Introduction
During the first half of 2017 the George Mason University Libraries, in conjunction with Mason's College of Visual and Performing Arts and collector David Stone, embarked upon a series of events, performances, and exhibits to celebrate the creative genius of Gilbert and Sullivan. A multi-part exhibit, Oh Joy Unbounded: A Celebration of Gilbert and Sullivan, was mounted in Fenwick Library and the Hylton Performing Arts Center. The passage that follows is borrowed from the Exhibition Catalog.
Oh Joy Unbounded… offers unparalleled access to the creative process, the relationships, the business decisions, and the influence of Gilbert and Sullivan on their time and beyond. This partnership between the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the University Libraries, working with David Stone to host exhibitions, scholarly events, and performances, represents a groundbreaking collaboration. Nothing less than such a partnership can fully recognize Gilbert and Sullivan as the transformative pair of creative geniuses that they were. Their work, predominantly in their famous comic operas, continues to reveal the Victorian world to us, and – through contemporary productions such as we have planned this year – to comment pungently on our own.