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Who Played Performer in The Pirates of Penzance

Performer is a role in The Pirates of Penzance, a musical that opened Broadway in 1981.

No Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera boasts as many walk-away tunes as The Pirates of Penzance, the only collaboration of the pair to premiere on Broadway, and not in England. Building on the success of the previous year’s H.M.S. Pinafore, but trading—as their principal “serious” focus—the rigors of naval discipline for the obligations of duty, G&S manage to burlesque their normal share of popular institutions, including the army, the police, and operatic sopranos. Pirate apprentice Frederic, at age 21, has faithfully served out his indentures and, replete with a sense of duty, joins the police force, determined to exterminate his old mates. He falls in love with Mabel, the first girl he sees, but the daughter of Major-General Stanley, who himself is the target of a pirate revenge plot. Plans go awry when it is revealed that, thanks to a leap-day birth, Frederic is really only five and one-quarter years old. The engaging musical score includes some of the catchiest music in the G&S canon: Mabel’s pyrotechnic “Poor, wandering one;” the tongue-twisting patter song “I am the very model of a modern major-general;” “A policeman’s lot;” “Climbing over rocky mountain”—a survivor from Thespis, G&S’s lost first stage work; and “With catlike tread,” which, more than a quarter-century later, was given new words as “Hail, hail, the gang’s all here.” At The Egyptian Theatre.

38 actors have played Performer in The Pirates of Penzance.

View full cast of The Pirates of Penzance

Performer Production Opened
Alice Brady (i) Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1912
Arthur Aldridge Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1912
Blanche Duffield Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1912
DeWolf Hopper Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1912
Eugene Cowles Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1912
George J. MacFarlane Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1912
Josephine Jacoby Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1912
Louise Barthel Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1912
Richard W. Temple Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1912
Viola Gillette Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1912
Anne Yago Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1931
Frances Baviello Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1931
Frances Moore Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1931
Frank Moulan Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1931
Georgina Dieter Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1931
Herbert Waterous Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1931
Howard Marsh Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1931
Sano Marco Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1931
Vivian Hart Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1931
William Danforth Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1931
Bertram Peacock Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1935
Frances Baviello Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1935
Frank Moulan Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1935
Herbert Waterous Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1935
Howard Marsh Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1935
Margaret Daum Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1935
Nina Dean Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1935
Vera Ross Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1935
Vivian Hart Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1935
William Danforth Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1935
Dean Dickens Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1936
Frances Baviello Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1936
Frank Moulan Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1936
Gertrude Waldron Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1936
Herbert Waterous Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1936
John Eaton Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1936
Roy Cropper Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1936
Vera Ross Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1936
Vivian Hart Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1936
William Danforth Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1936
Andrew Downie Off-Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1961
Eric House Off-Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1961
Howell Glynne Off-Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1961
Marion Studholme Off-Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1961
Iris Revson Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Laurie Beechman Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Roy Alan Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Del-Bourree Bach Off-Off-Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1985
Keith Jurasko Off-Off-Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1985
Kristen Garver Off-Off-Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1985

Other Roles in The Pirates of Penzance

Role Production Opened
Edith Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Ensemble Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Frederic Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Isabel Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Kate Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Mabel Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Major-General Stanley Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Major-General Stanley's Daughter Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Performer Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Pirate and Policeman Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Ruth Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
Samuel Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
The Pirate King Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981
The Sergeant of Police Broadway The Pirates of Penzance 1981

Photos from The Pirates of Penzance

View all 2 photos from The Pirates of Penzance

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