Be prepared for a night of pirate talk at the Zenith Theatre in Chatswood. Chatswood Music Society have done it again, produced another great show for the North Shore.
I am ashamed to say this is the first time I have seen Pirates of Penzance, though I did know some of the songs. As I have nothing to compare it too I have to say that it was the best production of Pirates of Penzance I have seen!
Pirates of Penzance is written by Gilbert and Sullivan and is classed as a comic opera, though unlike many operas it does have spoken dialogue as well as sung. It opens with the Pirates and Frederic, Frederic having just turned 21 can now leave the Pirates as he has served his apprentice to them, and explore the world and in particular women! He does indeed meet several young ladies and falls in love with Mabel. The girls are all the daughters of the Major General and the pirates have decided that they should take them for their wives. The police prepare to fight the pirates to keep the daughters save. Frederic however finds that as his birthday falls on a leap year he has had only 5 birthdays not 21! Mabel however, says that she will wait for him! The pirates and the police fight and the Major General is captured, but appeals to the Pirates sense on honour and it all turns out well in the end.
As you can imagine to get a Pirate ship and then the General's house on the same stage wasn't easy, but it was kept simple and even the actors were involved in moving some of the staging as part of the production. It is quite a small stage, I did feel a little sorry for the musicians as they did seem a little squashed. However, this didn't seem to effect their performance! The musicians were also involved with some the actors on stage which was very amusing.
Georgia Burley played Mabel, she has an incredible voice as did all of the singers particularly the women. The 'girls' were a delight to watch and reminded me a little of the Sound of Music with the flowing dresses. The choreography was complex and there was lots happening on the stage. I did feel at times it could have been simplified to give the audience the chance to listen to the singing and words rather than the dancing. The King Pirate played by Andrew Dickson is obviously a Johnny Depp, Jack Sparrow fan and who isn't? There are subtle similarities between the two during this performance.
It was a very enjoyable night. It is playing at the Zenith Theatre until 10 May, so get your tickets now by clicking here
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