New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players in a performance of the Pirates of Penzance.
Here at Kitty Hawk Kites we’re all about pirates. We’re all about teaching the world to fly too, but pirate were so much a part of the history of the Outer Banks that it just seems natural to let the world know that pirates are a part of who and what we are.
What better way to celebrate pirates and all they mean to the Outer Banks than to have the classic Gilbert and Sullivan operetta the Pirates of Penzance come to the Outer Banks?
Performed Friday September 18, the play is being presented by the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players and that’s pretty impressive; they are generally considered the finest Gilbert and Sullivan troupe in the country. It took a cooperative effort of the Outer Banks Forum, the Don and Catharine Bryan Cultural Series and OBX Pridefest to get them here, but if the performance is as good as we’re sure it will be, it will have been worth it.
The Pirates of Penzance is Gilbert and Sullivan at their most absurd and zaniest best. A lot of laughts, a little bit of slapstick, so for parents who are thinking about introducing kids to musical theatre, this may be a good place to start.
Basic plot . . . or what passes for a plot: A boy was apprenticed to be a “pirate” because his nanny was hard of hearing and mistook pilot for pirate. Luckily he’s now 21 and his apprenticeship is over—except much to his chagrin and his evil pirate master’s delight, he was born on February 29 and he’s really only five years old. Marriage which had been in his future is no longer possible, although his sweetheart has agree to wait for him.
Featuring characters who are as recognizable to day as when the play debuted in 1879, a marvelous sense of the absurd and some of the finest music ever written for stage, make this a must see play. Songs include the classic, “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General”, proving that for over 135 years we have been sticking pins in the hot air of military pomposity.
The performance will be at the First Flight High School Auditorium, which has the stage and acoustics to handle this level of performance.
Tickets are available online from either the Outer Banks Forum or the Don and Catharine Bryan Cultural Series, or at Duck’s Cottage Coffee & Books in Duck, Downtown Books in Manteo, Grays Department Store in Kitty Hawk and Sea Green Gallery in Nags Head.
