Date(s) -Friday, June 21, 2024
12:00 am
Location: St. Mary the Virgin Church
Categories
Set sail for a hilarious adventure with swashbuckling buccaneers, fumbling British bobbies, and frolicsome maidens. The operetta is presented as a semi-staged concert with all songs and dialogue.
The Pirates of Penzance is presented June 21 at 7:30pm and June 23 at 2pm, at St. Mary’s Anglican Church 1701 Elgin Street, Victoria, and June 29 and 30 at 2pm at Parkland Secondary School Theatre, 10640 McDonald Park Road, Sidney.
The Pirates of Penzance was first performed in New York City 145 years ago. It is one of the most popular of William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan’s musicals and has been performed frequently by opera and repertory companies worldwide.
The Victoria Gilbert & Sullivan Society presents the beloved operetta with musical direction by Peter Butterfield and staging by Heather Lee. The semi-staged concert includes the complete cast of characters, a choir of 30 voices, and all the dialogue, accompanied by piano.
Pirates is a delightful representation of theatre of its time, and its silliness and send-up of the British class structure make it as entertaining now as it was at the turn of the last century. Gilbert’s wit and Sullivan’s memorable score have ensured its enduring popularity. The show is endowed with Victorian hit after hit: “For I am a Pirate King,” the policemen’s “When the foeman bares his steel” and Mabel’s coloratura aria “Poor wand’ring one.” Patter songs are a Gilbert and Sullivan trademark, and The Pirates of Penzance features the most famous of them all, “I am the very model of a modern Major-General.”
The musical is set in 1880 and the plot centers on the dilemma of young Frederic who, as a child, was mistakenly apprenticed to 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 pirates’ maid), romantic Mabel, and the delightfully dotty Major-General Stanley.
Soprano Hannah Nickel makes her Society debut as Mabel in this production. Joining her in the cast of Pirates is another newcomer, Joe Scheubel as Frederic. They share the stage with G&S Society veterans — Inge Illman in her role debut as Ruth, Adrian Sly as the charismatic Pirate King, and Peter Houghton as the muddled Major-General. Ron Skelton takes on the role of the Sergeant of Police and Dale Sakayama plays Samuel. Mary Irwin, Megan Maher, and Eliza Sorenson play Edith, Kate, and Isabel, respectively. Pianist Robert Jan Dukarm ably performs Sullivan’s beautiful score.
Tickets are $35 dollars for adults and $20 for students and available at eventbrite.ca