1948 - 1949
The Pirates of Penzance
Cornwall, England c 1870
When Frederic was a boy, his nurse Ruth was told to apprentice him to a pilot. Instead she apprenticed him to a pirate. Realizing her mistake, she also joined the pirates as a "piratical maid-of-all-work". Although Frederic loathed piracy, he dutifully served; and, as the curtain rises, his indentures are up and he is preparing to leave the pirate band and devote himself to their extermination.
He urges the pirates to join in embracing a more lawful calling, but they refuse. Ruth, however, wishes to become his wife. Having seen but few women he does not know whether she is really as pretty as she says she is; but he finally consents to take her.
Just then, the daughters and wards of Major-General Stanley happen upon the scene. Frederic sees their beauty—and Ruth's plainness—and renounces Ruth. Mabel takes a particular interest in Frederic, and he in her. The other girls are seized by the pirates and threatened with immediate marriage. When the Major-General arrives, he dissuades the pirates by telling them that he is an orphan — knowing that they don’t capture orphans.
Meanwhile the Pirate King and Ruth have discovered that Frederic’s indentures were to run until his twenty-first birthday, and—as he was born on February 29—he has so far had only five birthdays. Obeying the dictates of his strong sense of duty, Frederic immediately rejoins the pirates and tells them that Major-General Stanley is not an orphan so the pirates seize the Major-General.
But the police come to the rescue and charge the pirates to yield, "in Queen Victoria’s name". This they do. Ruth explains that the pirates are really all "noblemen who have gone wrong", and they are pardoned by the Major-General and allowed to marry his daughters and wards.
Producer: Ted Nicholson
Musical Director: H. Bramwell Bailey
Cast
Douglas Dunning
The Pirate King
Eileen Middlestadt
Edith
Esther Henry
Mabel
George Wetzstein
Samuel
Gertrude Gerlach
Kate
Joan Haines
Ruth
Joseph E. Webb
Sergeant of Police
Louise Smith
Isabel
Robert Van Dine
Major-General Stanley .
William Dunning
Frederic
Adele Roy
Chorus
Agnes Bourassa
Chorus
Albert Carr
Chorus
Arthur Pownall
Chorus
Barbara Tepley
Chorus
Barry Stewart
Chorus
Beatrice Perkin
Chorus
Bernice McFadyen
Chorus
Betty Nuth
Chorus
Blodwen Greig
Chorus
Brenda Plet
Chorus
Christine Latham
Chorus
Dermot Sladen
Chorus
Don Armstrong
Chorus
Douglas Cooney
Chorus
Edna Peters
Chorus
Eleanor Whitworth
Chorus
Evelyn Fisher
Chorus
Freda Lyon
Chorus
George Cooney
Chorus
Grace Schultz
Chorus
Grant Glennie
Chorus
Hap Haywood
Chorus
Harold Smith
Chorus
Helen Scott
Chorus
Herb Sills
Chorus
Howard Pammett
Chorus
J. C. Mackersie
Chorus
J. G. Whitworth
Chorus
Jean Halley
Chorus
Joanna Christensen
Chorus
John A. Vondette
Chorus
John Gilmartin
Chorus
Joyce Vick
Chorus
Juliette Sabourin
Chorus
Kay Smith
Chorus
Ken Prior
Chorus
Louise Cameron
Chorus
Margaret Rowles
Chorus
Marguerite Allan
Chorus
Mary Allen
Chorus
Mary Barrette
Chorus
Melva Anthony
Chorus