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Overview

Synopsis

The Yeomen of the Guard, or The Merryman and His Maid is Gilbert and Sullivan’s sparkling comic opera set in Shakespearean times during the reign of King Henry VIII. It is the darkest and most emotionally engaging of the Savoy Operas. The show takes place in the Tower of London where the gentleman Colonel Fairfax is wrongly accused of sorcery and sentenced to death within the hour. Fairfax hatches a plan to avoid letting his estate fall into the hands of his scheming cousin (incidentally, his accuser) by secretly marrying Elsie Maynard, a strolling singer. She agrees to be blindfolded during the ceremony and expects to be a wealthy widow upon Fairfax's imminent demise, leaving her free to marry her lover, the jester Jack Point. However, Fairfax miraculously escapes his fate and chaos ensues. Following his escape, Fairfax woos Elsie, and after a number of plot complications are resolved, she falls in love with him.

Show Information

Music
Arthur Sullivan
Lyrics
W.S. Gilbert
Category
Operetta
Age Guidance
Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)
Number of Acts
2
First Produced
1888
Genres
Dark Comedy, Satire
Time & Place
the tower of london, 16th century
Cast Size
medium
Orchestra Size
Large
Licensor
None/royalty-free
Ideal For
Mostly Male Cast, Includes Adult, Mature Adult, Young Adult, Elderly, Late Teen Characters, Medium Cast

Context


Plot


Characters

Name Part Size Gender Vocal Part

Colonel Fairfax

Lead

Male

Tenor

Jack Point

Lead

Male

Baritone

Sergeant Meryll

Lead

Male

Baritone, Bass

Elsie Maynard

Lead

Female

Soprano

Phoebe Meryll

Lead

Female

Mezzo-Soprano

Sir Richard Cholmondeley

Supporting

Male

Baritone, Bass

Dame Carruthers

Supporting

Female

Alto

Wilfred Shadbolt

Supporting

Male

Baritone

Leonard Meryll

Featured

Male

Tenor

Kate

Featured

Female

Soprano

Chorus of Yeomen

Ensemble

Male

Songs

Act I

  1. "When maiden loves, she sits and sighs" (Phœbe) 1a. "When jealous torments rack my soul" (Wilfred) – see "Cut music"
  2. "Tower warders, under orders" (Crowd and Yeomen, solo Second Yeoman)
  3. "When our gallant Norman foes" (Dame Carruthers and Yeomen) 3a. "A laughing boy but yesterday" (Meryll); – see "Cut music"
  4. "Alas! I waver to and fro" (Phœbe, Leonard and Meryll)
  5. "Is life a boon?" (Fairfax)
  6. "Here's a man of jollity" (Chorus)
  7. "I have a song to sing, O!" (or, "The Merryman and his Maid") (Point, Elsie, and chorus)
  8. "How say you, maiden, will you wed?" (Lieutenant, Elsie, Point)
  9. "I've jibe and joke" (Point)
  10. "'Tis done! I am a bride!" (Elsie)
  11. "Were I thy bride" (Phœbe)
  12. Finale Act I (Ensemble) "Oh, Sergeant Meryll, is it true?" "To thy fraternal care, thy sister I commend" "The pris'ner comes to meet his doom" "M'lord, m'lord.... As escort for the prisoner" "All frenzied, frenzied with despair they rave"

Act II

  1. "Night has spread her pall once more" (People, Dame Carruthers, Yeomen)
  2. "Oh! a private buffoon is a light-hearted loon" (Point)
  3. "Hereupon we're both agreed" (Point and Wilfred)
  4. "Free from his fetters grim" (Fairfax)
  5. "Strange adventure" (Kate, Dame Carruthers, Fairfax, Meryll)
  6. "Hark! What was that, sir?" ... "Like a ghost his vigil keeping" (Meryll, Fairfax, Lieutenant, Wilfred, Point, Ensemble)
  7. "A man who would woo a fair maid" (Fairfax, Elsie, Phœbe)
  8. "When a wooer goes a-wooing" (Elsie, Fairfax, Phœbe, Point)
  9. "Rapture, rapture" (Dame Carruthers, Sergeant Meryll)
  10. Finale Act II (Ensemble) "Comes the pretty young bride" "Oh, day of terror!" "Leonard, my loved one, come to me" "I have a song to sing, O!"

A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.

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