statue comes to life, however, matters become complex, as she falls in love with her creator. Galatea is born so innocent that she appears wayward and disrupts the lives she touches during her one day in the flesh. Under the fire of Cynisca's jealousy, and seeing the difficulty in which she has placed Pygmalion, Galatea decides that her original state was happier, and turns back into a statue. Roles and original cast Pygmalion, an Athenian Sculptor – W. H. Kendal Leucippus, a Soldier – Mr. Howe Chrysos, an Art Patron – J. B. Buckstone Agesimos, Chrysos's Slave – Mr. Braid Mimos, Pygmalion's Slave – Mr. Weathersby Galatea, an Animated Statue – M. Robertson Cynisca, Pygmalion's Wife – Caroline Hill Daphne, Chrysos's Wife – Mrs. Chippendale Myrine, Pygmalion's Sister – Miss Merton Critical reception and legacy "The Cambridge History of English and American Literature" noted: The satire is shrewd, but not profound; the young author is apt to sneer, and he has by no means learned to make the best use of his curiously logical fancy. That he occasionally degrades high and beautiful themes is not surprising. To do so had been the regular proceeding in burlesque, and the age almost expected it; but Gilbert's is not the then usual hearty cockney vulgarity. In Pygmalion and Galatea, and, still more, in Gretchen (1879)... the vulgarity is cynical and bitter. A New York Times review of a production of the play at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City said, Mr. Gilbert, who is inevitably a humorist, has, one must own, put a great deal of truth and humanity into his Pygmalion and Galatea. The play is, from one side, harshly and aggressively disagreeable. Its characters are low, vulgar, and selfish. Pygmalion – an antique poetic conception – is reduced here to snobbishness and priggishness. His sister, his wife, his kinsmen, and his friends are insufferable. But, though insufferable, they are not especially untruthful. Those who try to portray life are brought to the sad work of picturing absurd, weak and sordid personalities. Men, as we know them, are not ideals. They are rather caricatures of ideals. Mr. Gilbert, who has bright satiric force, does not hesitate to put his sting into them – and his purpose is admirably praiseworthy. In several of his plays he is laboured and fantastic; in Pygmalion and Galatea, it seems to us, he presents the