The Yeomen of the Guard, or The Merryman and His Maid is Gilbert and Sullivan’s sparkling
comic opera set in Shakespearean times. Colonel Fairfax, a gentleman,
soldier, and scientist, is wrongly accused of sorcery, imprisoned in the
Tower of London, and sentenced to be beheaded in an hour. To avoid
leaving his estate to his accuser (a cousin), and with the help of the
Lieutenant of the Tower, Fairfax secretly agrees to marry Elsie Maynard,
a strolling singer. The bride agrees to be blindfolded during the
ceremony and expects to be a well-paid widow within an hour. However,
with the help of the Meryl family, Fairfax escapes, throwing the Tower
into confusion and the astonished Elsie (and her mentor, Jack Point, who
loves her) into despair. Following his escape, Fairfax woos Elsie, and
after a number of plot complications are worked out, she falls in love
with him and leaves Jack Point broken-hearted.
The Gilbert & Sullivan Archive comments about Yeomen:
“…Gilbert’s ‘pointed’ satire and punning one-liners abound, there are
plenty of topsy-turvy plot complications, and many believe that the
score is Sullivan’s finest.”