MESSRS. GILBERT AND SULLIVAN'S _Gondoliers_ deserves to rank immediately after _The Mikado_ and _Pinafore_ bracketed. The _mise-en-scene_ is in every way about as perfect as it is possible to be. Every writer of _libretti_, every dramatist and every composer, must envy the Two Savoyards, their rare opportunities of putting their own work on their own stage, and being like the two Kings in this piece, jointly and equally monarchs of all they survey, though, unlike these two potentates, they are not their subjects' servants, and have only to consider what is best for the success of their piece, and to have it carried out, whatever it is, literally regardless of expense. And what does their work amount to? Simply a Two-Act Opera, to play two-hours-and-a-half, for the production of which they have practically a whole year at their disposal. They can go as near commanding success as is given to mortal dramatist and composer, and for any comparative failure they can have no one to blame but themselves, the pair of them. [Illustration: "Once upon a time there were two Kings."] Whatever the piece may be, it is always a pleasure to see how thoroughly the old hands at the Savoy enter into "the fun of the thing," and, as in the case of Miss JESSIE BOND and Mr. RUTLAND BARRINGTON, absolutely carry the audience with them by sheer exuberance of spirits. Mr. RUTLAND BARRINGTON possesses a ready wit and keen appreciation of humour; and, as this is true also of Miss JESSIE BOND, the couple, being thoroughly in their element with such parts as _The Gondoliers_ provide for them, legitimately graft their own fun on the plentiful stock already supplied by the author, and are literally the life and soul of the piece. On the night I was there a Miss NORAH PHYLLIS took Miss ULMAR'S part of _Gianetta_, and played it, at short notice, admirably. She struck me as bearing a marked facial resemblance to Miss FORTESQUE, and is a decided acquisition. Mr. DENNY, as the Grand Inquisitor (a part that recalls the Lord High Chancellor of the ex-Savoyard, GEORGE GROSSMITH, now entertaining "on his own hook"), doesn't seem to be a born Savoyard, _non nascitur_ and _non fit_ at present. Good he is, of course, but there's no spontaneity about him. However, for an eccentric comedian merely to do exactly what he is told, and nothing more, yet to do that, little or much, well, is a performance that would meet with _Hamlet's_ approbation, and Mr. GILBERT'S. Mr. FRANK WYATT, as "the new boy" at the Savoy School, doesn't, as yet, seem quite happy; but it cannot be expected that he should feel "quite at home," when he has only recently arrived at a new school. Miss BRANDRAM is a thorough Savoyard; _nihil tetigit quod non ornavit_, and her embroidery of a part which it is fair to suppose was written to suit her, is done in her own quaint and quiet fashion.