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Pirates of Penzance or "The Slave of Duty" is a Gilbert & Sullivan parody in which a most unique band of pirates is shown to be more honest than so-called "respectable people." It also shows the foibles of the English class system as it existed in the 19th Century.
Lee High School's Lyric Theatre presents this operetta about a young pirate apprentice named Frederic who has come to the end of his indentured period. As it turns out, Frederic was indentured by mistake. His half-deaf nurse had been instructed to apprentice him to a "pilot" but got it a little wrong.
At any rate, Frederic has decided to leave the pirate life forever and, though he loves his comrades dearly, devote his life to the extermination of their kind. However, since he is until the stroke of midnight still one of them, he feels obliged to point out the pirates' weakness--they are too softhearted. Apparently, all a captive must do is plead to being an orphan and he is immediately released!
The fun and foibles begin as Frederic leaves the island, discovers a Major General's assortment of beautiful daughters, encounters the pirates once again, is forced back into service to the pirates and, after many struggles, eventually, lives happily ever after.
This popular opera had its premiere on December 31, 1879, at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York with Arthur Sullivan conducting. It opened on April 3, 1880, at the Opera Comique in London and ran for 363 performances.
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