuries later, Thespis was a singer of dithyrambs ( songs about stories from mythology with choric refrains ).

This new style was called tragedy, and Thespis was the most popular exponent of it.

The first collaboration of Gilbert and Sullivan — the 1871 opera Thespis — was not a Savoy Opera under any of the definitions mentioned to this point, as Richard D ' Oyly Carte did not produce it, nor was it ever performed at the Savoy Theatre.

At the time, coincidentally, the Gaiety was presenting Thespis, Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration.

Historians used to believe that Thespis of ancient Athens ( 6th Century BCE ) was the first person to speak lines as an individual actor on stage ( hence the term " thespian " to refer to an individual actor ).

Plans for a collaboration for Carl Rosa in 1875 fell through because Gilbert was too busy with other projects, and an attempted Christmas 1875 revival of Thespis by Richard D ' Oyly Carte failed when the financiers backed out.

Greek tragedy as we know it was created in Athens some years before 532 BC, when Thespis was the earliest recorded actor.

* Thespis: According to Athenian tradition, he was the first dramatist to write for an actor separate from the Chorus.

The operas are The Last of the Just, with a libretto by Gerald Walker, based on the novel by Andre Schwarz-Bart ( 1980 ); That Pig of a Molette ( 1988 ) and A Question of Faith ( 1990 ), both with Sheldon Harnick, which were presented as a double-bill under the title Love in Two Countries at St. Peter's Church Theatre, in New York City, by Musical Theater Works in 1991 ; and a score for the lost music of Thespis, which was first produced in concert in June 2008 by the Blue Hill Troupe in New York City.

No musical score of Thespis was ever published, and most of the music has been lost.

Seasonal works like Thespis were not normally expected to endure, and apart from a benefit performance shortly after the original staging, Thespis was not performed again during its creators ' lifetimes.

* 1871 – Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis.

* 534 BC – Thespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character onstage.

* December 26 – Thespis, the first of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, premières.

Also in 1871, Sullivan wrote his first opera with W. S. Gilbert, Thespis.

Eventually, on November 23, 534 BC, competitions to find the best tragedy were instituted at the City Dionysia in Athens, and Thespis won the first documented competition.

Others suggestion that the term came into being when the legendary Thespis ( the root for our word thespian ) competed in the first tragic competition for the prize of a goat ( tragos, hence tragedy ).

Tradition attributes to Thespis the first tragic representation, took place in 534 BC during the Dionysia established by Peisistratus.

The common noun thespian meaning " actor " comes from the legendary first actor named Thespis, and not the city.

J. L. Toole, about 1874With the piece set to open on 26 December, Gilbert first read the libretto to the cast on 14 December, but Toole, who was playing the central role of Thespis, did not return from a tour of the British provinces until 18 December.

Clary, the original Sparkeion, for whose benefit the last performance of Thespis with the original music was givenAs they would do with all their operas, Gilbert and Sullivan made cuts and alterations after the first performance.

Vanity Fair thought that " the music in the piece itself is charming throughout, and promises for the first time a rival to Offenbach .... Thespis is quite as good as Orphée aux Enfers.

Sullivan's first biographer suggested that " Thespis will be best remembered by the exquisite musical setting to the simple little Gilbertian ballad ".

In Sullivan's autograph score for the later work, the first part of " Climbing over rocky mountain " is actually taken from a Thespis copyist score, with the Thespis words cancelled and the new words written in, which raises the question of why Sullivan had a Thespis score to hand, if not for that purpose.