Issue #69
Last Update October 31, 2010
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Arts Pirates of Penzance by Gerry Krownstein August 31, 2009 Pirates of Penzance is one of the Big Four Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, along with H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado and the Gondoliers. Since it is performed so frequently, it is hard for it to seem fresh. The Chautauqua Opera Company made it seem like a brand new work in their August production. The staging and bits of business, the acting and singing, and the quality of the sets were all at the highest level. In short, it was one of the best Pirates of recent years.
For those few readers not familiar with this work, Pirates is the quintessential G&S opera: silly plot, brilliant lyrics, marvelous music, and amazingly funny stage action. Frederic, apprenticed to a pirate by his hard of hearing nursemaid Ruth, is celebrating his release from his indentures as he has become of age. Always the slave of duty, he conceives that it is his responsibility to see that his former shipmates, whom he loves, end up behind bars for their piratical crimes. While he is soliloquizing on the beach, the wards of Major General Stanley (who has bought the mansion and included ancestors above the beach), come traipsing in to enjoy the sand. Frederic pleads for one of them to fall in love with him, but all are put off by his pirate clothes. Mabel, the lead ward, arrives last and accepts him as her suitor. Frederic, the Major General and the police plan to arrest the pirates at the next opportunity. Unfortunately Ruth, Frederic's old nurse and now a piratical maid-of-all-work, has reviewed the articles of indenture and discovered a pretty paradox: he is to be indentured until his twenty-first birthday, but since Frederic was born on leap year, although he is twenty-one years old he has only celebrated five birthdays and won't be free until another 63 years have passed. The rest of the opera concerns Frederic's struggle with his renewed duty to his pirate comrades versus his love of Mabel and his duty towards society to rid the seas of pirates; the capture of Major Stanley and his wards by the pirates and their release upon Major Stanley's claiming to be an orphan (all of the pirates are orphans and have a tenderness towards other orphans), and Major Stanley's attack of conscience when he realizes that, having bought the house complete with ancestors he is technically not an orphan. It all ends happily, with the pirates acceding to a request to yield in Queen Victoria's name, which they can't refuse, the subsequent pardoning of the pirates, who all turn out to be Peers gone wrong, and the marriage of the wards to the various pirates and policemen. As you can see, we are not dealing with Shakespeare here.
Two things save Pirates from being trite and old-fashioned: the staging and the cast. The Chautauqua Opera Company cast was first rate. Frederic, played by Vale Rideout, was handsome, as is required for the part, but portrayed strength (and sang strongly), which saved the role from deteriorating into that of a confused ninny, which Frederic often becomes in less talented hands. Mabel, the female lead, played by Sarah Jane McMahon, was winsome and attractive, but more importantly, had the kind of stage presence that makes her the center of the action whenever she appears. This is real star quality, despite a certain shrillness in her top notes. The Pirate King, played by Sean Anderson, was reminiscent of Howard Keel at his best. The two comic roles, Ruth (Kathryn Cowdrick) and the Major General (Keith Jurosko) were a treat as both singers and dancers.
A good part of the credit for the success of the performance must go to the director (Jay Lesenger), the choreographer (Bill Fabris) and the set designer (Peter Dean Beck). Pirates is one of those operettas where the movement on stage and visual appearance play a crucial part.
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