Winner of the 2015 Ruby Griffith Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Musical!

Gibert & Sullivan's
The Pirates of Penzance
(or The Slave of Duty)

June 12*, 13, 14, 20 & 21, 2014 at 8pm
June 15**, 21** & 22, 2014 at 2pm

Directed by Felicity Ann Brown
Music Direction by Joseph Sorge

The F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre
Rockville Civic Center
603 Edmonston Dr. Rockville, MD 20851

*Special $12 preview performance

**Community Outreach Matinees on 6/15 & 6/21: 
  • 12:45-1:30pm: Backstage tours,  a special treasure chest craft activity, temporary pirate tattoos, and meet The Pirate King! 
  • Post-show talk-back session with cast and crew immediately following the performance.
This production is appropriate for all ages (particularly because it is quite silly!)

Cast

Major-General Stanley - George Willis
The Pirate King - Jeffrey Gates
Samuel, his Lieutenant - Rick Dupuy
Frederic, the Pirate Apprentice - Timothy Ziese
Sergeant of Police - Tom Goode
Mabel - Keely Borland (6/12, 6/14, 6/20, 6/21 8pm) 
              & Courtney Kalbacker (6/13, 6/15, 6/21 2pm, 6/22)
Edith - Rachel Ackerman
Kate -  Amanda Jones
Isabel - Stevie Miller
Ruth - Wendy Stengel

Chorus of Pirates, Police and General Stanley's Daughters 
(& their governesses)
Helen Aberger, Brian Beard, Denise Cross, Kayla Cummings,
Kris Devine, Tara Hockensmith, Chuck Howell, 
Rand Huntzinger, Ralph Johnson, Joanna Jones, Josh Katz, 
Erik Kreil, Lauren Lentini, Carl Maryott, Jane Maryott, 
Josh Milton, Rowyn Peel, Brian Polk, Bill Rogers, 
Kevin Schellhase, Sarah Seider, Barbara Semiatin, Ed Vilade, 
Maria Wilson, Kent Woods

Orchestra

Violin I - Steve Natrella (CM), Bonnie Barrows, Carolyn Larson, 
                Irv Berner
Violin II - Peter Mignerey, Martin Brown, Edwin Schneider, 
                 Cassie Conley
Viola - Amanda Laudwein, Stephanie Cross
Cello - Michael Stein, Sheryl Friedlander, Andrew Nixon
Bass - Pete Gallanis
Flute - Jackie Miller, Louise Hill
Oboe - Gwen Earle
Bassoon - Steve Wechsler, Betsy Haanes
Clarinet - Laura Langbein, Laura Bornhoeft
Horn - Joe Cross, Lora Katz, Gail Hixenbaugh
Trumpet - Curt Anstine, Rick Pasciuto, Tom Gleason
Trombone - Steve Ward, Frank Eliot, Al Potter
Percussion - George Huttlin

Production Staff

Producer - Denise Young
Assistant Music Director - Jenny Craley Bland
Choreography - Felicity Ann Brown,  Amanda Jones & Helen Aberger
Assistant Director - Helen Aberger
Stage Manager - Douglas Maryott
Assistant Stage Manager - Tony Dwyer
Master Carpenter - Devin Work
Lighting Design - Noam Lautman
House Manager - Cassandra Stevens
Make Up Designer - Renee Silverstone
Surtitle Operator - Annie Gribbin

Special thanks to:

The Pirates of Penzance is supported in part by funding from the Montgomery County government and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.



5 stars says DC Metro Theater Arts!
"The Victorian Lyric Opera Company and Director Felicity Ann Brown triumph in this dazzling production."
Read the review!


