Hollywood Pinafore or The Lad Who Loved a Salary
by George S Kaufman, Sir Arthur Sullivan

In Kaufman’s hysterical reimagining of the world of Gilbert and Sullivan on a Hollywood studio lot, this musical captures the broad personalities, the social satire, the plot contrivances and unforgettable music from the D’Oyly Carte days.

Joseph Porter is the bumbling head of Pinafore Pictures wants to be married to screen idol Brenda Blossom, who’d far prefer to marry the poor but well-meaning script writer Ralph Rackstraw.

Faced with the terrible prospect of being poor and having to earn her living acting on a stage – “And should you give a bad performance upon the stage, the critics will actually say so in print,” warns her agent, Dick Live-Eye – Brenda is in despair.

But, at the final curtain, all is saved when movie columnist Louhedda Hopsons reveals that through a mix-up in her column, it is Rackstraw who should be studio chief, while Porter is demoted to being a lowly screenwriter.

Fade-out, the end.