Well, that was fun. Hilarious and fun. Much spinning of pirate ships, and swordplay, and girls chasing butterflies and flying kites. (It only dragged a bit when the Constables got a little bit tedious. (But they are the Constables and are meant to be tedious, and even sound tedious. I don’t know how you would get around this.))
The best part, of course, was the Major-General’s Song. Anne and I had both studied up on the lyrics. I didn’t think the supertitles in the theater could keep up, but they did — until the singer had the orchestra play it double-time. They didn’t even try to show the words for that.
(If you don’t know the Major-General’s Song, you might know Tom Lehrer singing The Elements, the song in which he rattles off the Periodic Table. This version of The Elements has the “Aristotle” version at 2 minutes in.)
(I don’t know where I read it, but I understand this director specializes in staging Pirates of Penzance, just as the singer who sang the Queen of the Night aria at the symphony specialized in that role. )
It was all great fun, and there was a special non-speaking cameo at the very end. No Spoilers, but it was the only person who could sway the Pirates.
Wild applause all the way through, of course, and as it was opening night the director and designers came on stage and got wild applause too. So fun to see all the little children, especially.
Of course, the dark part was the rejection of the nursemaid who is thrown over for being … I think … 49? That was a sword to the heart, of course. I assume that was Sullivan’s contribution; his Wikipedia entry paints him as quite the dog.