The Mountebanks is a comic opera in two acts with music by Alfred Cellier and Ivan Caryll and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The story concerns a magic potion that causes the person to whom it is administered to become what he or she has pretended to be. It is similar to several "magic lozenge" plots that Gilbert had proposed to the composer Arthur Sullivan, but that Sullivan had rejected, earlier in their careers. To set his libretto to music, Gilbert turned to Cellier, who had previously been a musical director for Gilbert and Sullivan and had since become a successful composer. During the composition of the piece Cellier died, and the score was finished by the original production's musical director, Ivan Caryll, who became a successful composer of Edwardian Musical Comedy.

The opera was first produced at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 4 January 1892, for a run of 229 performances. It also toured extensively, had a short Broadway run, in 1893, American tours and Australian productions. The original cast included Geraldine Ulmar, Frank Wyatt, Lionel Brough, Eva Moore and Furneaux Cook. The American cast included Hayden Coffin and Lillian Russell. A professional recording of the work was released in 2018.^[1]

The story of the opera revolves around a magic potion that transforms those who drink it into whoever, or whatever, they pretend to be. The idea was clearly important to Gilbert, as he repeatedly urged his famous collaborator, Arthur Sullivan, to set this story, or a similar one, to music. For example, he had written a treatment of the opera in 1884, which Sullivan rejected, both because of the story's mechanical contrivance, and because they had already produced an opera concerning a magic potion, The Sorcerer (1877); Sullivan felt that the story lacked "human emotion".^[2][3][4] The idea of a magic potion that changes human behaviour has long been a common theme of literature and opera. The device allowed Gilbert to explore "how people behave when they are forced to live with the consequences of their own actions."^[5]

The Gilbert and Sullivan partnership and their Savoy operas dominated the London musical stage from the late 1870s to 1890.^[5] When that partnership temporarily disbanded, due to a quarrel over finances after the production of The Gondoliers, Gilbert sought another composer who would collaborate on the "magic lozenge" idea that Sullivan had repeatedly rejected. He eventually found a willing partner in Alfred Cellier, a logical choice for Gilbert. The two had collaborated once before (Topsyturveydom, 1874), and Cellier had been the musical director for Gilbert and Sullivan's early operas.^[5] Cellier had also achieved much success apart from Gilbert and Sullivan, particularly with his comic opera Dorothy (1886), a smash hit. It played for over 900 performances, considerably more than The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan's most successful piece. Dorothy set and held the record for longest-running piece of musical theatre in history until the turn of the century.^[6]

The Mountebanks' initial run of 229 performances surpassed most of Gilbert's later works and even a few of his collaborations with Sullivan.^[12] Gilbert engaged his old friends John D'Auban, to choreograph the piece, and Percy Anderson, to design costumes.^[13] The initial run closed on 5 August 1892.^[5] Despite the opera's warm reception, Gilbert wrote on 7 January 1892, shortly after the premiere, "I had to make rough & ready alterations to supply gaps – musical gaps – caused by poor Cellier's inability to complete his work. It follows that Act 2 stands out as a very poor piece of dramatic construction ... this is the worst libretto I have written. Perhaps I am growing old."^[14]

The success of the London production led its producer, Sedger, to establish at least three touring companies,^[5] which visited major towns and cities in Britain for a year and a half, from March 1892 to mid-November 1893.^[15] Louie René played Ultrice on one tour in 1893.^[16][5] While playing in Manchester, one touring company found itself competing with a D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring company at a nearby theatre. The strained relations between Carte and Gilbert after The Gondoliers did not prevent the two companies from playing a cricket match in May 1892.^[17] Relations between Gilbert and his new producer had also deteriorated, and the author unsuccessfully sued Sedger for cutting the size of the chorus in the London production without his approval.^[17] It was toured for a year in America by the Lillian Russell Opera Company, starring Lillian Russell and C. Hayden Coffin, including a run of a month and a half at the Garden Theatre on Broadway, opening on 11 January 1893.^[13] It was also produced in Australia and New Zealand by the J. C. Williamson company until 1900.^[5]

Gilbert and Cellier's widow later sold the performing and score rental rights to the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Occasional amateur performances were staged in Britain, America and Australia until the Second World War, and the professional J. C. Williamson company continued to perform it occasionally in Australia and New Zealand. After that, the first known staging was in New York City, in 1955, in a small-scale production at the St. John's Theater, in Greenwich Village, by the Chamber Opera Players, accompanied only by a piano.^[18] It was produced in 1964 by the Washington, D.C., Lyric Theatre Company, with orchestra, and the company recorded the score.^[3] Other amateur performances accompanied only by piano followed until James Gillespie's Ramsgate production in 1982, which used orchestra parts from Australia.^[5]

The full score of the opera was published in 2014 by Robin Gordon-Powell, followed by a piano/vocal score.^[19] A 2015 production was staged in Palo Alto, California by Lyric Theatre, directed by John Hart, using Gordon-Powell's score.^[20] The score was finally recorded professionally and released in 2018 with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by John Andrews, garnering warm reviews for the conducting and performances.^[1][21] One reviewer noted Cellier's "fine lyrical detail and sumptuous orchestration with which he provides a wide variety of musical effects. … [O]ne is aware of the growing sophistication in Gilbert's choice of words in his lyrics during this mature period of his writing. Clever as some of the lyrics are they may well have gone over the heads of the 'comedy opera' orientated audiences."^[22]

