The Gondoliers was an operetta written by William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. It had its premiere at the Savoy Theatre on December 7, 1889 and ran for 554 performances.

The Gondoliers, or The King of Barataria is one of the later Operettas written by William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, really the last of their well known collaborations, Utopia Limited (or The Flowers of Progress) – 1893 and The Grand Duke (or The Statutory Duel) – 1896, being the only (less known) operettas written after The Gondoliers.

Plot: Act 1 The Scene opens with a bevy of four and twenty young maidens declaring their undieing love for a pair of Gondolieri (the pink and flower of all the Gondolieri). The male chorus of gondoliers enters, trying to pry these young ladies from their loves, and they start to win the ladies hearts, before the sexy two gentlemen enter, and the ladies go back to loving them. "This will never do" thinks the strapping young lads, "We are but two men, while you are four and twenty women! Lets get married to two of you!". The girls agree, but want to know who, so the pair decide to have a game similar to blind mans buff and pick their life partner like that. They, undobtably, cheat and eventually grab the sexiest maidens out of the four and twenty ("Just the very girl I wanted!"). This scene dissipates to let them all get married as the chorus re-pairs up with their former partners and run off.

Enter His Grace the Duke of Plaza Toro (Count Matadoro, Baron Picadoro), Her Grace the Duchess and their beautiful daughter Casilda (and Suite!).