Topsyturveydom (sometimes spelled Topsyturvydom or Topseyturveydom) is a one-act operetta by W. S. Gilbert with music by Alfred Cellier. Styled "an entirely original musical extravaganza", it is based on one of Gilbert's Bab Ballads, "My Dream". It opened on 21 March 1874 at the Criterion Theatre in London and ran until 17 April, for about 25 performances. This was the first work shown at the newly built Criterion, and it was played together with An American Lady, written and performed by Gilbert's friend, the dramatist and Fun magazine founder, Henry J. Byron. The musical score to Topsyturveydom does not survive, but amateur productions in recent decades have used newly composed scores or performed the work as a non-musical play.
Advertisements for the work spelled the title "Topsyturveydom", whereas the license copy of the libretto, filed with the Lord Chamberlain's office, and now held in the British Library, spells it "Topsyturvydom". Topsyturveydom is set in a quasi-utopia (reminiscent of Gilbert's earlier Happy Arcadia (1872), or even Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels), where things are the opposite of the norm. Party politics is lampooned, much as it would be two decades later in Gilbert and Sullivan's Utopia, Limited. As in that work, the king is a "detested" monarch. Gilbert also renews the idea of party politics working in a backwards way in Iolanthe, where the House of Lords is threatened with obsolescence by having its members selected by competitive examination.
Background
1874 was a busy year for both Gilbert and Cellier. Gilbert illustrated The Piccadilly Annual; supervised a revival of Pygmalion and Galatea; and, in addition to Topsyturveydom, wrote Charity, about the redemption of a fallen woman; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, a parody of Hamlet; a dramatisation of Ought We to Visit Her? (a novel by Annie Edwardes), an adaptation from the French, Committed for Trial, another adaptation from the French called The Blue-Legged Lady; and a play, Sweethearts. He also wrote a Bab-illustrated story called "The Story of a Twelfth Cake" for the Graphic Christmas number. Cellier produced his most successful early work, a full length comic opera called The Sultan of Mocha. Gilbert was either too busy to see his own show, or else, disappointed by its lack of success with audiences, he had put it out of his mind. In a letter to T. Edgar Pemberton, author of the 1903 book on the Criterion Theatre, Gilbert wrote: I am sorry to say that in my mind is an absolute blank to the opening of The Criterion. I never saw Topseyturveydom. If you happen to have a copy of it and could lend it to me for a few hours it might suggest some reminiscences: as it is I don't even know what the piece was about!
The Athenaeum called the piece "clever, but rather remote... an exercise rather than an amusement."
From the mid-1860s through the early 1870s, W. S. Gilbert was extremely productive, writing a large quantity of comic verse, theatre reviews and other journalistic pieces, short stories, and dozens of plays and comic operas. His dramatic writing during this time was evolving from his early musical burlesques. Some of his work during this period exhibited a more restrained style, exemplified by a series of successful "fairy comedies", such as The Palace of Truth (1870). At the same time, he was developing his unique style of absurdist humour, described as "Topsy-Turvy", made up of "a combination of wit, irony, topsyturvydom, parody, observation, theatrical technique, and profound intelligence". Topsyturveydom dates from the end of this period, during which Gilbert tried a variety of different styles and was working towards the mature comic style of his later work, including the famous series of Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
Roles
Mr. Satis (M.P. For Ballotville) – J. Clarke
King Patatra (Of Topsyturveydom) – F. Dewar
Crapolee (His Prime Minister) – E. W. Garden
Wilkins (A Footman) – Mr. Smith
Quop – Miss Montgomery
Crambo – Miss C. Brabant
Serape (The King's Mother) – Miss Hughes (Mrs. Gaston Murray) Tipto (The King's Grandmother) (soprano) – Fanny Holland Tiddyickle (The King's Great-Grandmother) – Dolly Wood Topsyturvey Courtiers, Etc.
Note: although the libretto refers to Serape and Tipto as the Queen's mother and grandmother, they are actually the King's mother and grandmother. However, this may be another Topsyturvey element. Also, Tiddyickle is a baby, and so the stage name "Dolly Wood" may be a pun on 'wooden doll'.