The Pirates of Penzance
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Poster announcing the copyright performance at the Bijou Theatre, Paignton |
The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty, is a
comic opera in two acts, with music by
Arthur Sullivan and libretto by
W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the
Savoy Operas. The official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in
New York on
December 31 1879. The London premiere was on
April 3 1880, at the
Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances, having already been playing successfully for over three months in New York.
The Pirates of Penzance was the only
Gilbert and Sullivan opera to have its official premiere in
New York. At the time, American law offered no
copyright protection to foreigners. After their previous opera,
H.M.S. Pinafore, was a hit in
London, American companies quickly mounted unauthorized "pirated" productions, often taking considerable liberties with the text and paying no royalties to the creators. By mounting their next opera in New York, Gilbert and Sullivan hoped to forestall further "piracy," by establishing the official production in America before others could copy it.
The creative period was unusual, in that Sullivan composed the acts in reverse — bringing the completed Act II with him, with Act I existing only in sketches. When he arrived in New York, he found that he had left the sketches behind, and he had to reconstruct the first act from memory. Gilbert told a correspondent many years later that Sullivan was unable to recall his setting of the entrance of the women's chorus, so they substituted the chorus "Climbing over rocky mountain" from their earlier opera,
Thespis. Sullivan's manuscript for
Pirates contains pages removed from a
Thespis score, with the vocal parts altered from their original context as a four-part chorus.
Some scholars (e.g., Tillett and Spencer, 2000) have offered evidence that Gilbert and Sullivan had planned all along to re-use "Climbing over rocky mountain," and perhaps other parts of
Thespis, noting that the presence of a
Thespis score in New York when there were no plans to revive it might not have been accidental. In any event, "Climbing over rocky mountain," one other song, and a ballet are the only portions of the score of
Thespis known to have survived.
On
December 10 1879, Sullivan wrote a letter to his mother about the new opera, upon which he was hard at work in New York. "I think it will be a great success, for it is exquisitely funny, and the music is strikingly tuneful and catching." True enough,
The Pirates of Penzance was an immediate hit in New York, and later London, and takes its place today as one of the most popular G&S works.
There was one other premiere of note. To secure
British copyright, there was a perfunctory performance the evening before the New York premiere, at the Royal Bijou Theatre
Paignton,
Devon. The cast, having performed
Pinafore the night before, read from scripts carried onto the stage, making do with whatever costumes they had on hand.
The work's title itself, no doubt a jab at theatrical "piracy", was enough to make the London audience chuckle.
Penzance was a docile seaside resort at the time, and the very idea of criminal activity – let alone
pirates – in that vicinity was ridiculous.
From the beginning,
The Pirates of Penzance has been one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular comic operas. After its unique "triple opening" in 1879–80, it was revived in London in 1888, in 1900, and for the Savoy repertory season of 1908–09. In the British provinces, the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company toured it almost continuously from 1880–1884, and again in 1888. It re-entered the touring repertory in 1893, and was never again absent through to the company's closure in 1982.
In America, after the New York opening on New Year's Eve, 1879,
Richard D'Oyly Carte launched four companies that covered the United States on tours that lasted through the following summer. Gilbert and Sullivan themselves trained each of the touring companies through January and early February 1880, and each company's first performance – whether it was in Philadelphia, Newark, or Buffalo – was conducted by the composer.
There was still no international copyright law, and the first
unauthorised New York production was given by the Boston Ideal Opera Company at Booth's Theatre in September 1880. The first non-D'Oyly Carte professional production in a country that was subject to Gilbert's copyright was in
Stratford, Ontario,
Canada, in September 1961.
The following table shows the history of the D'Oyly Carte productions in Gilbert's lifetime:
In 1980,
Joseph Papp and the
Public Theater of New York City brought a new production of
Pirates to the
Delacorte Theatre in
Central Park, one of the series of "Shakespeare in the Park" summer events. The show played for 10 previews and 35 performances. It then transferred to
Broadway, opening on
January 8 1981 for a run of 20 previews and 787 performances at the
Uris and
Minskoff Theatres.
Compared to traditional productions of the opera, Papp's
Pirates featured a more swashbuckling Pirate King and Frederic, and a broader, more
musical comedy style of humor. It also featured an adapted orchestration and a number of key changes. The "Matter Patter" trio from
Ruddigore and "Sorry her lot" from
H.M.S. Pinafore were interpolated. The production also restored Gilbert and Sullivan's original New York ending, with a reprise of the Major-General's song in the Act II finale.
