More G&S silliness, or, “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!”

I notice that I’ve been getting some extra hits lately on my Five-Minute Sorcerer, a copy of which I brought along to the NEGASS marathon. I find that it holds up pretty well on the re-reading, at least for my personal enjoyment, so that’s always nice. :-)

Also, I spent several hours this weekend brushing up my design portfolio website (I’ll be sure to post the link when the updated site is live). In the course of sifting through my old documents, I turned up the PDF of the G&S Playing Cards that I was commissioned to make as a director gift for during our Grand Duke (Spring 2001, yikes). The thirteen shows in chronological order are the ranks 2 through Ace; ace being high (even though, of course, for the full Grand Duke effect it ought to be lowest) sets up some lovely correspondences between the shows and the face cards. The four suits are the four cardinal roles: soprano (ingenue), contralto (battleax) or mezzo (soubrette), tenor, and patter baritone. A few liberties were taken in the mapping (partly to accommodate using Gilbert’s own drawings for all the illustrations), but on the whole, they’re great fun.

Rank Show Soprano
(Hearts)
Contralto/Mezzo
(Diamonds)
Tenor
(Clubs)
Patter Baritone
(Spades)
2 Trial by Jury Angelina (The Plaintiff) The First Bridesmaid Edwin (The Defendant) The Learned Judge
3 The Sorcerer Aline Sangazure Lady Sangazure Alexis Pointdextre John Wellington Wells
4 H.M.S. Pinafore Josephine Little Buttercup Ralph Rackstraw Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B.
5 The Pirates of Penzance Mabel Ruth Frederic Major-General Stanley
6 Patience Patience Lady Jane Archibald Grosvenor Reginald Bunthorne
7 Iolanthe Phyllis The Faerie Queen Strephon The Lord Chancellor
8 Princess Ida Princess Ida Lady Psyche Prince Hilarion King Gama
9 The Mikado Yum-Yum Katisha Nanki-Poo Ko-Ko
10 Ruddigore Rose Maybud Mad Margaret Robin Oakapple Richard Dauntless
Jack (must study
the knack…)
The Yeomen of the Guard Elsie Maynard Phoebe Meryll Colonel Fairfax Jack Point
(to be a regular
royal…)
Queen
The Gondoliers Tessa & Gianetta The Duchess of Plaza-Toro Marco & Giuseppe Don Alhambra del Bolero
King (of autocratic
power we…)
Utopia, Ltd. Princess Zara Lady Sophy Captain Fitzbattleaxe Phantis & Scaphio
(Behold the…) Ace The Grand Duke Julia Jellicoe Baroness von Krakenfeldt Ludwig Grand Duke Rudolph

… Gosh, it occurs to me belatedly that I should build a page about this on my actual site. Well, later. :-)

Lastly, one more thing I turned up among the documents was my Fall 2001 Pinafore filk, “Nautical Man”. But I’ll leave that for a separate entry!

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