Opera on the GO! THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE Study Guide Photography by Eric Woolsey TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction................................................................... 3 Synopsis......................................................................... 4 Cast................................................................................ 5 Creative Team............................................................... 6 About Gilbert & Sullivan William S. Gilbert................................................... 7 Arthur Sullivan........................................................ 8 Richard D'Oyly Carte & the Savoyards................ 9 Abou t The Pirates of Penzance Glossary o f T h e P i r a t e s o f P e n z a n c e .................... 10 Satire & Parody...................................................... 11 Opera at a Glance Glossary of Opera Terms...................................... 12 What is an Operetta?............................................ 13 Let's Put on a Show!.............................................. 14 Additional Resources....................................................15 2 Welcome! Thank you for inviting Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ Opera on the GO! into your school! We are so pleased to share this abridged production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, and to introduce your students to the world of opera. In addition to our performance, mini-workshops in Lighting, Making Music, Dance, and Patter Song will allow students to experience some of the many elements that contribute to a fully-produced opera! Made possible in part by the redFred M M. Sa. Saigh igh Endowmen Endowment at Opera Theatre, and with generous support from BayerBayer Fundi Fund and the EngelhardtEngelhardt Family Family Foundation Foundation. Photos © Eric Woolsey 3 Synopsis Frederic, a young man, has been accidentally apprenticed to a band of pirates. Although he has grown to love them dearly, on his 21st birthday, his apprenticeship is complete. Frederic’s “sense of duty” compels him to leave behind the life of a pirate and venture out into the world. He soon meets and falls in love with Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley. When the pirates arrive, they capture Mabel and the Major-General begs for her release. Frederic learns that by being born on February 29, in a leap year, he has only had five true birthdays and must remain in his pirate apprenticeship for another 63 years. Once again bound by his “sense of duty,” Frederic leaves Mabel to rejoin the pirates. A battle ensues and the pirates appear victorious until they are told to yield “in Queen Victoria’s name.” Love of the Queen trumps pirate vengeance and all wrongs are soon made right. SONGS TO LISTEN FOR: “When Frederic Was a Little Lad”-Ruth “Oh, Better Far to Live and Die”-Pirate King “Is There Not One Maiden Here?”-Frederic “Poor Wandering One!”-Mabel “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” -Major General 4 Cast Mabel Ruth Angel Riley Stephanie Sanchez Soprano Mezzo-Soprano Frederic Pirate King Major General Ryan Johnson Ben Taylor Alex Rosen Tenor Baritone Bass 5 Creative Team Roberto Kalb Shawna Lucey Mauro Ronca Conductor Stage Director Repetiteur Lighting Designer Hans Fredrickson Props Master Meg Brinkley Original Costume Designer James Schuette Costume Coordinator Stacy Michele Harris Greg Emetaz Wig Master Video Designer John Metzner 6 William S. Gilbert William Schwenck Gilbert was born on November 18, 1836, in London, the son of a well-to-do retired naval surgeon. He hated his middle name, the surname of his godmother, and insisted on being known professionally as W.S. Gilbert. At the age of 13, he was enrolled at the Great Ealing School, one of the leading private schools in England. Although Gilbert was a precocious student, he was also restless and lazy. He began to stage manage for school plays, to which he sometimes contributed satirical verses. After Ealing, Gilbert studied law at the University of London. Upon completing his degree he took a civil service job as a clerk until he was called to the bar in 1864. However, his career as a lawyer was brief. He practiced for only four years, and by popular accounts had only 20 clients during that time. Gilbert’s literary career began while he was still practicing law. For ten years, beginning in 1861, he was a regular contributor to many magazines including London Society, Tinsley’s Magazine, Temple Bar and Cornhill. By the time he was 24, he had already written 15 plays; the first, Dulcamara , or The Little Duck and the Great Quack was produced in 1866. Gilbert also wrote clever comic verses and sketches for the magazine Fun, which were later published in book form under the title The Bab Ballads (as a child, Gilbert had been nicknamed “Bab” by his mother). Many of the operas he wrote with Sullivan drew upon the plots of The Bab Ballads . At the age of 31, Gilbert married 17-year-old Lucy Agnes Turner, the daughter of a British army officer. After a brief phase as a drama critic and magazine