Pirates of Penzance

Yesterday I posted on Facebook a quick review of the local production of Pirates of Penzance that I attended with my sister Grace and niece Tina. It was done by the Gillette Community Theatre group with the High School Drama Club.

It was terrific fun!

It will be performed again on August 15 and 16, and it would be a bargain at many times the $5 price of admission.

The piratical orchestra on the ship's deck. The pirate hat in the back is on the head of
grandnephew Steven Matsunaga, trumpet player. From where I sat I never saw his face.

Pirates is an old Gilbert and Sullivan musical comedy, totally nonsensical and totally fun. We have some good singers and actors in this town! It was a tremendously ambitious undertaking, as it is not only a musical with some challenging vocal ranges required, but it has a huge cast. And they pulled it off!


I snapped a few photos, but put my little camera away when I realized it was on an auto setting that was using the flash even though I had manually cancelled the flash (flash forbidden in the theater). In the dim lighting I could not see well enough to reset the camera for low light and no flash. So I did not get any photos of one of my favorite parts, which came in the second act, after the intermission. The (very goofy) troupe of Her Majesty's Royal Police Force was made up of children--some as young as five years old. There were a lot of them and they did their part amazingly well. A five-year-old in a police uniform and a mustache can't help but be funny and adorable. I was amazed at how well they did their part. It was quite complicated in action, song, and dance.

I want to go see this great show again!