When The Gondoliers was first performed on December 7, 1889 at the Savoy Theatre in London, the production won the hearts and minds of all those who saw it - including many of the critics.

"Messrs. GILBERT AND SULLIVAN'S Gondoliers deserves to rank immediately after The Mikado and Pinafore bracketed. The mise-en-scène is in every way about as perfect as it is possible to be."

"Once upon a time there were two kings.." from Punch January 1890

This was how a review published by Punch magazine in January 1890 began its critique of Gilbert and Sullivan's latest offering -and the terms continue to glow throughout the rest of the piece.

"The piece is so brilliant to eye and ear, that there is never a dull moment on the stage or off it."

The original production was so well-liked that the then Prince of Wales saw it at least four times and Queen Victoria enjoyed her own private performance at Windsor Castle.

As a result, any modern rendition of The Gondoliers has plenty to live up to but with a traditional approach to G&S coupled with its experience, the Carl Rosa Opera is well-placed to deliver to the most discerning audience.

One of the many faces from G&S's The Gondoliers.

Costumes, casting and staging are all combined to bring audiences a lavish taste of what was originally envisaged by Richard D'Oyly Carte, the Victorian impresario whose name takes a well-deserved third place to those of Gilbert and Sullivan.

The Gondoliers is typical of the W.S. Gilbert's topsy-turvy world of switched characters, mixed identities and confused personalities!

Two gondoliers, recently married, discover that one of them is actually the King of Barataria but neither know who can lay claim to the title.

The country is in need of some royal authority to control Barataria's growing unrest and the two leave behind their newly-wed wives to exercise some joint-sovereignty!

Thrown into the plot are generous helpings of love, loss and mistaken identity.

However, all's well that ends well and everything is resolved by the time the curtain falls, leaving the audience humming Sullivan's tunes and charmed by the satirical wit of W.S. Gilbert.

Later this week, BBC Wiltshire's reviewer returns his own verdict on Carl Rosa Opera's production of The Gondoliers.

But the question remains: will the Company manage to equal those rave reviews originally published when The Gondoliers was first performed over a century ago?

Read our review here