Linda Ronstadt starred as Mabel,
Rex Smith as Frederic,
Kevin Kline as the Pirate King,
Estelle Parsons as Ruth,
George Rose as the Major-General, and
Tony Azito as the Sergeant of Police. Notable replacements during the run included
Pam Dawber,
Karla DeVito, and
Maureen McGovern as Mabel;
Robby Benson, Patrick Cassidy, and
Peter Noone as Frederic;
James Belushi,
Gary Sandy, and
Treat Williams as the Pirate King; George S. Irving as the Major-General; and
Kaye Ballard as Ruth.
The production opened at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, on
May 26 1982 for a run of 601 performances. Notable among the cast were
George Cole and
Ronald Fraser as the Major-General;
Michael Praed and
Peter Noone as Frederic;
Tim Curry and
Oliver Tobias as the Pirate King;
Chris Langham as the Sergeant of Police;
Pamela Stephenson as Mabel; and
Annie Ross as Ruth.
The production was turned into a film (released in 1983), with all of the original Broadway cast reprising their roles, except that
Angela Lansbury replaced Estelle Parsons as Ruth. The film was not a success, but according to the IMDB, this "had nothing to do with the reviews, which were often quite positive. The real problem lay with Universal's decision to release the film simultaneously to SelectTV and to theaters. Theater owners were so angry that they boycotted the film; in the end, a grand total of 92 theaters agreed to show it, and it enjoyed a long run at only one of them." [
1] Another film based loosely on the opera,
The Pirate Movie, was released during the Broadway run.
The production design has been widely imitated in other modern productions of
Pirates, even where traditional orchestration and standard score are used.
*Major-General Stanley (comic
baritone)
*The Pirate King (
bass-baritone)
*Samuel,
his Lieutenant (
baritone)
*Frederic,
the Pirate Apprentice (
tenor)
*Sergeant of Police (
bass)
*Mabel (
soprano), Edith (
mezzo-soprano), Kate (
mezzo-soprano), Isabel (speaking),
General Stanley's Daughters*Ruth,
a Piratical Maid of all work (
contralto)
*Chorus of Pirates, Police and General Stanley's Daughters
Act I
Frederic, a young man with a strong sense of duty, is seen celebrating his twenty-first birthday in the company of a group of
pirates ("Pour, oh pour the pirate sherry"). His nurse Ruth appears and reveals that she had apprenticed Frederic to the pirate band by mistake, many years ago ("When Frederic was a little lad"), she misheard Frederic's father, who wanted the little lad to become a ship's
pilot. Because Frederic has never seen any women other than Ruth, he believes her to be beautiful, and agrees to marry her later that day. Although Frederic is sympathetic to his pirate friends (they being all orphans whose gentle natures make their piratical careers difficult) his sense of duty nonetheless compels him to leave the band upon the completion of his apprenticeship, then destroy them. He invites the Pirate King to give up piracy and go with him, but is refused ("Oh! better far to live and die"). Upon leaving the pirates, Frederic sees a group of beautiful young girls on the shore, and realises that Ruth lied to him about her features ("Oh false one! You have deceived me!"). He hides before the girls arrive. The girls enter the stage singing ("Climbing over rocky mountain"). Frederic reveals himself ("Stop, ladies, pray!") and appeals to them for affection ("Oh! is there not one maiden breast") to help him reform; one of them, Mabel, responds to his plea ("Poor wand'ring one"). The other girls contemplate whether to eavesdrop, or leave the new couple alone ("What ought we to do?"), and eventually decide to sing about the weather ("How beautifully blue the sky"). Frederic warns the girls of the pirates nearby ("Stay, we must not lose our senses"), but they are interrupted by the arrival of said pirates, who wish to capture all the girls for wives ("Here's a first rate opportunity"). Mabel warns the pirates that the girls' father is a Major-General ("Hold, monsters!"), who soon arrives and introduces himself ("
I am the very model of a modern Major-General"). The pirates attempt to kill him and take his daughters, but he appeals to them for clemency on the grounds that he's an orphan ("Oh, men of dark and dismal fate"). The soft-hearted pirates are sympathetic, and release the girls.
