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 After the sensational success of H.M.S. Pinafore, many American
performing companies presented unauthorized versions of that opera.
Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte decided to prevent that from happening again
by presenting official versions of their next opera, The Pirates of
Penzance, or The Slave of Duty simultaneously in England and America.
The opera premiered on December 31, 1879 at the Fifth Avenue Theater in
New York with Sullivan conducting, but a single performance had been
given on the previous day at the Royal Bijou Theatre, Paignton, England,
to secure the British copyright. Finally, the opera opened on April 3,
1880, at the Opéra Comique in London, where it ran for 363 performances,
having already been playing successfully for over three months in New
York.
On December 10, 1879, Sullivan had written 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 and takes its place today as one of the most
popular and enduring works of musical theatre.
Pirates was the fifth Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration and introduced
the much-parodied Major-General's Song. The opera was performed for a
century by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Britain and many other
opera companies and repertory companies worldwide.
It has received several modernised productions, including Joseph Papp's
1981 production on Broadway, which ran for 787 performances, winning the
Tony Award for Best Revival and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding
Musical, and spawned many imitations. Pirates remains popular today,
taking its place along with The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore as one of the
most frequently played Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
Synopsis (courtesy Sam Silvers)
On the coast of Cornwall, at the time of Queen Victoria's reign,
Frederic, a young man with a strong sense of duty, celebrates, amidst
the pirates, the completion of his twenty-first year and the apparent
end of his apprenticeship ("Pour, oh pour the pirate sherry"). The
pirates' maid of all work, Ruth, appears and reveals that, as Frederic's
nursemaid long ago ("When Frederic was a little lad"), she had made a
mistake "through being hard of hearing": she had misheard Frederic's
father's instructions and apprenticed him to a pirate, instead of to a
ship's pilot.
Frederic has never seen any woman other than Ruth, and he believes her
to be beautiful. The pirates know better and suggest that Frederic take
Ruth with him when he returns to civilisation. Frederic announces that,
although it pains him to do so, such is his sense of duty that, once
free from his apprenticeship, he will be forced to devote himself to
their extermination. He points out that they are not very successful
pirates, since, being orphans themselves, they allow their prey to go
free if they too are orphans. Frederic notes that word of this has got
about, so captured ships' companies routinely claim to be orphans.
Frederic invites the pirates to give up piracy and go with him, so that
he need not destroy them, but the Pirate King notes that, compared with
respectability, piracy is comparatively honest ("Oh! better far to live
and die"). The pirates depart, leaving Frederic and Ruth. Frederic sees a
group of beautiful young girls approaching the pirate lair, and
realises that Ruth lied to him about her appearance ("Oh false one! You
have deceived me!"). Sending Ruth away, Frederic hides before the girls
arrive.
The girls burst exuberantly upon the secluded spot ("Climbing over rocky
mountain"). Frederic reveals himself ("Stop, ladies, pray!") and
appeals to them to help him reform ("Oh! is there not one maiden
breast?"). One of them, Mabel, responds to his plea, and chides her
sisters for their lack of charity ("Oh sisters deaf to pity's name for
shame!"). She sings to him ("Poor wand'ring one"), and Frederic and
Mabel quickly fall in love. The other girls contemplate whether to
eavesdrop or to leave the new couple alone ("What ought we to do?"), and
eventually decide to "talk about the weather," although they steal a
glance or two at the affectionate couple ("How beautifully blue the
sky").
Frederic warns the girls of the pirates nearby ("Stay, we must not lose
our senses"), but before they can flee, the pirates arrive and capture
all the girls, intending to marry them ("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"). He appeals to
the pirates not to take his daughters, leaving him to face his old age
alone. Having heard of the famous Pirates of Penzance, he pretends that
he is an orphan to elicit their sympathy ("Oh, men of dark and dismal
fate"). The soft-hearted pirates are sympathetic and release the girls
("Hail, Poetry!"), making Major-General Stanley and his daughters
honorary members of their band ("Pray observe the magnanimity").
Act II
The Major-General sits in a ruined chapel on his estate, surrounded by
his daughters. His conscience is tortured by the lie that he told the
pirates, and the girls attempt to console him ("Oh dry the glist'ning
tear"). The Sergeant of Police and his corps arrive to announce their
readiness to go forth to arrest the pirates ("When the foeman bares his
steel"). The girls loudly express their admiration of the police for
facing likely slaughter at the hands of fierce and merciless foes. The
police are unnerved by this, and remain around (to the Major-General's
frustration) but finally leave.
Left alone, Frederic, who is to lead the group, pauses to reflect on his
opportunity to atone for a life of piracy ("Now for the pirate's
lair"), at which point he encounters Ruth and the Pirate King. It has
occurred to them 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 29 February (in a leap year), it means that technically
only five birthdays have passed ("When you had left our pirate fold"),
and he will not reach his twenty-first birthday until he is in his
eighties. Frederic is convinced by this logic that he must rejoin the
pirates, and thus he sees it as his duty to inform the Pirate King of
the Major-General's deception. The outraged outlaw declares that their
"revenge will be swift and terrible" ("Away, away, my heart's on fire").
Frederic meets Mabel ("All is prepared"), and she pleads with him to
stay ("Stay Frederic, stay"), but he explains that he must fulfil his
duty to the pirates until his 21st birthday in 1940. He promises to
return then and claim her. They agree to be faithful to each other until
then, though to Mabel "It seems so long" ("Oh here is love and here is
truth"), and Frederic departs. Mabel steels herself ("No, I'll be
brave") and tells the police that they must go alone to face the
pirates. They muse that an outlaw might be just like any other man, and
it is a shame to deprive him of "that liberty which is so dear to all"
("When a felon's not engaged in his employment"). The police 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"). Just then, the Major-General appears, sleepless with guilt, and
the pirates also hide, while General Stanley listens to the soothing
sighing of the breeze ("Sighing softly to the river"). The girls come
looking for him ("Now what is this and what is that"). The pirates leap
to the attack, and the police rush to the defence; but the police are
easily defeated, and the Pirate King urges the captured Major-General to
prepare for death. 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 "all noblemen who have gone wrong". The
Major-General is impressed by this and all is forgiven. Frederic and
Mabel are reunited, and the Major-General is happy to marry his
daughters to the noble pirates after all
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