Friday 3 May 2024

Twelve-Inch Garden Patch

 

During the 1870’s, when Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance was written, Penzance was a peaceful, popular resort town – a good place for a sunny holiday. The operetta’s audience would have found it amusing to imagine Penzance overrun with pirates, just as you or I would giggle at the thought of Privateers of Palm Springs, Looters of Lake Placid, or Marauders of Magic Kingdom. When Pirates premiered in New York City, members of the orchestra demanded more money. They said the music was “too grand for light opera.” When the Major-General boasts of knowing the croaking chorus of The Frogs of Aristophanes, he’s bragging about having memorized these lyrics: “Brekekekex Ko-ax Ko-ax” – the sound of croaking frogs. In 1967, Prince Charles played the part of the Pirate King in a school production of Pirates. Donald McLachlan of the Sunday Telegraph called him “the best actor in the school,” possibly because he was destined to become King Charles III.

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