Poem: 'The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze' by W.S. Gilbert

[dwgm]

We saw The Mikado recently -- so clever!



The sun, whose rays
Are all ablaze
With ever-living glory,
Does not deny
His majesty —
He scorns to tell a story!
He don't exclaim,
"I blush for shame,
So kindly be indulgent."
But, fierce and bold,
In fiery gold,
He glories all effulgent!

I mean to rule the earth,
As he the sky —
We really know our worth,
The sun and I!
I mean to rule the earth,
As he the sky —
We really know our worth,
The sun and I!


Observe his flame,
That placid dame,
The moon's Celestial Highness;
There's not a trace
Upon her face
Of diffidence or shyness:
She borrows light
That, through the night,
Mankind may all acclaim her!
And, truth to tell,
She lights up well,
So I, for one, don't blame her!

Ah, pray make no mistake,
We are not shy;
We're very wide awake,
The moon and I!
Ah, pray make no mistake,
We are not shy;
We're very wide awake,
The moon and I!


~.~

Comments

[torn-eledhwen.livejournal.com]

I love The Mikado. I was in an amateur production of it when I was about 16 - playing Peep-Bo, the least significant of the Little Maids. :) We did "Three Little Maids" in schoolgirl outfits before switching to kimonos. Great fun.

Have you seen Mike Leigh's film Topsy-Turvey, about the writing of The Mikado? Well worth it. Jim Broadbent is excellent as Gilbert.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful that you were able to be in a production! When I was in junior high, 8th or 9th grade, the high school across town was doing a production and came to our school to do a few songs for us, to drum up interest. This was one of the songs, and we did indeed go see the play and I just fell in love with Gilbert and Sullivan right then and there.

I did see Topsy-Turvy, and didn't Broadbent win a bunch of awards for that performance? Well deserved indeed.

My daughter and I recently went to see a local production of The Mikado, and we both enjoyed it so much! Couldn't resist including a G&S song for poetry month.

[torn-eledhwen.livejournal.com]

It was the local amateur operatic society - nice bunch of people. I was an orphan in Annie with them a few years earlier, and then I did The Mikado, and Hello, Dolly! (playing Ermengarde, who is rich and spoilt and spends the whole show crying), and Fiddler on the Roof, and Patience, which is one of G&S's less-performed shows. Rightly so, actually, it's a bit odd. I joined the orchestra for something, too - can't remember what it was though, bizarrely enough. I kind of miss that, though it's good to be in a choir again over here.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

What fun it must have been to do all those plays! I did Trial By Jury when I was just out of high school, and we did Carousel during out senior year in high school.

Is Patience an odd one? Because that same local group that put on The Mikado is going to do it next. I've never seen that one.

Must be fun to be in a choir -- I was in choir for six years in grade school and I still miss it, sometimes. It was fun to sing every day.

[torn-eledhwen.livejournal.com]

I think Patience is a bit odd - it's got the usual G&S ingredients of pretty girl, warring suitors, cantankerous old woman - but it lacks, IMHO, whatever secret ingredient has made shows like The Mikado so enduringly popular. Mind you, having just looked it up on Wikipedia to remind myself exactly what the plot was, I find I can still hum most of the choruses, so it can't be that forgettable! If the production's good you'll enjoy it.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

I'll have to read the synopsis on Wikipedia -- and we will certainly get tickets. One can't really have too much G&S.

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

*G* That is my all-time favourite G&S aria of all time. I love G&S and have never been able to decide if I like The Mikado or Pirates of Penzance better. I wish Knightsbridge Theatre would do more! They did a great job with Pirates about 3 years back!

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

They had a fabulous production of Pirates in T.O. a couple of years ago, just perfect in all respects -- so good we went out at intermission and bought ten tickets for the following week and invited our friends!

So happy I chose your favorite!

[mary684.livejournal.com]

The only G&S I've ever seen was HMS Pinafore and I loved it. I'm not at all familiar with Mikado but this was lovely.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen HMS Pinafore, and I'd dearly love to. The Mikado is really hilarious, the setting is Japan and everyone is dressed in these amazing and exotic Japanese-style costumes, but the language of the songs and the humor are veddy veddy British -- the contrast of cultures alone has one bubbling with laughter. And then the characters are more developed than in some of the other plays -- the Koko, the executioner, and Katisha, the thwarted "daughter-in-law elect" are particularly interesting.

[dharma-slut.livejournal.com]

"Ah, that's only her face. She has a left elbow which people come miles to see..."

The only production that I've seen was lacking, sadly. Or sadly lacking. But "Topsy Turvy" is one of those movies that I have to see once more-- about four times a year!

The words to this aria are so funny-- and the music is so sublime. That was the genius of G&S, don't you think?

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

That was the genius of G&S, don't you think?

It's inarguable, I think. They are of the brilliance.

And I really need to see Topsy-Turvy again.

*zips over to Amazon in hope of a good deal*