Pirates Invade Parmaount

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

September 27, 2006

The Pirates of Penzance hardly needs an introduction.  Long before Joe Papp's Broadway production and the 1983 motion picture added renewed popularity, this engaging operetta had established itself as one of the best-loved pieces of musical theatre in the English-speaking world.  

Join the band of swashbuckling buccaneers, bumbling British Bobbies, frolicsome Victorian maidens, and the delightfully dotty "model of a modern Major-General" for this rollicking romp when the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players return to The Paramount Theater on Thursday, October 12 at 8 pm. 

The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty was first performed at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on December 31, 1879 -- making it the only Gilbert & Sullivan operetta to have its world premiere in the United States.   The plot centers on the dilemma of young Frederic who, as a child, was mistakenly apprenticed to pirates until his twenty-first birthday.  Born in leap year on February 29, he is honor-bound to remain a pirate until the distant date of 1940, despite his moral objections.  Helping Frederic to deal with this unusual predicament are the brash Pirate King, the pirate maid-of-all-work Ruth, romantic Mabel, and the delightfully stuffy Major-General Stanley.  

Highlights of the memorable score include "For I Am a Pirate King," "Here's a First Rate Opportunity," the policemen's "When the Foeman Bears his Steel," Mabel's show stopping coloratura aria "Poor Wand'ring One," and probably the most famous patter song in the Gilbert & Sullivan canon – “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General.” 

Last in Charlottesville for The Mikado in 2005, The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players (NYGASP) return for another highly-energized vision of Gilbert & Sullivan’s work.   Founded in 1974 by Artistic Director and General Manager Albert Bergeret, NYGASP draws on the immense pool of professional talent available in New York City, yielding an ensemble with unique style and flair.   The company's dynamic blend of contemporary vitality and traditional respect for this specialized repertory is made possible through a dedicated corps of repertory singers, comic actors, and musicians.  Remaining true to the intentions of the creators, NYGASP's stagings communicate the inherent humor of the characters and situations to modern musical theatre audiences.  The company's productions showcase the genuine humanity and timeless satire of human foibles which keep these works ever up to date.

Seats for the October 12 performance of The Pirates of Penzance are $50, $45, $42, and $39.   Tickets and further details are available online, or through The Paramount's Box Office at 434.979.1333.

 For more information about The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, please visit www.nygasp.org,