Act II
The Major-General sits by the
mausoleum on his estate, surrounded by his daughters. He laments his tortured conscience at the lie he told the Pirate King, while they attempt to console him ("Oh dry the glist'ning tear"). The Police Sergeant and his policemen enter to announce their readiness to go forth and arrest the pirates ("When the foeman bares his steel"). Frederic, who is to lead the group, pauses for a moment's reflection ("Now for the pirate's lair"), at which point he encounters Ruth and the Pirate King. They inform him that his apprenticeship was worded so as to bind him to them until his twenty-first
birthday – and, because that birthday happens to be on the extra day of
Leap Year (February 29), that means that technically only five birthdays have passed ("When you had left our pirate fold"). Frederic is convinced that he must rejoin the pirates by this logic, and thus he sees it as his duty to inform the Pirate King of the Major-General's lie ("Away, away, my heart's on fire").
He meets Mabel ("All is prepared") and she bids him to stay ("Stay Frederic, stay"), but he dutifully returns to fulfil his apprenticeship with the pirates. Mabel consoles herself ("No, I am brave"), The police and their Sergeant are told they must go alone ("When the foeman bares his steel" (reprise)"), and they lament
their fate ("When a felon's not engaged in his employment"). They hide on hearing the approach of the pirates ("A rollicking band of pirates we"), who have stolen onto the grounds, meaning to avenge themselves for the Major-General's lie ("With cat-like tread"). The police and the pirates prepare for the fight ("Hush, hush! not a word"). The Major-General himself appears, sleepless with guilt ("Sighing softly to the river"), and his daughters follow him. The pirates, of course, leap to the attack, and the police to the defense; but the police are easily defeated. The Sergeant plays his trump card, demanding that the pirates yield "in
Queen Victoria's name"; the pirates, overcome with loyalty to their Queen, do so. Ruth appears and reveals that the orphan pirates are in fact noblemen; all is forgiven, Frederic and Mabel are reunited, and the Major-General is happy to marry his daughters to the noble pirates after all.
*Overture (includes "With cat-like tread", "Ah, leave me not to pine", "Pray observe the magnanimity", "When you had left our pirate fold", "Climbing over rocky mountain", and "How beautifully blue the sky")
Act I
*1. "Pour, oh pour, the pirate
sherry" (Samuel and Chorus of Pirates)
*2. "When Fred'ric was a little lad" (Ruth)
*3. "Oh, better far to live and die" (Pirate King and Chorus of Pirates)
*4. "Oh! false one, you have deceiv'd me" (Frederic and Ruth)
*5. "Climbing over rocky mountain" (Chorus of Girls)
1*6. "Stop, ladies, pray" (Edith, Kate, Frederic, and Chorus of Girls)
*7. "Oh, is there not one maiden breast?" (Frederic and Chorus of Girls)
*8. "Poor wand'ring one" (Mabel and Chorus of Girls)
*9. "What ought we to do?" (Edith, Kate, and Chorus of Girls)
*10. "How beautifully blue the sky" (Mabel, Frederic, and Chorus of Girls)
*11. "Stay, we must not lose our senses" ... "Here's a first-rate opportunity to get married with impunity" (Frederic and Chorus of Girls and Pirates)
*12. "Hold, monsters" (Mabel, Major-General, Samuel, and Chorus)
*13. "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" (Major-General and Chorus)
*14. Finale Act I (Mabel, Kate, Edith, Ruth, Frederic, Samuel, King, Major-General, and Chorus)
** "Oh, men of dark and dismal fate"
** "I'm telling a terrible story"
** "Hail, Poetry"
** "Oh, happy day, with joyous glee"
** "Pray observe the magnanimity" 21 This song originated in Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration, Thespis.
2 Reprise of "Here's a first-rate opportunity".Act II
*15. "Oh, dry the glist'ning tear" (Mabel and Chorus of Girls)
*16. "Then, Frederic, let your escort lion-hearted" (Frederic and Major-General)
*17. "When the foeman bares his steel" (Mabel, Edith, Sergeant, and Chorus of Policemen and Girls)
*18. "Now for the pirates' lair!" (Frederic, Ruth, and King)
*19. "When you had left our pirate fold" ("A paradox") (Ruth, Frederic, and King)
*20. "Away, away! My heart's on fire!" (Ruth, Frederic, and King)
*21. "All is prepar'd; your gallant crew await you" (Mabel and Frederic)
*22. "Stay, Fred'ric, stay" ... "Oh, here is love, and here is truth" (Mabel and Frederic)
*23. "No, I'll be brave" ... Though in body and in mind" (Reprise of "When the foeman bares his steel") (Mabel, Sergeant, and Chorus of Police)
*23a. "Sergeant, approach!" (Mabel, Sergeant of Police, and Chorus of Police)1*24. "When a felon's not engaged in his employment" (Sergeant and Chorus of Police)
*25. "A rollicking band of pirates we" (Sergeant and Chorus of Pirates and Police)
*26. "With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal" (Samuel and Chorus of Pirates and Police)
*27. "Hush, hush, not a word!" (Frederic, King, Major-General, and Chorus of Police and Pirates)
*28. Finale, Act II (Ensemble) 2** "Sighing softly to the river"
