Get carried away with 'Pirates of Penzance' at The Whiting

FLINT – The Whiting proudly hosts the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players presenting "Pirates of Penzance" on Friday, April 13 at 8 p.m.
This New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players production is 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. This exuberant musical theater masterpiece, directed and conducted by Albert Bergeret with choreography by Bill Fabris, is performed in its original format. The rich sounds of full orchestra, chorus and legitimate 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 (Tom Lehrer's element song a notable example) and used in commercials to sell everything from Campbell's 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 1840, despite his moral objection to piracy.
Ticket prices range from $18 to $34 and are available online at http://www.TheWhiting.com and by phone at 810-237-7333 or 888-8-CENTER.
The Whiting is located at 1241 E. Kearsley Street in Flint, just off I-475 between the University of Michigan Flint and Mott Community College on the Flint Cultural Center campus.