Pirates Of Penzance - Critique Essay - 898 Words

Pirates of Penzance - Critique The Pirates of Penzance was an opera performed by the Southwest Texas Opera Workshop. The Pirates of Penzance, composed by Gilbert amp; Sullivan, is a light-hearted parody of the traditional opera. This opera takes place somewhere in the British Virgin Islands. It is about a boy, Federic, who is to be apprenticed by his nurse, Ruth, to become a pilot. Ruth mistakes the word pilot for pirate and apprentices him to a band of pirates. She, too, remains with them as a maid-of-all-work. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Act I opens with the celebration of Frederic’s coming of age. He is planning to leave the pirates and devote his life to the eradication of piracy. Now that Frederic has come of age, Ruth wishes†¦show more content†¦While this goes on, the Pirate King and Ruth discover Frederic was born on February 29, leap year. This discovery leads them to realize that Frederic has only had 5 birthdays, making him well short of the 21 years he must serve the pirates. Upon learning this, Frederic rejoins the pirates and tells them of the Major-General’s deception he practiced upon them. The Major-General is once again seized by the pirates, only to be rescued by the police. Ruth, however, explains to the police and Major-General Stanley that the pirates are truly noblemen gone wrong and gets them pardoned. They are in turn permitted to marry the Major-General’s many daughters. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Friday, January 29 performance that I attended contained many extraordinary performances, especially that of Frederic, Mabel, the Major-General Stanley and the Pirate King. Although the entire cast was good, these performances stood out the most. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Matthew Kendrick did a wonderful job as Frederic. His voice was smooth and clear, though a bit soft. His quieter voice made it difficult to understand most of the words he was singing, especially when his back was to the audience. He seemed a little uneasy on stage by himself, but his chemistry when on stage with Pam Brumley, who played the part of Mabel, was outstanding. What Kendrick lacked in sound she made up for with her strong, crisp voice. Their voices blended together nicely during their