As a part of my dad's birthday present, we went to a performance in Wichita of the Pirates of Penzance, a classic Gilbert and Sullivan opera. As with most performances of Pirates, there is quite a bit of silliness hidden in the lyrics that the actors bring out well. In particular, these actors played the silliness factor well--none of the characters is terribly bright.
I already knew this opera somewhat well, so it was nice to see some of my favorite moments come to life. There's something that strikes a chord with me during Frederic's plea for one of the Major General's daughters to marry him in spite of his low position as a former pirate. "Is there not one maiden [here]/Which does not feel the moral beauty/Of making worldly interest/Subordinate to sense of duty?/Who would not give up willingly/All matrimonial ambition,/To rescue such a one as I/From his unfortunate position?" Something about that resonates with me. Not sure why. ;-)
And of course, my favorite song of the entire has to be the Major General's introductory "patter song," especially once the mathematical terms start flowing. "I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,/About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news/With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse..." Ah, yes, good stuff. Definitely worth seeing again, if another company puts it on somewhere nearby in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment