just before the première. In fact, however, the title was advertised as Iolanthe as early as 13 November 1882 – eleven days before the opening – so the cast had at least that much time to learn the name. It is also clear that Sullivan's musical setting was written to match the cadence of the word "Iolanthe," and could only accommodate the word "Perola" by preceding it (awkwardly) with "O", "Come" or "Ah". Henry Irving had produced a W. G. Wills adaptation of King René’s Daughter in London in 1880, under the name Iolanthe, and in October 1882 Gilbert asked his producer, Richard D'Oyly Carte, to request Irving's permission to use the name. It is not known whether Irving replied. Iolanthe premiered only three days after Patience closed at the Savoy. The Savoy Theatre, opened only a year earlier, was a state-of-the-art facility, the first theatre in the world to be lit entirely by electricity. Patience had transferred to the Savoy from the Opera Comique, upon the theatre's opening, but Iolanthe was the first show to premiere at the theatre. New lighting technologies made such special effects as sparkling fairy wands possible for the first time. The principal fairies' heads were also lit by wreaths of small illuminated stars attached to a battery. The audience that attended the opening night in London included Captain (later Captain Sir) Eyre Massey Shaw, head of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, whom the Fairy Queen apostrophises in the second act ("Oh, Captain Shaw / Type of true love kept under / Could thy brigade with cold cascade / Quench my great love, I wonder?"). On the first night Alice Barnett, as the Queen of the Fairies, sang the verses directly to Captain Shaw, who was sitting in the centre of the stalls. The opera's premiere was received by an enthusiastic audience and earned critical praise, although there was general agreement that the second act needed some trimming. Iolanthe became the fourth consecutive major success for Gilbert, Sullivan and their producer, Richard D'Oyly Carte, following H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879) and Patience (1881). Increasingly viewing his work with Gilbert as frivolous, beneath his skills and repetitious, Sullivan had intended to resign from the partnership with Gilbert and Carte after Iolanthe, but on the day of its premiere, he received a letter from his broker, Edward Hall, notifying him that Hall had lost all