2005 Season - Genesius Guild

Gilbert & Sullivan: "Pirates Of Penzance" (Opera@Augustana)

“The Pirates of Penzance” was the third collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan, following their enormously popular “H.M.S. Pinafore.” The work was simultaneously given premieres in New York and London in order to secure copyright protection on both sides of the Atlantic. The production is a revival by Opera@Augustana.

The opera begins at a rocky seashore on the coast of Cornwall. A group of pirates, under the command of the Pirate King, Richard, are drinking and playing cards. One of them, the apprentice pirate Frederic, is seated with the pirates’ maidof-all-work, Ruth. He is obviously unhappy.

The Pirate King congratulates Frederic on his successful grasp of the profession of piracy. Frederic says it’s simply because he is “the slave of duty,” always doing what he must. We find out from Ruth that he is
a pirate because of a mistake. She was supposed to apprentice young Frederic to a pilot, but misunderstood her instructions, bringing him to the pirate band instead. Now that Frederic is 21, his apprenticeship is over.

Frederic informs the pirates that, as a slave of duty, he will be honor-bound to oppose them once his apprenticeship expires at the stroke of midnight, which explains his melancholy. He has grown to like his pirate comrades. When the pirates complain that they can’t seem to make any money at their profession, Frederic feels honor-bound to tell them why: they are too tenderhearted. Being orphans themselves, they can never take advantage of other orphans. This news has gotten around so that everyone they try to pillage
claims he or she is an orphan, too.

The pirates leave Ruth and Frederic alone and Frederic asks her - the only woman he has ever seen - if she is beautiful. She answers that she is, but just then a troop of young women comes into view and Frederic realizes that Ruth has lied to him and turns on her bitterly. She leaves while Frederic hides to
watch the young women.

They are wards of Major-General Stanley who has just purchased an estate nearby. The women decide to go wading and, just as they take off their shoes and stockings, Frederic emerges from the cave where he has been hiding. He tells them he is a pirate, but hopes that one of these beauties will marry him. All reject him but Mabel, the major-general’s daughter, who sings “Poor wand’ring One.”

At this point, the pirates sneak into the scene and each one embraces a girl as his bride. The general enters and introduces himself (“I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General”). When he discovers they are the celebrated pirates of Penzance, he tells them he is an orphan and the pirates disgustedly let the general and women leave.

The second act opens at the major-general’s estate. Stanley’s wards, Mabel, and Frederic listen as the general confesses that he lied to the pirates about being an orphan. He has come to the tombs of his ancestors to humble himself in atonement. Frederic asks how he can have ancestors on an estate he just bought. The general says he feels he is their descendant “by purchase.”

Frederic tells the general that he will lead an expedition against the pirates at midnight with the aid of the police he has summoned. Frederic is left alone. Suddenly the pirate king and Ruth appear at a window. Instead of shooting him, they tell him that he is still bound as an apprentice. Since he was born on February 29th, he is not 21, but only five years old. He must stay with them for another 63 years.

Once again a duty-bound pirate, he tells the pirate king that the general lied to him; that he is not really an orphan. The pirate king swears that he will attack the estate that very night. Frederic pleads with them in vain until they depart.

Mabel returns, looking for Frederic. He tells her of his sudden reversal of fortune and leaves to rejoin the pirate band. Mabel, inspired by Frederic’s heroic sense of duty, decides that she should behave accordingly. She tells the police to do their duty and capture the pirates.

The pirates approach, singing. The general comes to see what is afoot. The girls enter as well. The pirates and police struggle, and the pirates win. But before the pirates can kill the general for his lie, they discover that all of them are not orphans but noblemen who have gone wrong. Everyone forgives everyone else and the ex-pirates win their brides.