 The successful comic operas with Sullivan continued to appear every year or two, several of them being among the longest-running productions up to that point in the history of the musical stage.After "Pinafore" came "[[The Pirates of Penzance]]" (1879), "[[Patience (opera)|Patience]]" (1881), "[[Iolanthe]]" (1882), "[[Princess Ida]]" (1884, based on Gilbert's earlier farce, "[[The Princess (play)|The Princess]]"), "[[The Mikado]]" (1885), "[[Ruddigore]]" (1887), "[[The Yeomen of the Guard]]" (1888) and "[[The Gondoliers]]" (1889).Gilbert not only directed and oversaw all aspects of production for these works, but he actually "designed" the costumes himself for "Patience", "Iolanthe", "Princess Ida", and "Ruddigore".