Utah Opera's The Pirates of Penzance

Utah Opera is closing out the 2021-2022 season with Gilbert & Sullivan's comic operetta The Pirates of Penzance and I had a chance to see this delightful production last night at the Capitol Theatre.  Frederic (John Reisen) has reached his 21st birthday and wishes to leave the band of pirates to whom he has been mistakenly apprenticed.  After leaving the pirates, Frederic meets Major-General Stanley (Hugh Russell) and his daughters, falls in love with the youngest daughter Mabel (Madison Leonard), and enlists the Sergeant of Police (Kevin Nakatoni) and his constables to arrest the pirates.  Chaos ensues when the Pirate King (Craig Irvin) and Ruth (Meredith Arwady), Frederic's former nursemaid, tell him that he was born during a leap year and, since he has only had five birthdays, he must continue to serve his apprenticeship.  The staging of this show is so much fun and I laughed out loud during the scene where the pirates attempt to seduce the Major-General's daughters and when the constables and the pirates both hide from the Major-General in the graveyard.  Reisen is incredibly engaging as Frederic and, not only does he have a fantastic voice, but he has great comedic timing as the straight man in the show.  I especially enjoyed his interactions with Ruth when he tries to find out if she is beautiful when compared with other women.  Leonard has a beautiful voice as Mabel and I loved her rendition of "Poor wand'ring one."  Russell is absolutely hilarious in "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" and I loved the choreography involving his umbrella.  Irvin also has great comedic timing and I especially enjoyed his fancy footwork in "Oh, better far to live and die."  The large chorus, performing as pirates, daughters, and constables who sing and dance, is outstanding and so much fun to watch.  I loved all of the costumes, especially all of the colors and patterns used for the daughters' dresses and the argyle socks worn by the Major-General.  The set is quite simple consisting of a ship, the seaside, and a graveyard, but the proscenium is meant to look like a vaudeville theatre and is very effective at creating an amusing mood even before the show begins.  Hurrah for this production because I loved everything about it and I highly recommend it to anyone, even children, who might be intimidated by opera because it is very accessible.  There are only two more performances (go here for tickets) so act quickly.

Note:  Utah Opera recently announced the 2022-2023 season and it includes The Flying Dutchman, The Daughter of the Regiment, Rigoletto, and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.  I am incredibly intrigued by the last one.