journalist, Gilbert devoted his energies primarily to the stage. A brilliant social satirist, he authored more than 70 plays, dramas as well as comedies, and was also a talented illustrator and cartoonist who designed the costumes for several of his productions. When the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership was established, Gilbert proved himself fanatical about overseeing almost every aspect of their joint works in minute detail. He took complete control of the premiere production of each opera, planning out the sets and stage direction and running rehearsals with an almost tyrannical authority. Actors who did not follow his instructions often received fines. As the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership matured, Gilbert became increasingly resentful that Sullivan was considered the more serious artist of the team. Having offended Queen Victoria with his caricatures and satires of government officials, he was not knighted until 1907 (by Edward VII), almost 20 years after Sullivan had received his honor. Gilbert died on May 19, 1911 at the age of 74 when he suffered a heart attack upon entering the cold water of a pond at his home to save a young swimmer who was in trouble. He received a simple burial at the nearby churchyard in Stanmore, North London. 7 Arthur S. Sullivan Arthur Seymour Sullivan was born on May 13, 1842 in South London. His father, Thomas Sullivan, was a clarinet player for the opera, and supplemented his income by teaching music students and copying music. Sullivan’s mother, Maria Clementina, was also very musical. Sullivan’s musical gifts were apparent from an early age. By the time he was five, he knew how to play all the instruments in his father’s band. At eight, he composed his first ballad. In 1856, at the age of 14, he became the first winner of the Mendelssohn Scholarship, which enabled him to complete his musical education in Leipzig, Germany. Sullivan aspired to be a serious musician, and came to be admired as one of the most important English composers of his day. During his lifetime, Sullivan composed more that 250 hymns, cantatas, oratorios, and instrumental works, as well as a symphony and a grand opera. In 1861, Sullivan published his first important work, music to Shakespeare’s The Tempest . Ten years later, he was asked by London impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte to collaborate with writer W.S. Gilbert on a comic opera called Thespis . The same year, 1871, Sullivan published his most famous composition, the hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers." His song, "The Lost Chord," written in memory of his brother, became one of the most popular songs of the Victorian era. In 1877, Lewis Carroll approached the composer about writing a score for his “little book for children,” Alice in Wonderland . Sullivan, knowing nothing of the work that Carroll referred to, declined on the basis of being “overcommitted.” Both Gilbert and Sullivan gradually became bothered by their dependence on the other. Increasingly frustrated by the restrictions of comic opera, Sullivan considered the works he composed with Gilbert to be merely a lucrative sideline, and his contemporaries saw them as likely to prove short-lived sensations. In addition to composing the music for Gilbert’s texts, Sullivan supervised the musical direction of the premiere productions of their works. He was known as a dignified, soft-spoken man with a gentle, kindly nature. Once after an unsatisfactory rehearsal with a soloist in The Mikado , he diplomatically responded: “Wonderful tune, my boy! Now would you mind trying mine?” Sullivan loved gambling and socializing at fashionable gatherings, and he was a favorite of the royal family. Never married, he maintained a long love affair with a beautiful American singer, Mrs. Ronalds, who was separated but never divorced from her husband. His health was fragile for most of his life. He died on November 22, 1900 (age 58) after developing bronchitis, and was buried with great ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. 8 Richard D’Oyly Carte and the Savoyards Born in London on May 3, 1844, the man behind the successful collaboration of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan was Richard D'Oyly Carte. He was brought up in a cultured home. His father was a flutist and they all spoke French at home two days a week. D'Oyly started as a composer and had one operetta produced, but found his niche in theatre management. His first wife died at the time of The Mikado and, three years later he married his long time assistant, Helen Lenoir. One snowy day he happened to run into Gilbert, already a successful dramatist, and asked him to help him with a new piece in collaboration with Sullivan. The result was Trial by Jury . This was so successful that he was able to realize his dream of founding an English comic opera company. He leased the Opera Comique theatre, formed a partnership with four others and planned to present the works of many composers. However, the works of Gilbert and Sullivan were so successful that their works were presented almost exclusively.