An introduction to The Pirates of Penzance

The duo Gilbert & Sullivan are writer W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan.

The Pirates of Penzance was first fully performed on 31 December 1879 in New York City at Fifth Avenue Theatre.

It made its London debut three months later on 3 April at the Opera Comique where it ran for 363 performances.

The opera is chock-full of memorable melodies, including the famous tongue-twisting song from the Major-General, ‘I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General’.

You might recognise this from all sorts of popular culture references – from The Muppet Show, to Family Guy to Frasier.

The song is also widely parodied with many examples of people adding their own words to the famous melody – think Tom Lehrer’s ‘Elements Song’, or taking the words and adding them to their own songs – like in hit musical Hamilton’s song ‘Right Hand Man’.

As with many of Gilbert & Sullivan’s operas, the story is a bit intricate, so let’s get this straight: there are pirates, who take pity on orphans, and are really peers of the realm.

There’s a 21-year-old called Frederic, who has sworn to put the pirates behind bars, and is really only five. And there are policemen, whose lot is not a happy one, and are really, really hopeless at foiling felons… Got that?

Read the full synopsis 

★★★★★ ‘An entirely delightful evening’ The Stage | ★★★★ ‘A jolly good show’ Daily Telegraph

Mike Leigh, who might be more familiar as a film director (Mr Turner, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky), directed this production.

He joins the ranks of other celebrated film and theatre figures to have taken on opera at ENO, including Simon McBurney, Terry Gilliam, Rory Kinnear, Fiona Shaw, and the late Anthony Minghella.