"The current Victorian Lyric Opera Company (VLOC) production in Rockville is a very lively effort both the musical and staging aspects of which succeed delightfully." - Bob Ashby, ShowBizRadio (Read more)

Synopsis

Act I: Penzance, along the Cornwall coast
When Frederic was a little boy, Ruth, his nurse, was told to apprentice him to become a pilot. She misheard the word and apprenticed him to become a pirate, remaining with them as a maid-of-all-work. Although Frederic loathed the trade to which he had thus been bound, he dutifully served; and, as the curtain rises, his indentures are almost up and he is preparing to leave the band and devote himself to the extermination of piracy. He urges the pirates to join him in a more lawful calling, but they refuse. Ruth, however, wishes to become his wife. Having seen but few women, he does not know whether she is really as pretty as she says she is, but he finally consents to take her. Just then a group of girls, all the wards of Major-General Stanley, happen upon the scene. Frederic sees their beauty - and Ruth's plainness - and renounces her. Of these girls, Mabel takes a particular interest in Frederic, and he in her. The other girls are seized by the pirates and threatened with immediate marriage. When the Major General arrives, he can dissuade the pirates only by a ruse: he tells them that he is an orphan, and so works upon their sympathies that they let him and his wards go free.

 Act II: The chapel at Tremorden Castle
This lie troubles the Major-General: he sits brooding over it at night in a ruined chapel. He is consoled by his wards' sympathy and Frederic's plan of immediately leading a band of police against the pirates. Meanwhile, the Pirate King and Ruth appear and tell Frederic that they have discovered that his indentures were to run until his 21st birthday, and - as he was born on February 29th - he has really had as yet only five birthdays. Obeying the dictates of his strong sense of duty, he immediately rejoins the pirates. He tells them of the deception that has been practiced upon them, and they seize and bind the Major General. But the police come to the rescue and charge the pirates to yield, "in Queen Victoria's name." This they do. Then Ruth explains that these men who appear to be lawless pirates are really "noblemen who have gone wrong," and they are pardoned and permitted to marry the Major General's wards.

Musical Selections

Act I
  • Pour, O Pour the Pirate Sherry (Pirates & Samuel)
  • When Frederic was a Little Lad (Ruth)
  • Oh, Better Far to Live and Die (Pirate King, Pirates)
  • Oh, False One, You Have Deceived Me (Frederic, Ruth)
  • Climbing Over Rocky Mountain (Girls, Edith, & Kate)
  • Stop, Ladies, Pray! (Frederic, Edith, Kate & Girls)
  • Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast (Frederic, Mabel & Girls)
  • Poor Wandering One! (Mabel & Girls)
  • What Ought We to Do (Edith, Kate & Girls)
  • How Beautifully Blue the Sky (Girls, Mabel & Frederic)
  • Stay, We Must Not Lose Our Senses (Frederic, Girls & Pirates)
  • Hold Monsters (Mabel, Samuel, Major-General, Girls & Pirates)
  • I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major-General (Major General, Girls & Pirates)
  • Oh, Men of Dark and Dismal Fate (Major General, Pirate King & Ensemble
Act II
  • Oh, Dry the Glistening Tear (Girls & Mabel)
  • Then, Frederic, Let Your Escort Lion Hearted (Major General & Frederic)
  • When the Foeman Bares His Steel (Sergeant, Mabel, Edith, Major General, Police & Girls)
  • Now for the Pirates’ Lair (Frederic, Pirate King & Ruth)
  • When You had Left Our Pirate Fold (Pirate King, Ruth & Frederic)
  • Away, Away! My Heart’s on Fire (Ruth, Pirate King & Frederic)
  • All is Prepared (Mabel & Frederic)
  • Stay, Frederic, Stay! (Mabel & Frederic)
  • No, I am Brave! (Mabel, Sergeant & Police)
  • When a Felon’s not Engaged in His Employment (Sergeant & Police)
  • A Rollicking Band of Pirates We (Pirates, Sergeant & Police)
  • With Cat-Like Tread, Upon Our Prey We Steal (Pirates, Police, Samuel, Frederic, & Pirate King)
  • Hush, Hush! Not a Word (Frederic, Pirates & Police)
  • Sighing Softly to the River (Major-General & Ensemble)
  • Poor Wandering One (Company)