The Mikado is a comic operetta with music composed by Arthur Sullivan and libretto written by W. S. Gilbert that opened on 14 March 1885, in London. The Pirates of Penzance, also a comic operetta composed by Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert that premiered in New York City on 31December 1879. The Mikado and Pirates of Penzance are operettas that share some similarity to full operas, but have distinct differences. Operettas are a genre of opera considered to be light or short opera that often take place in exotic or utopian locales, they tend to satirize nobility, royals or officials, and they rarely end in tragedy. The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance differ from classical operas in distinctive ways yet also have some of the elements found in classical opera or opera buffa.…show more content… Classical opera tends to have the drama carried by the music and singing. Operettas are shorter and tens to have a more upbeat feel to the music where classic operas as longer and have a heaver feel to the music. These shorter stories charade tend to take place in exotic locations or in idealistic settings. For instance, The Mikado takes place in Japan and The Pirates of Penzance take place in an isolated village off the shores of Cornwall.
The main characters in operettas tend to be nobility or officials who are the subjects of charades or objects of mockery. The Mikado makes Ko-ko, a man sentenced to death, into the executioner and Pooh-bah is a man who takes on all the roles of government. Similarly, in The Pirates of Penzance, the Major easily thwarts the pirate’s plans to steal and marry his daughters and the pirates end up being orphaned noblemen who end up marrying the daughters. Using satire, operettas are able to reveal disparities between the classes and makes fun of the practices of the upper