It's only been four years since
The Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company did The Pirates of Penzance, but I'm not mad about the repeat.
Pirates is my favorite G&S opera and the one that introduced me to the British team that wrote 14 comic operas in the late 19th century. And GSVLOC has done all of them in their 40+ years, so repeats are bound to happen. And this
Pirates has a twist. Since G&S operas are in the public domain, companies are free to adapt them (see also 2024's
The McAdo, which sets the original Japanese story of
The Mikado in Scotland), and here director Joe Andrews has set the story in the Old West. But not
Ken Burn's Old West (as a charming introductory slide show tells us), rather MGM's Old West, like those classic colorful mid-Century musicals. It works quite well, and brings in a bit of American history, some twangy deliveries, a few bars of Western songs, and just a dash of
The Book of Mormon. But what hasn't changed is this gorgeous score (that includes one of my favorite music-theater moments), and GSVLOC's usual huge cast and off-stage orchestra, both numbering 30+. See this fun new twist on a classic at the
Conn Theater inside Plymouth Congregational Church in South Minneapolis through November 22.
