New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players: the Yeomen of the Guard December 5, 2010

'The Yeomen of the Guard, or The Merryman and His Maid' is the most operatic of the Gilbert & Sullivan masterpieces. The only G&S collaboration that takes place in an actual historic time and location, it nevertheless contains the wit and satire of human nature which define their art. Set in the Tower of London during the turbulent reign of King Henry the Eighth, 'The Yeomen of the Guard' is the story of a gallant prisoner falsely accused, two girls who love him, and an out-of-work itinerant jester. A comic jailer and a busybody old lady provide comic relief from the multiple tales of intrigue as the heroic prisoner narrowly escapes execution, woos the woman to whom he is already secretly wed, and dashes the hopes of the jilted jester in the process.