How are you? You good? Hmm? Coolio. :P
Well, I believe I told you that I'm in The Pirates of Penzance. I just checked the blog, I just mentioned that I auditioned. XP Silly me, silly me.
Yeah, so, I'm in the Ladies Chorus for The Pirates Of Penzance. So far we've done about four rehearsals, and so far I'm the only one who knows all of their parts for the songs off book. :3 I'm feeling immensely proud of myself. X3
I have a rehearsal again tomorrow, which will also have a couple of the principle actors down to practice with us. It will be great getting to sing with them, I went to their rehearsal yesterday and some of them sounded great.
Now, I suppose some of my readers, (or maybe all of them?) are wondering what on earth the Pirates of Penzance is. Wikipedia says:
"The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences and critics.[1] Its London debut was on 3 April 1880, at the Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances, having already been playing successfully for over three months in New York.
The story concerns Frederic, who, having completed his 21st year, is released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley, and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic finds out, however, that he was born on 29 February, and so, technically, he only has a birthday each leap year. His apprenticeship indentures state that he remains apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday, and so he must serve for another 63 years.[2] Bound by his own sense of duty, Frederic's only solace is that Mabel agrees to wait for him faithfully.
Pirates was the fifth Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration and introduced the much-parodied Major-General's Song. The opera was performed for over a century by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Britain and many other opera companies and repertory companies worldwide.
It has received several modernised productions, including Joseph Papp's 1981 production on Broadway, which ran for 787 performances, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, and spawned many imitations. Pirates remains popular today, taking its place along with The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore as one of the most frequently played Gilbert and Sullivan operas."
(Sorry, I was feeling too lazy to write all that in my own words for you. :P)
A Broadway production of The Pirates of Penzance was then made into a movie (which I mean to watch at some point.... XD). Snippets of it can be found on youtube - however, if you want to watch the movie, your best bet will be to go to your local library and borrow it from there.
(I seriously can't wait for when I get to perform in this song! XDDDD)
However, it is possible to find recordings of The Pirates of Penzance from as early as the 1920s. My dad's favourite recording he has found is from a production in 1929. However, there are also recordings from 1949 and 1957 which sound Ok.
Pirates of Penzance, 1929
Pirates of Penzance, 1949
Pirates of Penzance, 1957
And I just found a video of a song from the movie of Pirates of Penzance - It's so hilarious! It's not actually in the score, so all I can assume is that it was written for the this production of pirates. Anyway, here's the song:
Can you not just listen to that without dying of laughter? XD
Well, I must go, I have some more shtuff to do, so I'll leave the post with this.
Good night, Good morning, etc, and all the other things.
Spinj xoxo
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