Topsy-Turvy or Mainstream?

Musical comedy was a powerful instrument in maintaining colonial ideology in late Victorian Britain — powerful because of the genre’s immense popularity and therefore its range of influence, but also because of the lasting impression made on the audience’s minds because they were visually stunning. Interactions between British characters and those native to the colonies clearly reflected the notion of British superiority, especially in (romantic) relationships, but also in other contexts like trade or culture. Social issues relating to power structures, like changes in the traditional class system or women’s pursuit of more independence, were also prominently featured. Many late Victorians struggled to understand their own place in this constantly shifting society which seemed to question traditions and institutions that had been taken for granted for decades. These radical changes in late Victorian Britain, also affecting many aspects of everyday life like communication, commerce, and transport, led to anxiety and insecurity concerning the future. Arguably, popular musical theatre was highly influential not only in distracting, but in reassuring worried spectators, and offered guidance in how to deal with these changes by presenting (extreme) exemplary situations on stage. Therefore, the theatres provided much more than escapist entertainment. This chapter discusses how nowadays little-known works like The Geisha, San Toy and Florodora, which were immensely successful and performed internationally in the 1890s, allow valuable insight into the representation of pressing contemporary political and social issues regarding the shifting balance of power by means of popular culture.