Cox and Box

Cox and Box had its first performance in 1866. It is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on an 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan’s first successful comic opera, written five years before Thespis, his first opera with W. S. Gilbert.

Following its premiere, it was seen at various benefits in 1867 and presented professionally in 1869, when it ran for 264 performances.

In the 20th century, it was frequently produced by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company as a curtain raiser for the shorter Gilbert and Sullivan operas.