Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old, was the first collaboration between William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. The show, about the aging gods on Olympus premiered at the Gaiety Theatre in London on December 26, 1871and ran for 64 performances. Sullivan was unhappy with the work and is believed to have thrown the score into the Thames River. It would be four more years before the pair would collaborate on their next work, the one-act play Trial by Jury.
Three pieces of music from Thespis are known to survive. The song "Climbing Over Rocky Mountain" was re-scored and slightly re-written for inclusion in The Pirates of Penzance, and the song "Little Maid of Arcadee," which was published as piano music during the initial run. In 1990, the ballet music from Thespis' second act as discovered by Roderick Spencer and Selwyn Tillett. Several composers have written scores based on Gilbert's writings, many of which have recycled music from Sullivan's other works, both with and without Gilbert.
External links
Thespis Home Page (http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/thespis/html/thespis_home.html)
Thespis of Icaria (6th century BC) is claimed to be the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor in a play although the reality is undoubtedly more complex.
Thespis supposedly innovated a new style in which one singer or actor performed the words of individual characters in the stories, distinguishing between the characters with the aid of different masks.
Thespis is, however, the first known actor in written plays, as opposed to improvised or orally transmitted plays.
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