Few operas can have waited so long between being commissioned and performed as George Dreyfus’s one-act political satire, The Gilt-Edged Kid. It was finally performed after 54 years by IOpera at the Athenaeum in Melbourne on Saturday, before the composer on his 95th birthday and a delighted audience so jam-packed, staff had to open up the closed area of the theatre.

Half an hour before the staged concert began, conductor Warwick Stengårds came up to Dreyfus to say he hoped IOpera would do it honour. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s indestructible,” said Dreyfus cheerfully.

And do it honour they did, so much so that it was hard to believe Opera Australia hadn’t found an opportunity to stage it in the previous five decades, particularly the earlier ones when the company could and did take risks. The opera was also cause of one of the more scandalous nights for OA, when Dreyfus interrupted the opening night of Rigoletto in May 2019 with vociferous complaints from the front row.

The Gilt Edged Kid. Photo © IOpera

The Gilt-Edged Kid, with libretto by Lynne Strahan, is lively and highly entertaining. Dreyfus’s score is immensely eclectic,...