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

February 21, 22, 28, 29*, 2020 at 8pm
February 23** & March 1, 2020 at 2pm

Directed by Amy M. Sullivan / Music Direction by Joseph Sorge
Choreography by Jacklyn Rogers

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

*Celebrate Frederic's 21st Birthday on 2/29 (LEAP DAY!)​**Community Outreach Matinee on 2/23
  • 12:45-1:30pm: Backstage tours 
  • Post-show talk-back session with cast and crew immediately following the performance.

Cast

Major-General Stanley - Gary Sullivan
The Pirate King - Jonathan Caudill
Mabel - Rebecca Kaye
Frederic - Billy Binion
Ruth - Colleen Robinson Miller
Samuel - Alexander Dennis
Sergeant of Police - Michael Beder
Kate - Chelsea Laurik
Edith - Amanda Jones
Isabel - Helen Aberger

Chorus of Pirates, Police and General Stanley's Daughters
Ron Anzalone, Stephen Brown, Alexandra Burris, Christopher Costabile, Hannah Fan*, Lillian Hoehl, Chuck Howell, Rand Huntzinger, Ralph Johnson, Brett Jordan, Carl Maryott, Deb Peetz, Dave Robinson, Bill Rogers, Jacklyn Rogers, Kathie Rogers, Maureen Roult, Michael Silber, Cheryl Stafford, Rusty Suter, Ed Vilade, Michael Wolyniec, Kent Woods

* ​Mabel Cover

Production Staff

Producer - Denise Young
Assistant Director - Tony Strowd Hamilton
Assistant Music Director - Amy Broadbent
Choreographer - Jacklyn Rogers
Assistant Choreographer - Kathie Rogers
Stage Manager - Douglas Maryott

Scenic Design - Bill Pressly
Lighting Design - Matthew Bailey
Costume Design - Stacey Hamilton
Technical Director - Bill Rogers
Hair & Make-up Design - Maureen Roult
Properties - Carl and Jane Maryott 
Accompanists - Ross Capon, Judy Gardner

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)