** "Now what is this, and what is that?"
** "Frederic here! Oh, joy! Oh, rapture!"
** "With base deceit you worked upon our feelings!"
** "You triumph now, for well we trow our mortal career's cut short"3** "Away with them, and place them at the bar!"
** "Poor wandering ones!" (Reprise)
1 In this section, Mabel and the Sergeant speak the text (except for the Sergeant's last passage, which is often chanted), while the police chant responses over E-natural notes played by the orchestra. The section is a reference to the canticle and response from the Anglican church service.
2 Several passages of this finale were cut before or during the original run, including a paeon to Queen Victoria (after they yield in Queen Victoria's name), a reprise of "Hail, Poetry" rewritten to be about noblemen (after it's revealed that the pirates are all noblemen), a version of the "What never?" section from H.M.S. Pinafore (See below) which appears in older scores, and a reprise of "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" beginning "At last we are provided with unusual ability / To change piratic crime to dignified respectability..." which is used in the Papp Pirates, and comes just before "Poor wandring ones".
3Or "We triumph now... your mortal career..."In the original productions, the revelation by Ruth that the pirates are "all noblemen who have gone wrong" prompted the following exchange (recalling a famous passage in H.M.S. Pinafore):
Girls: Oh spare them! they are all noblemen who have gone wrong. General: What, all noblemen?
King: Yes, all noblemen! General: What, all?
King: Well, nearly all!
Gilbert deleted this exchange in the 1900 revival, and the Chappell vocal score was revised accordingly. The new D'Oyly Carte Opera Company restored the original version in their 1989 production.The following tables show the casts of the principal original productions and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring repertory at various times through to the company's 1982 closure:| Role | D'Oyly Carte
1950 Tour | D'Oyly Carte
1958 Tour | D'Oyly Carte
1968 Tour | D'Oyly Carte
1975 Tour | D'Oyly Carte
1982 Tour | | Major-General | Martyn Green | Peter Pratt | John Reed | James Conroy-Ward | Alistair Donkin |
| Pirate King | Darrell Fancourt | Donald Adams | Donald Adams | John Ayldon | John Ayldon |
| Samuel | Donald Harris | George Cook | Alan Styler | Jon Ellison | Michael Buchan |
| Frederic | Leonard Osborn | Thomas Round | Philip Potter | Colin Wright | Meston Reid |
| Sergeant | Richard Watson | Kenneth Sandford | George Cook | Michael Rayner | Clive Harre |
| Mabel | Muriel Harding | Jean Hindmarsh | Valerie Masterson | Julia Goss | Vivian Tierney |
| Edith | Joan Gillingham | Joyce Wright | Peggy Ann Jones | Patricia Leonard | Jill Pert |
| Kate | Joyce Wright | Elizabeth Howarth | Pauline Wales | Caroline Baker | Helene Witcombe |
| Isabel | Enid Walsh | Jane Fyffe | Susan Maisey | Rosalind Griffiths | Alexandra Hann |
| Ruth | Ella Halman | Ann Drummond-Grant | Christene Palmer | Lyndsie Holland | Patricia Leonard |
At least three of the songs have been used in whole or in part in other contexts:
The Major-General's Song has been used for other fast-singing lyrics, such as Tom Lehrer's song, The Elements (song).
*The tune for the chorus for With cat-like tread, which begins "Come, friends, who plough the sea..." is also known as the tune for "Hail, hail, the gang's all here..."
With cat-like tread and Modern Major General were both parodied in an episode of Animaniacs. The former was changed to a song about surfing a whale, and the latter became a song by Yakko Warner about his comedic talents.* Pirates of Penzance - The Ballet!
* The Pirate Movie*
* Also, five supplements, privately printed.
* * The Pirates of Penzance at The Gilbert & Sullivan Archive
* The Pirates of Penzance at The Gilbert & Sullivan Discography
* The Pirates of Penzance at IMDB
* Papp's Pirates at The Internet Broadway Database
