h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Errr... Who?
The simplest way to describe these two is as the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice of the late 1800s. They wrote a series of Comic Operas which were satirical parodies of life in those days. Most of these works were extremely popular with both their audiences and the theatre critics of the day. Around this time London had hundreds of theatres, who all had people writing for them. Only a tiny fraction of this work has survived, and the works of Gilbert and Sullivan are part of this fraction.

Today there are still many theatre groups (both amateur and professional) who regularly perform their works. Especially http://www.mugss.man.ac.uk - Manchester & UMIST Gilbert & Sullivan Societies. Check them out.