In London, actress Bethany Halliday sued the D'Oyly Carte opera company after she was turned down for a role as one of Major-General Stanley's virginal daughters in Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. Ms. Halliday originally landed the role, but producers rejected her after they learned she was in the early stages of pregnancy. By the end of the show's run, they argued, her condition would have become very obvious and driven the audience to distraction. The daughters, dressed in tight Victorian corsets, are supposed to have been raised in such delicacy and seclusion that they scream every time they see a man.

†