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General News: Pirates On Deck at the Middle School
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| The Pirate King and Frederic nearly come to blows over Maude. |
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| The police sergeant and Ruth, Frederic's former nursemaid. |
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| Pirate Sam has a few words with Frederic. |
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| The pirates with their prized bounty... |
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| raise their flags to honor the Pirate King. |
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| The daughters of the Major General... |
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| are enchanting on stage, sea and land. |
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| Director Marietta Moulton and music director Valerie Ransbottom at a dress rehearsal. |
March 25, 2009
Fictional pirates are popular these days and none more so than the wacky crew of orphans who are sailing off the coast of Cornwall, England, in “The Pirates of Penzance.”
The Cornwall Central Middle School Drama Club production of this Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera opens with two strikingly different scenes of girls playing – one circa 2009 in Cornwall, N.Y., and the other circa 1889 in Cornwall, England. From there, the play takes off to a rollicking start with the Pirate King and his crew of waifs celebrating the birthday of Frederic, an indentured apprentice who is about to be set free with his nursery maid, Ruth.
Frederic sings a soulful duet about deception with Ruth, then discovers a group of girls and determines to take one, Mabel, for his wife. Soon Frederick and Mabel are singing the same song ("There is Not One Maiden's Breast") but their love will not have much chance to grow once the other pirates get into the act.
Enter the father of the girls, the Major-General who knows that the pirates cannot mistreat an orphan so he lies and says that he is an orphan in order to win the release of his daughters. His lie bothers him, however, and as Frederic assembles a group of policemen to pursue the pirates, the Major General confesses his lie to the Pirate King. A battle ensues and in, a strange twist that can only happen in a fictional world, the pirates turn out to be nobles and are free to marry the young women.
Throughout the story, the actors and actresses burst into song at a moment’s notice, from “A Modern Major General” to “When the Foeman Bears His Steel,” when the stage is alive with dozens of actors, singers and dancers.
The girls and women all look divine in their Victorian-era skirts and hand-decorated bonnets and parasols. The pirates dress flamboyantly and show lots of swagger, while the tap dancing policemen in the second act are every bit the polished British constables that you would expect on stage.
This year’s production is directed and choreographed by Marietta Moulton, who also teaches Spanish at the school. Music teacher Valerie Ransbottom serves as musical director and Ryan Baxter, an English teacher, is the stage and production director.
The elaborate costumes, choreography and general supervision of the actors and actresses is made possible by a team of able parents who volunteer their time to the Drama Club each year.
This year you will have three opportunities to see “Pirates of Penzance,” beginning on Thursday, the 26th, and continuing on Friday (with the understudy cast) and on Saturday, the final night. Click here for information about show times and tickets.
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