What is Princess Ida?
{{Infobox play | name = Princess Ida | image = Henry Bracy.jpeg | image_size = 220px | image_alt = | caption = Welsh tenor Henry Bracy dressed as Hilarion | writer = [[W. S. Gilbert]] (words)<br />[[Arthur Sullivan]] (music) | sources = ''The Princess'', an 1870 play by Gilbert<br />''The Princess'', an 1847 poem by [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]] | chorus = | characters = Princess Ida<br />Hilarion<br />King Gama<br>King Hildebrand<br />Cyril<br />Florian<br />Lady Blanche<br />Lady Psyche | mute = | setting = Women's college in the Middle Ages | premiere = 5 January 1884 | place = Savoy Theatre<br />[[London, England]] | orig_lang = English | series = | subject = Gender roles<br />Women's education<br />Feminism<br />Evolution | genre = [[Operetta]] | web = | playbill = | ibdb_id = | iobdb_id = | theatricalia_id = }} '''''Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant''''' is a three-act [[operetta]] by [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]. It is the eighth of their fourteen operettas. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre in [[London, England]] on 5 January 1884. It had 246 performances, a short run compared with the team's other operettas. After the operetta closed, it was not revived in London until 1919. Gilbert based ''Princess Ida'' on a play he wrote in 1870 called ''The Princess''. This play was based, in turn, on ''The Princess'', a long poem of 1847 by [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]]. ''Ida'' is the only Gilbert and Sullivan operetta in three acts. It is their only operetta to be written in [[blank verse]]. ''Princess Ida'' was a great success with early audiences, but the critics did not like it. Sullivan told Gilbert three weeks after the opening that he would not write another comic opera, and it appeared their collaboration was over. ''Princess Ida'' has its roots in the work of a [[poet]] little read today, and its themes are somewhat dated. The operetta is not a modern [[audience]] favorite. ==Story== In her babyhood, Princess Ida was betrothed to Princ