The Pirates of Penzance

"The Pirates of Penzance" premiered on Dec. 31, 1879 at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York with Arthur Sullivan conducting. It was an immediate hit and takes its place today as one of the most popular and enduring works of musical theatre. In "The Pirates of Penzance," Frederic was apprenticed as a child to a band of tenderhearted, orphaned pirates by his nurse who, being hard of hearing, had mistaken her employer’s instructions to apprentice the boy to a pilot. Upon completing his 21st year, Frederic rejoices that he has fulfilled his indentures and is now free to return to respectable society. However, it turns out that he was born on February 29 in leap year, and he remains apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday. By opera’s end, the pirates, a Major General who knows nothing of military strategy, his large family of beautiful but unwed daughters, and the timid constabulary all contribute to a cacophony that can be silenced only by Queen Victoria's name.

Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan; libretto by W. S. Gilbert; stage direction by David Radamés Toro; music direction by Brian DeMaris; choreography by Molly Lajoie.

Presented by ASU Music Theatre and Opera. This show is suitable for all audiences.

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