Okay, okay, so "The Pirates of Penzance" is nothing new. In fact, it's an astonishing 130 years old - but it's brilliance is in the fact that it is still hilarious. Laugh-out-loud, intelligent, British humor in spades.
Where have I seen "The Pirates of Penzance" recently? Well, I rented the old 1983 version with Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt - the version I saw when I was young with my Mom
and we took trips to the local library. Now, there are a couple of versions available of the 1983 rendition, one higher quality than the other, I believe (since we're talking VHS here): the one with Angela Lansbury is higher quality, and with a more Broadway-esque set.This past week, I actually watched a poor quality taping of a performance in Central Park, with the same principle actors, except that surprisingly, Patricia Routledge performed instead of Lansbury (I didn't know Mrs. Bucket - Bookay - even did Broadway! And would you believe she's 80 now? She was born in 1929! In the nineties, she was voted Britain's favorite actress - ever. And that includes less comic, but intensely profound Judi Dench and Helen Mirren).
But Gilbert and Sullivan were so brilliant, the actors so good, that I invited a friend over and we loved it - despite the high school A-V club feel of the camera work.
What's "The Pirates of Penzance" about, you ask? Well, first of all, it's a comic opera. Second, it's British - which means that plays on words and witty dialogue abound. Now, it's handy to have a laptop with the libretto up, for some of the faster songs, or in case you miss a line.
"The Pirates of Penzance" is satirical; and because under the comedic situations lies a jab at politicians, it is timeless. (Because the question may be asked, and answered - who are the real pirates in the world?) Take, for instance, this verse from the song of the Pirate King:
Oh, better far to live and die
Under the brave black flag I fly,
Than play a sanctimonious part,
With a pirate head and a pirate heart.
Away to the cheating world go you,
Where pirates all are well-to-do;
But I'll be true to the song I sing,
And live and die a Pirate King.
Then there's the rapid-fire humor of the Major-General's anthem:
I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news �
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus;
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous:
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
I know our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's;
I answer hard acrostics, I've a pretty taste for paradox,
I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus,
In conics I can floor peculiarities parabolous;
I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies,
I know the croaking chorus from the Frogs of Aristophanes!
Then I can hum a fugue of which I've heard the music's din afore,
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore.
Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform,
And tell you every detail of Caractacus's uniform:
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
In fact, when I know what is meant by "mamelon" and "ravelin",
When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin,
When such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more wary at,
And when I know precisely what is meant by "commissariat",
When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery,
When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery;
In short, when I've a smattering of elemental strategy,
You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee.
For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury,
Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century;
But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
You can watch the speed with which this is sung, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vytosDX9dVM
The great thing about this? It was written to be performed live, which means no multiple takes, no dubbing - just hilarious talent. I hope that if you watch the Major General's song, you'll want to watch the rest.
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