By JULES SHINKLE
BG Independent News
Beware! A crooked Jolly Roger flies high in Toledo – the fearsome Pirates of Penzance have crossed the Atlantic and dropped anchor in the Maumee.
Toledo Repertoire Theatre is beginning its run of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” this weekend. Directing the production is Mikayla Trimpey, a name locals may recognize from her involvement in Bowling Green’s Horizon Youth Theatre and Black Swamp Players.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows start at 7:30 p.m. with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Their run ends on Sunday, Oct. 4. Purchase tickets online here: https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/toledorep/1471
First debuted in 1879, “Pirates” is an English comic opera about a youth who, upon turning 21, finishes his apprenticeship with a band of seafaring outlaws. Frederic (Kamron Girardot) cannot wait to cut ties with The Pirate King (Eric Hillenbrand), whom he regards as tenderhearted but loathsome for his criminal ways.
Whether the Pirates of Penzance ever get around to committing piracy, though, is up for debate. It seems that the sailors are preoccupied with singing more than anything.
From the start, “Pirates” is bursting with cartoonish delight. There are no serious types here, only competing clown troupes. Its characters are essentially in a contest to see who can best satirize their respective professions.
Who would win? A pirate crew too tender-hearted to win any fight, a military officer overeducated in all things but actual combat, or a few nervous policemen scared of their own shadows? The answer: everyone, of course! When everyone’s afraid of conflict, nobody has to lose.
Having set off into the world, Frederic makes it as far as the shoreline before being struck by Cupid’s arrow and falling for the literal first girl he’s ever seen, Mabel. Mabel (Brooke Jones) is the youngest sister among a group of maidens hesitant to trust the ex-pirate. Still, love is love, and Frederic is a changed man.
Their honeymoon is cut short when the Penzance gang intrudes and threatens to take them all as brides. Cue the dramatic entrance of Major-General Stanley (Dave Dorrell), father to the girls and scourge of criminals everywhere.
His signature number, “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General,” is a firehose of tongue-twisting syllables that impresses all but fails to turn the tide of battle. By appealing to the pirates’ soft spot (claiming to be an orphan), Stanley fends off the invaders and welcomes Frederic into his family.
Thus concludes the first act. The antics quickly resume in full force, delivering laugh after laugh.
For a show like “Pirates,” the plot is merely a series of gags segueing into each other. It’s a musical comedy unencumbered, propelled by the sheer strength of its witty libretto and catchy score.
Toledo Repertoire Theatre has done a lovely job staging this classic. Its cast has done a spectacular job squeezing their characters for all their comedic potential. Issa Polstein’s performance as the Sergeant of Police is particularly full of expression; wide-eyed, lips flapping, he lands on a perfect satire of authority.
Please pardon the confusion earlier – there isn’t that much to beware, as it turns out. Just remind the pirates that you, too, are an orphan, and it should all work out.
