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There have over the years been a number of efforts to recreate Gilbert and Sullivan’s opus 1, THESPIS or, The Gods Grown Old. The process seems to have begun is 1953 when the Gilbert and Sullivan Company of New York presented a reconstruction with a newly composed score by Frank Miller who at that time was first cello with the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

Here in the UK, for reasons of copyright, we had to wait until 1962 when the Rees/Morton reconstruction (using Sullivan music) first saw the light of day at the University of London Opera Group. That version held sway in the UK almost unchallenged until well into the 1980’s and received a very respectable number of productions. Sadly, the... More > performance material for that version deteriorated to such an extent that, despite the recent publication of the vocal score by R Clyde of Rickmansworth, there is no orchestral material to back it up. The published vocal score also is but a mere facsimile of the original hand-written version and is (in this day and age) quite unusable. Why someone has not typeset this version – a task that is not impossible in this computer age – is beyond me.

There have been a number of other versions over the years – some using Sullivan music – some freshly composed.

However, I have to say that I consider the version presented by Tony Baker and Tim Henty with a fully professional cast and orchestra at Normansfield in March 2008 to be head and shoulders above any I have been able to evaluate, whether in performance, in audio or video format, or in print. I was unable to witness the performances at Normansfield through ill health, but the recent publication of the vocal score of this version has been a revelation.

To start – the vocal score (containing the full dialogue) is incredibly well presented with an excellent introduction and appendices – the main body of the vocal score is superbly typeset in very clear print, the musical numbers being interspersed with the dialogue. It is well bound in very durable covers. The reconstruction itself uses much Sullivan music including most of the extent THESPIS including the ballet, ZOO, UTOPIA, PIRATES, RUDDIGORE, PINAFORE, ROSE OF PERSIA, BEAUTY STONE are all evident as is a small amount of music from Offenbach’s ORPHEUS (including a very clever combination in counterpoint of a melody from the ORPHEUS Act One Finale with another melody from the PIRATES Act One finale).

One often tends to fight shy of purchasing from a “print to order” company, but I can assure purchasers that this is not the case on this occasion. At this price this score is an absolute must for any G & S lover and/or performer.

I would now have to consider all previous attempts to reconstruct THESPIS as just a precursor to this new Baker/Henty version which I now feel has to be regarded at the current THESPIS benchmark, and I hope very much to see ( and hopefully take part in) a number of productions of this version over the next few years. < Less