Swashbuckling buccaneers, bumbling British bobbies, frolicsome Victorian maidens and more engage in the rollicking romp The Pirates of Penzance, performed by the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players at Mayo Performing Arts Center on Friday, February 5, 2016 at 8 pm. Tickets are $29-69.
This New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players production is your chance to get carried away by Pirates. This exuberant musical theater masterpiece, directed and conducted by
Albert Bergeret with choreography by
Bill Fabris, is performed in its original format. The rich sounds of full orchestra, chorus, and legitimate vocal soloists resonate with classic elegance and power while the company's vibrancy, energy and contemporary sense of humor keep the show alive and exciting to a modern audience.
The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty was first performed at the
Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on December 31, 1879. It was the only Gilbert & Sullivan operetta to have its world premiere in the United States and it has remained popular both here and throughout the English speaking world ever since. Gilbert's wit (always incisive but never vicious or dated) and Sullivan's memorable score (including the original tune from which "Hail, hail the gang's all here" is drawn) are among the most valuable treasures of musical theater history.
Patter songs are a Gilbert & Sullivan trademark and Pirates features the most famous of them all, "I am the very model of a modern Major-General". This jaunty tune has been cleverly set to different words countless times (
Tom Lehrer's element song a notable example) and used in commercials to sell everything from Campbells soup to Handi-wipes, cars, newspapers and other items. Pirates also contains some of Gilbert's most famous lyrics such as the often used quotation "a policeman's lot is not a happy one" from the act two lament of the diffident "men in blue". Other highlights of the show include "For I am a Pirate King", the pirates' "Here's a first rate opportunity", the policemen's "When the foeman bears his steel" and Mabel's show stopping coloratura aria "Poor wand'ring one".
The plot of Pirates centers on the dilemma of young Frederic who, as a child, was mistakenly apprenticed to the pirates until his twenty first birthday. Since he was born in leap year on February 29, he is honor bound to remain a pirate until the distant date of 1940, despite his moral objection to piracy. Helping Frederic to deal with this unusual predicament are the brash Pirate King, Ruth - the pirate maid-of-all-work, romantic Mabel, and the delightfully stuffy Major-General Stanley.
Now in its fourth decade of operation, New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (NYGASP) is America's preeminent professional Gilbert & Sullivan repertory ensemble. Under the dynamic leadership of Artistic Director
Albert Bergeret, who has been hailed as "the leading custodian of the G&S classics" by New York magazine, NYGASP has created its own special niche in the cultural mosaic of New York City and the nation. Since its founding in 1974, the company has presented over 2,000 performances of the G&S masterpieces throughout the eastern United States and Canada, captivating audiences of all ages.
