Gilbert and Sullivan

Sir William Schwenk Gilbert and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan were a well-know musical duo in the late nineteenth century AD. They are best known for the fourteen operas (thirteen comic and the tragedy is about a comedian) the worked on together. They are also offscreen figures in such fandoms as Star Trek, Doctor Who, and VeggieTales.

The Mikado
A mysterious wandering minstrel named Nanki-Poo turns up in the Japanese town of Titipu, searching for his love, Yum-Yum, the young ward of tailor-turned-Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko. Ko-Ko's in desperate need of someone to kill, because if he does not execute someone within the month, The Mikado has decreed that Titipu gets demoted to the rank of a village, and his situation would see him executed first (he was only appointed LHE so that The Mikado would not execute him for flirting); Nanki-Poo, on the run from the court of his father, The Mikado, because an amorous old woman, Katisha, wants to get in his pants (all of which he reveals to Yum-Yum), and depressed over losing Yum-Yum, decides to commit suicide. Ko-Ko, discovering this, cuts a deal with Nanki-Poo - Nanki-Poo marries Yum-Yum for one month, and at the end of this month, he gets executed, and Ko-Ko marries the young widow. Win win, yes?

Not in a Gilbert & Sullivan musical. Katisha arrives on the scene, and, after being thwarted once by the villagers in her plan to marry Nanki-Poo, storms off to bring The Mikado to Titipu. Meanwhile, Ko-Ko and his right-hand man, Poo-Bah, discover a twist in the law that if a husband is executed, his wife is buried alive - and thus would be Yum-Yum's fate if the agreement were to go ahead. Ko-Ko, refusing to execute Nanki-Poo on the spot, sends the young couple away to get married, and he, Poo-Bah, and noble lord Pish-Tush present an affidavit to The Mikado detailing Nanki-Poo's death - only to find The Mikado is searching for his son, Nanki-Poo, and that the penalty for killing the heir apparent is "something lingering, with boiling oil...or melted lead". How will Ko-Ko, Poo-Bah, Pish-Tush, Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum ever get out of this?

Ruddigore
In the early seventeenth century, a witch (whom Sir Rupert Murgatroyd, Bart., was burning) cursed the line of Baronets of Ruddigore so that each one would have to commit a crime a day or die horribly. In the early nineteenth century, to escape this doom, young Ruthven (pronounced Riven) Murgatroyd faked his death and assumed the name Robin Oakapple. At the time the story begins, he is madly in love with Rose Maybud, who is madly in love with him. However, neither can tell the other. Meanwhile, his friend Richard Dauntless is coming back from the sea. He regales the professional bridesmaids with an account of how his ship had pity on a French frigate (more powerful than his revenue sloop). Then, Robin enlists his help in wooing Rose. Richard agrees, but falls in love with Rose himself and woos her, but in the end she chooses Robin. Meanwhile, Sir Despard Murgatroyd's old flame Margaret comes on, decidedly mad. She is soon followed by the men's chorus and Despard himself, the current Baronet of Ruddigore. Richard, determined to secure Rose for himself, reveals Robin's true identity to Despard, who is desperate to become an honest man again. Despard interrupts the wedding with the revelation of Robin's true identity. Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd becomes the baronet, Despard marries Margaret, and all go off happily save Sir Ruthven and his servant Adam Goodheart.

A week later, Richard and Rose come to the castle Ruddigore to get Sir Ruthven's permission to tie the knot. Sir Ruthven grants it. Once everyone has left, the portraits of his predecessors come alive and their ghosts emerge, led by Ruthven's uncle, Sir Roderic Murgatroyd. Sir Ruthven has been trying to get by with misdemeanors; this will not do. They tell him to kidnap a maiden at once, or else. Once they've left, Sir Ruthven sends Old Adam to carry off a maiden -- any maiden. Meanwhile, Despard and Margaret come in. They now run a national school, and Despard is an author. They talk Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd into reforming, and then Old Adam returns with Dame Hannah, Sir Roderic's old flame. Can Sir Ruthven find a way to break the curse? And more immediately, can he avoid being slain by Dame Hannah, who has appropriated a pointy object? And how will Sir Roderic react to Dame Hannah being the one kidnapped?