Opera Unlimited to Present THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

The students of the Opera Unlimited Summer Youth Opera Day Camp will present a fully-staged abridged production of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Pirates of Penzance on July 10th and 11th at 7 PM in the Highland High School Performing Arts Center.

The Pirates of Penzance is the only Gilbert and Sullivan operetta to premier in the United States: it opened at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York in December 1879, with Sullivan conducting. Pirates is one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most performed operettas with some of their most-loved music.

The story concerns Frederic, who, having completed his 21st year, is released from an unfortunate apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley, and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic meanwhile has arranged for a police force to help defeat his former buccaneering comrades. However, Frederic soon learns that he was born on 29 February, and so, technically, he only has a birthday each leap-year. His indenture specifies that he remain apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday and that he must serve for another 63 years. Bound by his own sense of duty, Frederic's only solace is that Mabel agrees to wait for him faithfully. Meanwhile the pirates have planned to attack the Major-General and come to rob his estate. The Sergeant and his police force await them. They meet. All is happily resolved after the ensuing battle.

The Pirates of Penzance features some of Gilbert and Sullivan's best music and lyrics including their most famous patter song ("I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General"), and "Come Friends Who Plough the Sea", which was later used as the music in the popular American song "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here."

The production is directed by Cy & Jane Hoffman, with musical direction by Loretta Robinson and choreography by Kiersten Johnson. Pianist Zach Kear will accompany the sixty two cast members.

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE will be presented on July 10th and 11th at 7 PM in the Highland High School Performing Arts Center, near the corner of Jackson St. and Zuni Rd SE, Albuquerque, NM. Admission is free with donations requested to benefit Opera Unlimited's educational programs throughout New Mexico. For information call 822-0849.

Opera Unlimited is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing music education for New Mexico school children.