Princess Ida

The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company is pleased to announce that it will present Princess Ida , from March 10 to April 2, 2028. Princess Ida tells the story of Princess Ida and Prince Hilarion, who were married in infancy by their fathers, King Gama and King Hildebrand. Ida, however, refuses to be bound by the decisions that others have made for her and has left her father’s court to establish a college for women from which all men are barred. Hilarion and his friends infiltrate the castle, disguised as women, in Hilarion’s attempt to win Princess Ida’s love. King Hildebrand, however, grows impatient and storms the castle. Ida is abandoned by her women, who fear a military conflict, and is failed by her brothers who offer to fight for her, but lose. Ultimately, as she has come to know Hilarion, however, realizes that she loves him, and decides for herself that she will consent to their marriage. In Princess Ida , Gilbert satirizes feminism, women’s education and Darwinian evolution, which were controversial topics in conservative Victorian England. The operetta is based on a narrative poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, called The Princess , written in 1847. Gilbert had writt