When “The Pirates of Penzance” opened in London in 1880, British squadrons were stationed at the four corners of the globe. The empire was at flood tide. The quality most esteemed by the aristocracy that ruled from its vertex was “virility,” according to a biography of one of the era’s most prominent diplomats. He, and the rest of the establishment, believed “it was the duty of every Englishman to render his own country more powerful, richer and larger than any other country.”
“Slave to duty” is, of course, the original subtitle of “Pirates of Penzance,” and among the many other things which this Gilbert and Sullivan opera might be, it is a comic, subversive and anarchic take down not only of England’s imperial pretensions but of the “virility” that purportedly girded and justified those pretensions. And as for “duty,” well, that is something that must be resisted by every human impulse: conscience, erotic love, self-preservation.
The Seagle Festival’s production of “Pirates of Penzance,” which will be presented on July 10 at 7:30 pm, on July 11 at 2 pm and on Saturday, July 12 at 7:30 pm, brings the opera’s underlying transgressive humor to the surface, thanks to the strategies of director Richard Kagey and the impeccable comic acting of the singers, whose hilarity, insights and sophistication strike one as far, far advanced for their age and experience or for the time allotted them to meld into a troupe that on stage is as cohesive as Monty Python.
You may have seen one “Pirates” after another in community theater, summer camp or college. Kagey’s staging strips those accretions of associations from this simple, barebones production and allows one to appreciate, as though for the first time, a musical that is as rollicking and as absurd as a P.G. Wodehouse novel. You cannot help but laugh at “the virility” of unsuccessful pirates who, aristos all, sip sherry rather than guzzle rum and of a fey constabulary fearful of its own shadow, or at the aristocratic pretensions of the “modern major general” who may not know who these ancestors of the former owner of his country house were, but he certainly knows whose they are now – his.
Lyric baritone John Drake, who is completing his graduate studies in opera at Temple and who plays the Pirate King, is both a wonderful singer and a fine comedic actor. The versatile Claire Iverson (she appeared in Cold Mountain last year) is equally wonderful as Mabel. As Major General Stanley, Will Jordan ignores – and supercedes – all conventional interpretations of that role. Andrew Peterson plays the vapidity of Frederic – the slave to duty of the title – for all that it is worth. But however outstanding every singer on stage is, and no matter how impressive they are as an ensemble, the singer and actor to watch is Aubrey Campbell, the rising senior from Hamilton College who plays Sergeant of Police. In addition to his once-in-a-generation singing voice, he is an actor whose slightest gesture or change in facial expressions convey a character and his story.
By the way, if the Pirate King and the Sergeant of Police remind you of weekend cable tv hosts, small state governors and minor celebrities donning camo and parading with armed forces – well, you might think that. We couldn’t possibly comment.
Seagle Festival is located at 999 Charley Hill Road, Schroon Lake, NY. For tickets and information, call 518-532-7875 or visit seaglefestival.org.
