Well, it might as well be Spring as New York City Opera returns to the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center. Because both the NYC Ballet and NYC Opera (NYCO) share this theater during the year, NYCO performs for Fall and Spring seasons only.

This season opens with Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance (or The Slave of Duty). Mark Kudisch as the Pirate King, and Mark Jocoby as the Major General lead an ensemble cast in this riotously funny production that many consider one of the best operettas that G&S collaborated on. Performances are available on selected dates throughout March. A spectacular version of Pirates, with Kevin Kline, and Linda Ronstadt is also available on DVD and CD. It’s also available as performed by the more traditional D’Oyly Carte company in Great Britain.

First performed in Devon and in New York City in December of 1879, Pirates takes its place with The Mikado and HMS Pinafore as the most frequently performed Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. The team had written 14 operettas together from 1871 to 1896.

In The Pirates of Penzance, Frederic was as a child apprenticed to a band of tenderhearted, orphaned pirates by his nurse who, being hard of hearing, had mistaken her master’s instructions to apprentice the boy to a pilot. Frederic, upon completing his 21st year, rejoices that he has fulfilled his indentures and is now free to return to respectable society. Upon landing ashore, Frederic finds love as he meets Mabel and prepares for marriage. But it turns out that he was born on February 29 in leap year, and he remains apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday. Confusion and merriment ensue leading to a grand G&S type ending.
It’s a joyous way to celebrate winter’s thaw and the dawn of spring.

The repertory also includes two opera classics Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and Verdi’s La Traviata. Additional pleasure is on the menu with two rarely performed productions of Rossini’s La Donna del Iago, and Handel’s Flavio.

NYCO consistently presents traditional and revolutionary stagings with youthful singers that help make their productions grand theater. All these operas are presented with English supertitles, aptly projected above the stage. Ticket prices range from $25 to $125, though real New Yorkers know that discounts are available through the Playbill and Theatermania. Don’t miss it or you’ll walk the plank!

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This entry was posted by Dr. Iz on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 11:54 am