In February, coming off a semi-lockdown for Sonoma County spurred by the worrisome rise of the Omicron variant, the Sonoma State University Music Theatre Production launched (yup) The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan. This was my first time directing a full production at SSU, and I was thrilled, challenged, supported, and delighted during this six month process. I offer deepest thanks to my colleagues, all the crew and production team, and of course to the wonderfully brave and hilarious student cast. Below is my director’s note, as well as links to the program pdf, and a video of our final performance. In the pirates’ own words, what a “first rate opportunity” this was!
The Pirates of Penzance is a wonderful operetta to explore with students, because it remains musically and comedically accessible a century and a half after its premiere. The performers began their learning with the text, searching it for relevance to their modern lives and sense of humor. Many of them are for the first time facing the daunting but thrilling challenge of acting with an accent while delivering lightning-fast comedic beats and vigorous physical comedy. Most of the Pirates and Police play a swing role—singing two or more chorus parts, singing other parts offstage, and standing in for principals in rehearsals. Swings are the lynchpin of any theatre production, and have become even more indispensable in the era of live theatre during COVID. Our industrious student stage managers and assistant director have kept us organized and safe throughout.
Though Pirates contains challenging moments of sexism and classism, it afforded us a unique opportunity to move the characters of Ruth and the Stanley sisters in the direction of equality and respect. The mute play during our overture is not included in Gilbert’s libretto, but frees Ruth to be a crafty and willing “piratical maid-of-all-work” in and out of love with the Pirate King, and gives their dynamic with Frederic the back story of a dozen years of nautical family life. Likewise, rather than confining the Stanley sisters to the “three little maids” function so often used for the treble chorus in G&S’ works, we took Gilbert’s own cue as he introduced them climbing and exploring the sea cliffs of Penzance. Our Stanleys are beset by men attempting to decide their fates, but throughout they clamber, resist, and jostle their way out of the pirates’ clutches. In the end they are saved by their own cleverness and a surprise assist from an omnipotent queen.
In this production we have opted for a traditional look and temporal placement, without the restrictions of absolute historical accuracy. The dénouement of the plot rests on secret nobility, which again has been spun away from strict Victorian deference to the concept of peerage. Our wonderful scenic, costume, sound, and lighting design team has created an idealistic and fantastical world of Penzance, in which pirates are menacing but not deadly, damsels athletically rove to find and then rescue their husbands, and nobility is attached to choices and actions, rather than birth or station.
Please feel free to laugh out loud and to engage with the performers in the lobby after the show. We hope you enjoy your time in Penzance. Visit the Music and Theatre Arts pages on our website to learn about all the wonderful live performances happening this spring. Your presence in the audience sustains and inspires us. Thank you!
Justin Montigne, February, 2022