“THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE.”

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1965, 11 June 1880, Page 3

“THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE.”

The following criticioism on the above opera comique, the noj unworthy successor of the “ H.M.S. Pinafore,” is from the pen of a well-known theatrical correspondent of one of the London newspapers : “The “Pirates of Penzance” shows conclusively that the end of the tether has not yet been reached. ■ As we have frequently took occasion to observe, the ability of Mr W. S. Gilbert consists in his humourous distortions of the events and characters of ordinary life. Whenever he has“attempted to pourtray human nature as it actually exists the result has been more or less a failure. But his capacity for turning the world upside down is almost unique. It cannot be said that the “ Piratesj of Penzance ” is a whit interior to any of its predecessors in mirth-provoking incongruities. The hero, Frederick, has served his appenticeship to a pirate, in consequence of a mistake on the part of his nurse, who was instructed to [apprentice him to a pilot. On the day of his release he takes a pathetic farewell of his comrades, informing them that as a matter of duty he must now take measures for their extermination. For many > ears he has never seen a woman save his old nurse, who has served as a pirate maid-of-all-work. She tells him that she is beautiful, and worthy to be his love, a statement ho receives with soma caution; and when ha happens to meet the twenty daughters of a Major-General Stanley, he perceives the falsity of h*r assertion. In answer to his entreaties, one of these girls takes compassion upon him, addressing him as “Poor wandering one.” Hero follows a love scene, while the others pretend not to observe, and talk about the weather. The appearance of the MajorGeneral is followed by that of the pirates, who seize the whole party. General Stanley begs for mercy on the ground that he is an orphan, and the pirates at once accede to his prayer, for they are also orphans. A tableau is formed—the pirate king waving a death’s head flag, and the major-general the British standard. In the second act we find the old veteran weeping among some ruins on his estate, for he has stained the family escutcheon by a falsehood. He is no orphan, and never was one. In vein his daughters remind him that, as ho has only recently purchased the estate, the ancestors who sleep below are not his. He replies that they are his by purchase, and refuses to be comforted. An expedition of eight policemen, guided by Frederic, is about to be sent against the pirates, the members of the force disguising their fears by singing “ Tarataratara.” At this juncture the pirate king and the old nurse arrive with terrible news for Frederic. He was born on the 29th February, and as his apprenticeship was to last until his twenty-first birthday, his term will not bo out until 1910. Being strictly conscientious, he he feels he must return to his duty, and bids farewell to Mabel, who promises to wait for him until 1910. After this the pirates and the policemen engage in combat, and the latter are defeated. But nevertheless they -charge the pirates to surrender in the name of the Queen, which they at once do, “for with all our faults we love our Queen.” It turns out they are all sons of peers who have gone wrong. The Major ■ General bestows his

daughters upon them, and every one is happy. This preposterous story is developed with Mr Gilbert’s customary felicity in portraying the ridiculous. The dialogue and the situations compel roars of laughter, the effect of course being heightened by the perfect gravity of the whole proceedings. A considerable portion of Mr Sullivan’s music may be described as a TBclL&vffd of the “ Sorcerer ” and the “ Pinafore,” but it is none the less taking on that account, and there are ore or two numbers which arc superior to anything he has hitherto accomplished. There is a little love duet in the second act, “ Ob, leave me not alone to live,” which is exquisitely pretty, and the female choruses in the first act are piquant and charming. Of the distinctly humorous portion of the work the palm must be allowed to the policeman’s song and chorus, “ When the enterprising burglar’s not a-bnrgling.” The patter song of the Major-General, in which he proves ho is equal to everything but military duties, is very good. Whether tho “Pirates of Penzance ’’will have as long a run as “ H.M 8. Pinafore ” is problematical, but that it will be a marked success is beyond all doubt.