The Pirates of Penzance

Lamplighters Music Theatre presents this swashbuckling comedy classic. Wacky, irreverent, and as entertaining today as it was when it first opened in 1879, The Pirates Of Penzance, or, The Slave of Duty spins a hilarious farce of sentimental pirates, bumbling policemen, dim-witted young lovers, dewy-eyed daughters, and an eccentric Major-General, all morally bound to the often-ridiculous dictates of honor and duty.

One of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular comic operas, The Pirates Of Penzance… Show more follows the story of Frederic, an orphan who was mistakenly apprenticed to a pirate instead of a pilot, due to a hard-of-hearing nurse. Upon reaching his 21st birthday, Frederic rejoices that he has fulfilled his indenture and is now free to return to respectable society, but in a cruel twist of fate, he must remain apprenticed to the pirates for another 63 years. Mayhem ensues in true Gilbert and Sullivan style, featuring a gaggle of soft-hearted pirates, a Major-General who knows nothing of military strategy, his beautiful unwed daughters, and a chorus of bumbling constabulary, all contributing to one of the most uproarious operettas in the history of musical theatre.

Featuring some of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most well-known songs, including “Poor Wand’ring One” and “A Modern Major=General,” The Pirates Of Penzance simultaneously debuted in England and America in order to secure the copyright for the production in 1879.

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