The lengthy nature of the campaign was referred to in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Iolanthe, in which the Queen of the Fairies sings "He shall prick that annual blister, marriage with deceased wife's sister".
Her first appearance on screen was in a 1984 TV movie of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe.
Although The Mountain Sylph is all but forgotten, it inspired parts of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1882 Savoy Opera, Iolanthe.
Iolanthe |
When Alan Styler temporarily left D'Oyly Carte later that year, Skitch began to share the larger role of Giuseppe in The Gondoliers and added to his repertory the roles of Archibald Grosvenor in Patience, Strephon in Iolanthe and Pish-Tush in The Mikado.
John Barnett's 1834 opera The Mountain Sylph is based on the storyline of La Sylphide; this opera's plot was in turn satirized by W. S. Gilbert in the 1882 Savoy Opera, Iolanthe.
After returning to England, she was engaged by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, creating five of the principal soprano roles in the hit series of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, including the title role in Patience (1881), Phyllis in Iolanthe (1882), the title role in Princess Ida (1884), Yum-Yum in The Mikado (1885), and Rose Maybud in Ruddigore (1887).
Elsie Hite, originally from Illinois, would accompany her daughter throughout her early career which began at about age eleven in amateur theater as 'The Lord Chancellor' in Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera, Iolanthe.