Toledo
Opera Presents The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players The Pirates of Penzance
Here’s
your chance to get carried away by pirates! Join the band
of swashbuckling buccaneers, bumbling British bobbies, frolicsome
Victorian maidens, and the delightfully dotty "model of
a modern Major-General" for a rollicking romp over the
rocky coast of Cornwall. The rich sounds of full orchestra,
chorus, and 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 – they'll steal your heart away!
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
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.
Toledo Opera will present its
second opera of the season, The Pirates
of Penzance on Friday
and Saturday, November 12 and 13, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday,
November 14, 2004 at 2:00 p.m. at the Valentine Theatre located
at 400 N. Superior St. in downtown Toledo. General tickets
for The Pirates of Penzance range from $25 to $90 per person
with special discounts for students and seniors. Tickets are
available by calling the Toledo Opera office at (419) 255-SING
(7464) or by going online to www.toledoopera.org. For more
information about the opera or for interviews with the cast,
please contact Megan Warrick at (419) 255-7464.
Toledo Opera performances are
produced in Toledo with principal singers who have performed
in the major opera houses of the world. The company also manages
an extensive education and outreach program. That Toledo is
home to a world-class, professional opera company – now
in its fifth decade of service to the community – is
a tribute to the area’s
realization of the vital economic and cultural importance of
the arts in general, and Toledo Opera in particular.
