The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players will utilize costumes and props for a semi-staged production of "The Pirates of Penzance."If you go• What: "The Pirates of Penzance" featuring the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players• When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15• Where: Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St.• Admission: $21-$81• Phone: 423-650-4258• Website: www.chattanoogasymphony.orgA summaryThanks to a misunderstanding by his hard-of-hearing nurse, dutiful young Frederic is mistakenly apprenticed to a merry band of bumbling, ineffective pirates. On the occasion of his 21st birthday and the end of his indenture, Frederic celebrates his return to civilization. He soon falls in love with a beautiful girl, Mabel, but the pirates capture her and several other girls in the hopes of marrying them.The girls are the wards of a major-general, Stanley, who deceives the pirates into releasing them. When it comes to light that Frederic was born on a leap year and thus has served only five years of his apprenticeship, he feels honor-bound to rejoin their ranks. After Frederic reveals the major-general's deception, the pirates vow revenge and embark on a quest to retrieve their would-be brides, leading to a conclusion that is as unlikely as it is happy.
Albert BergeretAbout the New York Gilbert & Sullivan PlayersFounded in 1974, the company of professional repertory singers, actors, dancers and musicians has presented more than 2,000 performances of Gilbert & Sullivan works throughout the eastern United States and Canada. The performers are led by artistic director Albert Bergeret, who New York Magazine dubbed "the leading custodian of the G&S classics." Their work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post and People Magazine.
To some, the idea of a comically absurd opera probably seems counter to the stuffy stereotypical description of the art form. Clearly, those people are unfamiliar with the work of Gilbert & Sullivan.
The portfolio of the famed British operatic duo is rife with humorous scenarios wherein fairies have love affairs with government officials ("Iolanthe") and flirting warrants a death sentence ("The Mikado").
By comparison, the tale in "The Pirates of Penzance" of a crew of noble scallywags and their honorable, lovesick apprentice seems almost banal, says Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Executive Director Molly Sasse.
"The storyline is appropriately silly," she laughs. "Some of the Gilbert & Sullivan plots are just really ridiculous; this one is only moderately ridiculous."
This Saturday, Nov. 15, the CSO will present a production of "Pirates" in partnership with 10 members of the internationally acclaimed New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. The company is led by artistic director Albert Bergeret.
As a semi-staged event, the performance will be presented in a slightly less extravagant form than a full production, Sasse says. Members of the acting company will employ props and will appear in full costume, but there will be no scenery, and they will share the stage at the Tivoli Theatre with the CSO orchestra and chorus.
Nevertheless, Sasse says, the 135-year-old opera should still manage to captivate, thanks to its playfully timeless humor and well-known music, including the show's most notoriously tongue-twisting number, "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General."
"It's usually done by a baritone, and everyone loves watching him get through the patter. It's just fun," Sasse says. "This is a concert version [of the opera], but I think the gist of it will still be there - the silliness and the colorful costumes. I think people will still enjoy it."
Even in its slightly stripped-back form, Sasse says Saturday's production should be a welcome reprieve to those who have patiently endured five years since the Tivoli's last operatic production.
"We are thrilled to bring opera back to the Tivoli stage," she says. "The last grand opera production we did was 'La Boheme' ... in 2009. We've had some opera concerts where we featured people singing opera arias or choruses, and we'll be doing that in the spring as well, but it's been a while since we've had even a semi-staged opera production."
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.