The musical comedy The Pirates of Penzance presented by PCPA

The Pirates of Penzance – in all its silliness – is directed by Brad Carroll with musical direction by Callum Morris. The Scenic Designer is Jason Bolen, Costume Designer is Eddy L. Barrows, Lighting Designer is Jennifer ‘Z’ Zornow, Sound Designer is Elisabeth Weidner, and Production Stage Manager is Jahana Azodi*.

Featured resident artists are George Walker as The Pirate King, Andrew Philpot* as Major-General Stanley, and Michael Jenkinson* as Sergeant of Police.

The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty, a comic operetta, is the tale of Frederic who has been indentured to a band of “gentlemanly” pirates until his 21st birthday. Frederic’s nursemaid was hard of hearing and was supposed to apprentice the youth to a ship’s pilot, not pirate. Upon his release he meets – and instantly falls in love with – Mabel, daughter of Major-General Stanley. Unfortunately Frederic learns he was born on February 29th, so technically he has but one birthday every four years and is bound to fulfill his apprenticeship for yet another 63 years. Mabel agrees to wait faithfully for his return. The pirates to whom Frederic is apprenticed were all orphans, so they are unwilling to plunder and pillage any fellow orphans. Of course, news of this character flaw is widely known, making them very unsuccessful pirates. Madcap antics fill out the show with the Major-General saving Mabel and his other daughters from the pirates, Frederic’s misplaced sense of duty, the not so “hot on the trail” team of police, preposterous logic generously applied to spice it up, and of course a very “happily ever after” conclusion.

The Pirates of Penzance features the much parodied song “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.”

I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I’m teeming with a lot o’ news,
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.
Parodies of this most famous G&S tongue-twisting fast-paced patter-song have found their way into numerous TV shows: The Muppet Show, In Plain Sight, Home Improvement, Babylon 5, Married With Children, The West Wing, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Frasier, The Simpsons, and many others.

The Pirates of Penzance has – since its inception – been a G&S favorite among theatre producers and audiences alike. In New York, since its premiere in 1879, it has had over 40 major revivals in that city alone. A hit production in 1980 by Joseph Papp ran nearly two years on Broadway receiving seven Tony Award nominations, and winning three, and securing five Drama Desk Awards. The cast included Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, Kevin Kline (Tony Award), Patricia Routledge, George Rose, and Tony Azito. The Broadway show featured notable replacements for Mable during its run including Pam Dawber, Karla DeVito, and Maureen McGovern. That production transferred to London for a run of 601 performances and in 1983 was turned into a movie that included Angela Lansbury.