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Hi, my DS is putting together (with my help!) his Grade 7 music theatre programme and there's a requirement for a pre-1900s piece. His singing teacher has suggested G&S and I know he will have some thoughts but I want to do some research of my own.

I know nothing about G&S and so far, everything I've found has really only been suitable for women or older men. DS has just turned 13 and has a high alto voice. If anyone has any ideas I'd be grateful

My ds did Pirates Of Penzance at school earlier this year. Like you, I knew nothing about G&S but absolutely fell in love with it. I'm not a musician but I think "Oh, is there not one maiden breast?" sung by Frederick, might suit very well.

We had a similar struggle finding pre-1920 songs for a 10 year old doing her grade 5 and it wasn't any easier for her grade 6 as she is still a very innocent 11 year old. Marie Lloyd sang plenty of music hall songs, but most of them are quite saucy when you analyse them. The Pirates of Penzance springs immediately to mind and there is usually an am-dram performance of it going on so you could go watch to get a feel for the music (or there is always u-tube). I don't know which board he is with, but if you go on LCM website they give a pretty long list of suggested material for each grade, you don't have to stick to their suggestion but it does give you an idea, dd didn't use their suggested songs for all her choices but it really helped with the earlier, less common, music hall/musical choice and once you have the names of lyricists, composers or performers you can research them to find more examples (that may not be listed but are more suitable).