Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance at Lamplighters Music Theatre

The Bay Area’s acclaimed Lamplighters Music Theatre will present Gilbert & Sullivan’s classic comic opera The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty this summer in Walnut Creek (Aug 4-5), Mountain View (Aug 11-12), San Francisco (Aug 18-19), and Livermore (Aug 24-25).

One of the most beloved of all operettas, and known as one of the “Big Three” of the Gilbert and Sullivan canon, Pirates is full of some of their most famous musical numbers, including “I am the very model of a modern Major-General,” “Poor wand’ring one,” “With cat-like tread,” and the glorious anthem “Hail, Poetry”.

Emphasizing the late 19th Century concept of the “New Woman,” which embraced an entirely new feminist ideal that has considerable relevance in the era of #MeToo, this production features a more modern take on the perennial favorite. Major-General Stanley’s wards are intrepid, curious, and hardy, and the pirates themselves are gentlemen whose true crime is merely casting off society’s expectations; this will be a show about not doing what you are expected – or, indeed, duty-bound – to do!