The Pirates of Penzance

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Saturday, February 28th, 2015
February 28/15 @ 7:30 pm; March 1/15 @ 2:00 pm

What is a poor fellow to do when, instead of being apprenticed to a pilot, he is mistakenly apprenticed to a pirate? And to make matters worse, just when he thinks his apprenticeship will end on his 21^st birthday, his unfortunate fate of being born on February 29 (and having a birthday only during leap years) means he has 63 more years of service ahead of him? 

This is just part of young Frederic´s tale in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance.   On his 21^st birthday, Frederic (a pirate apprentice) meets Mabel, the beautiful daughter of Major-General Stanley, and the two young people fall instantly in love. Along the way, Frederic’s fellow pirates decide to set their romantic sights on Major-General Stanley´s other daughters, much to their father´s dismay.  The Major-General hatches a plan to deceive the tender-hearted pirates, which puts Frederic´s strong sense of duty to the test when the deception is ultimately exposed.  Upon learning from the Pirate King and his childhood nurse maid, Ruth, that his apprenticeship will not be ending imminently as planned, Frederic's only solace is that Mabel agrees to wait for him faithfully.  A battle then ensues between the rag-tag band of pirates and a squad of zany policemen before all is eventually resolved.

Arguably one of Gilbert & Sullivan´s most popular operettas, the South Island Musical Theatre Society´s production of The Pirates of Penzance will keep you both chuckling and toe-tapping with its light-hearted humour, political satire and wonderful music, including such well known songs as "Oh, Better Far to Live and Die (I Am a Pirate King)", "Poor Wandering One", and the often-parodied "I Am The Very Model of A Modern Major-General".   Keep your eyes and ears open for some present day updating of this classic, and get ready to be wowed by this young and extremely talented cast of local actors!