The Very Model of a Modern Major Musical: Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore
W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan’s classic comedic opera comes to life at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore! The Pirates of Penzance follows hopeful orphan Frederic in his mistaken apprenticeship with a wild band of singing, dancing pirates! Frederic’s story takes a drastic turn when he falls in love with Mabel,
“If you give me your attention, I
will tell you what I am. I’m a genuine philanthropist, all other kinds are
sham. Each little fault of temper and each social defect in my erring fellow
creatures, I endeavor to correct.”
Thus ironically, in more ways than
one, proclaims The royal Gama, King and delightful foil in Gilbert and
Sullivan’s Princess Ida (or) Castle Adamant, now in its second and
final week with The Victorian Lyric Opera Company in Rockville,
What happens when you combine beauty, love, poetry, song, and satire? You get Patience – an operetta poking fun at the European Aesthetic Movement of the late 19th century – written by the famous composing duo Gilbert and Sullivan. This witty production is now being performed at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre in Rockville, MD by the Victorian Lyric Opera Company, directed by Felicity Ann Brown, with musical direction by Joseph Sorge.
To be a sensation novel author is a most fascinating thing indeed. To play a wicked baronet who isn’t all that wicked is also a curious subject. To play both in one show— and not just any show but the American premier of a Gilbert before Sullivan play is a great honor and sensational experience. In an exclusive TheatreBloom Interview series, we’ve sat down with Baltimore area performer Jim Knost to find out just what it’s like to play in and write the sensation novel in the musical performance of A Sensation Novel: A Musical Play in Three Acts,
Victorian Lyric Opera Company has found a gem in Ruddigore and they have set it in a jewel-piece of a production. It never received much love during its authors’ lifetimes, but in the adept hands of Director Helen Aberger and her tremendously talented cast, it is an absolute delight today. A lesser produced Gilbert & Sullivan work, whose alternate title is The Witch’s Curse, receives Musical Direction from Joseph Sorge and is well worth seeing this hot and humid summer.