Word: gilberte
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...urgings of the heart. But what is poor Frederic to do? Given a half-deaf nursemaid who apprentices him to a pirate instead of a pilot until he is 21 years of age and a birthday which falls with inconvenient quadrennial regularity on Leap Day, he acts as any Gilbert and Sullivan character worth his salt is bound to: he follows every absurd proposition out to its invariably illogical conclusion...
Composed on the heels of HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance is one of the best known of the Gilbert and Sullivan canon. The show has very little dialogue; there's nothing here, for instance, to rival the verbal pyrotechnics between the two peers in Iolanthe or the pompous flatulence of Poo-Bah in The Mikado. Pirates' fame derives rather from its score, which is a typical G&S mix of rousing chorus numbers, patter songs and take-offs on Italian grand opera...
Duty can be frivolous as well as stern, and it is a pleasant enough to report that the production of The Pirates of Penzance now at the Agassiz is nothing short of triumphant. It is no paradox that the Gilbert and Sullivan Players present the very best in Harvard theater with admirable consistency: they draw consistently on the same, very talented mix of regulars to play analagous parts in show after show...
...wells as you could wish for. The non-encounter encounter between the pirates and the policemen in Act II, with its inspired choreography (three encores worth) culminating in a kickline of sworn foes dancing arm-in-arm, is the highlight of the show. As usual in Gilbert and Sullivan, the female chorus is not as interesting, but under Seltzer's direction, the Major General's enticingly attired daughters sing and dance in neat unison...
...notice, or without it. Then there are those whose exposure to the masters of Victorian operetta has been painfully shoddy. The current G&S production of The Pirates of Penzance is bound to convince both groups that it is, it is after all a glorious thing to be a Gilbert and Sullivan...