You may be familiar with the lines from “Pretty Woman” with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, “I almost peed my pants”…”She liked it better than Pirates of Penzance”. Then come see the musical that made this line come alive on the stage. The Pirates Of Penzance is coming to Jacksonville’s Times – Union Center’s Moran Theater for one performance only! This New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players production is your chance to get carried away by Pirates! The rich sounds of a 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 operetta alive and exciting to a modern audience.
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 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 The Pirates Of Penzance 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 Campbells soup to Handi-wipes, cars, newspapers and other items.
The Pirates Of Penzance 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 PIRATES OF PENZANCE
DATE: Tuesday, March 12, 2013
TIME: Show starts at 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Times Union Center Performing Arts
Moran Theater
300 West Water St.
Jacksonville, FL 32202
TICKETS: (Vary) Tickets start at $37.00 and are available at the Artist Series Box Office between 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday, at (904) 442-BWAY {2292} or online 24/7. Discounts are available for groups of 10+ by calling (904) 442-2947 or groupsales@fscj.edu.
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