The Pirates of Penzance, Seattle Opera

This is Seattle Opera’s first Gilbert and Sullivan production. Hopefully it won’t be the last, because it was wonderful. The star of the show is of course the music. The score is catchy and fun, and you’ll recognize so many melodies. And the lyrics are so smart! Fun and hysterical at the same time. The whole show is quite cheeky and leaves the audience smiling throughout. This show is a slight departure in that there is a lot of spoken dialogue, but pretty much every song is good.  All of the cast was having a good time, Frederic, the Pirate King and of course the Major-General. The plot is all good natured fun, with the pirates who are bad at pirating, incompetent major-generals, and poor Frederic who is loyal but just wants to see a pretty girl. You can’t take it too seriously, just go along for the ride.

The sets weren’t very elaborate but not spare either. The pirate ship in the first act is fun, as are all the pirate costumes. In fact, a lot of the audience was in pirate attire, so the people watching before the show was a show of its own.