• Arrostino Annegato, Captain of the Tamorras – a Secret Society (baritone) – Frank Wyatt
• Giorgio Raviolo, a Member of his Band (baritone) – Arthur Playfair
• Luigi Spaghetti, a Member of his Band (baritone) – Charles Gilbert
• Alfredo, a Young Peasant, loved by Ultrice, but in love with Teresa (tenor) – J. G. Robertson
• Pietro, Proprietor of a Troupe of Mountebanks (comic baritone) – Lionel Brough (later Cairns James)
• Bartolo, his Clown (baritone) – Harry Monkhouse
• Elvino di Pasta, an Innkeeper (bass-baritone) – Furneaux Cook
• Risotto, one of the Tamorras – just married to Minestra (tenor) – Cecil Burt
• Beppo – A member of the Mountebanks' crew (speaking) – Gilbert Porteous^[23]
• Teresa, a Village Beauty, loved by Alfredo, and in love with herself (soprano) – Geraldine Ulmar
• Ultrice, Elvino's niece, in love with, and detested by, Alfredo (contralto) – Lucille Saunders
• Nita, a Dancing Girl (mezzo-soprano or soprano) – Aida Jenoure
• Minestra, Risotto's Bride (mezzo-soprano) – Eva Moore
• Tamorras, Monks, Village Girls.

Overture: Cellier's Suite Symphonique

Act I

• No. 1. "The chaunt of the Monks" and "We are members of a secret society" (Men's Chorus and Giorgio)
• No. 2. "Come, all the Maidens" (Chorus)
• No. 3. "If you Please" (Minestra and Risotto)
• No. 4. "Only think, a Duke and Duchess!" (Chorus and Minestra)
• No. 5. "High Jerry Ho!" (Arrostino and Male Chorus)
• No. 6. "Teresa, little Word" and "Bedecked in fashion Trim" (Alfredo)
• No. 7. "It's my Opinion" (Teresa)
• No. 8. "Upon my word, Miss" (Ultrice, Teresa, Alfredo and Elvino)
• No. 9. "Fair maid, take Pity" (Alfredo, Teresa, Ultrice and Elvino)
• No. 10. "Tabor and Drum" (Female Chorus, Pietro, Bartolo and Nita)
• No. 11. "Those days of Old" and "Allow that the plan I Devise"(Nita, with Bartolo and Pietro)
• No. 12. "Oh luck unequalled" ... "Alfredo Hers?" ... "When man in lovesick Passion" (Ultrice, Teresa and Alfredo)
• No. 13. "Finale Act I" (Ensemble)

Act II

• No. 14. "Entr'acte" (By Ivan Caryll)
• No. 15, "I'd be a young girl if I Could" (Minestra and Risotto)
• No. 16. "All alone to my Eerie" (Teresa)
• No. 17. "If I can catch this jolly Jack-Patch" (Teresa and Minestra)
• No. 18. "If our action's stiff and Crude" ... "Put a penny in the Slot" (Bartolo and Nita)
• No. 19. "Where gentlemen are eaten up with Jealousy ... Tic, Tic" (Bartolo, Nita and Pietro)
• No. 20. "Time there was when earthly Joy" (Chorus (with Soprano and Contralto solos), Arrostino and Pietro)
• No. 20a. OPTIONAL SONG: "When your clothes, from your hat to your Socks" (Pietro)¹
• No. 21. "The Duke and Duchess hither wend their Way" (Luigi, Arrostino, Alfredo and Chorus)
• No. 22. "Willow, willow, where's my Love?" (Teresa)
• No. 23. "In days gone By" (Alfredo, Teresa, and Ultrice)
• No. 24. "An hour? Nay, Nay." (Ultrice; this recit. – Ultrice's confession – was later moved to after No. 25^[5])
• No. 25. "Oh, please you not to go Away" (Chorus, Pietro, Elvino, Alfredo, Ultrice, Bartolo, Nita)
• No. 26. "Ophelia was a dainty little Maid" (Pietro, Bartolo and Nita)
• No. 27. "Finale" (Ensemble)

¹ The placement of this song changed within the act before it was cut. "Ophelia was a dainty little maid" replaced it. However, it was included on the only commercial recording of The Mountebanks.

At the first night, the audience's response was enthusiastic. The producer, Horace Sedger, came before the curtain at the end of the performance to explain that Gilbert preferred, because of the death of Cellier, not to take a curtain call.^[24]

Reviews for the libretto were consistently excellent. Cellier's music received mixed reviews. The Times noted with approval that Gilbert had returned to his favourite device of a magic potion, already seen in The Palace of Truth and The Sorcerer, and found the dialogue "crammed with quips of the true Gilbertian ring." The reviewer was more cautious about the score, attempting to balance respect for the recently dead Cellier with a clear conclusion that the music was derivative of the composer's earlier works and also of the Savoy operas.^[25] The Pall Mall Gazette thought the libretto so good that it "places Mr Gilbert so very far in advance of any living English librettist." The paper's critic was more emphatic about the score than his Times colleague, saying, "Mr Cellier's portion of the work is disappointing," adding that the composer never rose in this piece "to within measurable distance of his predecessor. ... If we judge the late Alfred Cellier's score by a somewhat high standard it is all Sir Arthur Sullivan's fault."^[26] The Era also noted Gilbert's reuse of old ideas, but asked, "who would wish Mr Gilbert to adopt a new style?" The paper thought equally well of the score, rating it as highly as Cellier's best-known piece, Dorothy.^[27] The Daily Telegraph called the music "accompaniment merely" but found it "completely satisfactory" as such.^[28] The Manchester Guardian considered the music "a triumph."^{[citation needed]} All the reviewers singled out for particular praise the duet for the automata, "Put a penny in the Slot".^{[citation needed]}

A later critic, Hesketh Pearson, rated the libretto of The Mountebanks "as good as any but the best Savoy pieces".^[29]