Iolanthe at Madison Savoyards

Gilbert & Sullivans comic operetta with fairies and British peers.

Authors

• Arthur Sullivan
• Sir Arthur Sullivan
• W. S. Gilbert
• W.S. Gilbert
• William S. Gilbert

Strephon, an Arcadian shepherd, wants to marry Phyllis, a ward of the Court of Chancery. Phyllis does not know that Strephon is half fairy - down to the waist. When Phyllis sees Strephon kissing an apparently young woman, she assumes the worst. But her "rival" turns out to be none other than Strephon's own mother, Iolanthe, a fairy - fairies never grow old. But Phyllis' guardian, the Lord Chancellor of England, and half the peers in the House of Lords are sighing after her. Soon the peers and the fairies are virtually at war, and long friendships are nearly torn asunder.