
The opera premiered in December 1879 in New York with Sullivan conducting, but there had been a single performance prior to this in Paignton, UK to secure the British copyright. After a successful three-month run in New York, it subsequently ran for 363 performances at the Opera Comique in London. In a letter from Sullivan to his mother, he wrote, “I think it will be a great success, for it is exquisitely funny, and the music is strikingly tuneful and catching.” And indeed it is!
Synopsis
The curtain rises on a scene of revelry. Frederic has just completed his pirate apprenticeship and is being hailed a fullyfledged member of the gang. Yet the fact that he was there at all was a mistake as when he was a lad, his nurse, Ruth, was told to take him to apprentice as a ‘pilot’. On learning her mistake, Ruth decided to avoid the fury of Frederic’s parents and left him with the pirates while remaining there herself as a maid-of-all-work.
Frederic, who has a strong sense of duty, and having served his time loyally, announces that he now cannot continue in a trade he detests and that he intends to exterminate them unless they give up piracy. As orphans themselves never mistreat another orphan (a well known fact amongst others who claim to be orphans when captured), Frederic sets them free.
Ruth, having nowhere to go, begs Frederic to marry her, but as he’s never seen another woman since he was eight, he’s not sure how she compares. Unfortunately for Ruth, Major General Stanley’s many daughters stumble into the pirates’ lair and Frederic implores one of the daughters to marry him. Only Mabel readily agrees and they go off together only to be interrupted by the return of the gang, each of whom seizes a girl and claims her as his bride.
At this point, Major General Stanley – “the very model of a modern major-general” – steps in! He has no liking for pirates as sons-in-law or for the prospect of being robbed of all his daughters at once. Having heard of these Penzance Pirates before, the General tells the Pirate King that like them, he too is ‘an orphan boy’. And for such tender-hearted robbers, that is enough. They surrender the girls and return to start their life of liberty.
Synopsis
The second act opens in a ruined chapel on General Stanley’s estate, which he bought just a year before. General Stanley, surrounded by his daughters, has come to do penance for the lie he told to the pirates about being an orphan, to the long-dead members within the chapel tombs, who he claims as his own ancestors.
Meanwhile, Frederic is now to lead an expedition against the pirates and for this perilous mission he has gathered together a squad of police who march in under their sergeant, all of whom are nervous that they may be going to “die in combat gory”.
Soon after, Frederic is alone in the chapel when he is visited by the Pirate King and Ruth. Covering him first of all with their pistols, they tell him they’ve remembered he was born on 29 February and is therefore only actually five years old! Frederic as we know, has a keen sense of duty so although in despair, he agrees to return to the gang and finish his apprenticeship.
Once back in the fold, Frederic is compelled to disclose the General’s lie about being an orphan. The furious Pirate King announces that there will be a swift and terrible revenge that very night. Only Mabel is left, who declares that she will remain faithful to her lover until he has lived out his 21 leap years. The police reappear and Mabel explains that as Frederic has rejoined the pirates he cannot now lead the attack on their lair. The police are distressed at having no leader – “when constabulary duty’s to be done, the policeman’s lot is not a happy one”.
As the pirates approach, the police hide and soon the intruders enter, armed with all kinds of burglarious tools, and with cat-like tread (well apparently, although they are singing their loudest!). They are interrupted however by a dressing-gowned General Stanley rather than the police, who has had a sleepless night due to the effect of a tortured conscience. Soon his daughters also appear in their night gowns. The General is seized and ordered to prepare for death. Frederic, even on Mabel’s pleas, cannot save him for is he not himself a pirate again?
Eventually, the police, having watched the situation passively for so long, summon the courage to tackle the pirates but they are soon overcome. The sergeant, who together with his men, is held at sword point, calls upon the ruffians to surrender in the name of the Queen. The command acts like magic! Loyally the pirates kneel to their captives, for it transpires from Ruth’s lips that they are really “no members of the common throng; they are all noblemen who have gone wrong”.
All ends happily. The Pirates of Penzance promise to return immediately to their legislative duties in the House of Lords and, in doing so, they are to share their coronets with old General Stanley’s beautiful daughters. Hoorah!