Hello, future pilots!

I’m glad to have found you honest, hardworking pilots who shall be my young charge’s masters for decades to—

Sorry? You say you’re pirates? You say this ship has, quite literally, pirates? Oh my! I suppose my charge must learn how to buckle his swash and steal for the rest of his life. Ah, well.

 Thus starteth my review! Cairn’s production of Pirates of Penzance uses the cast’s excellent musical ability and delivery of levity to create a whimsical escape to a world of both complexity and simplicity that the audience will remember for a long time.

As I settled into the converted chapel-theatre that brisk Saturday afternoon, I began to worry about understanding the words to the songs, as Pirates is an operetta. My dad had wanted to read me the lyrics of “Modern Major General”, but to stay calm while driving the harrowing trip to Cairn I accidentally ranted the whole time about the history of Niles Crane and Daphne Moon from Frasier, rendering his wishes null and void. I needn’t have worried, however. The first few minutes of the play contained no singing—only the show’s theme, which thrums with the heart of romanticized piracy and made me want to swing from some rope nets and yell “Yar, to starboard, lads!” (whatever that means).

The first act began, in which Frederic, an accidental pirate apprentice due to his nurse’s incorrect assumptions years before, finally turns 21 and decides to use his newly given freedom to leave the Pirates and seek love, planning to return later in life to destroy the Pirates out of a duty to the moral code. I cracked up at Noah Wilde’s candid expression of Frederic’s line, “Individually, I love you all with affection unspeakable; but, collectively, I look upon you with a disgust that amounts to absolute detestation.” The hilarity continued on from there, and I continued to be impressed by Cairn’s musical cast. The Pirate King (played by Caleb Thompson) weaved through his band o’ pirates, taking pride in his career choices with great aplomb. Then, I felt the energy and irony of Frederic’s nurse, Ruth (played by Katelyn Puttach), wishing to come along with him—the Pirates smiling at her to her face but rolling their eyes when she turned her back. I felt the betrayal Frederic experienced upon seeing the maidens on the island and realizing that Ruth lied to him about her beauty—which transitioned into a fantastic duet (with great stage chemistry!) between the two characters. Then, Ruth leaves and Frederic and the girls exchange kind yet wary words (as Fred asks the ladies if any would wed him). Mallory McCollum’s Mabel owned the stage the moment she arrived, her voice soaring higher than the clouds. She sang “Poor Wandering One” like the role had been made for her. And of course, how could anyone forget Sawyer Whitted’s “Modern Major General.” Though I cursed myself a bit for not (at least) letting Dad read me the lyrics before I started on my Niles and Daphne rant, one didn’t need the words to enjoy the performance – the Major General’s struts about the stage smiling through the mustache, along with the silly salute the rest of the cast mimics in the background, kept me in stitches—especially when the Major General convinces the pirates not to harm him by telling them he’s an orphan. I also enjoyed watching the policemen’s antics— their “shtick” of making a big show of going to fight the pirates while merely walking around in circles reminded me way too much of telling my friends I have to do homework while online shopping for fandom merch and stressing about not doing my homework.

Overall, this operetta brings some challenging musical heights to the stage, and Cairn’s cast responded with great aplomb and merriment. Good show, everybody! Thank you for whisking us away on an adventure that we will not soon forget. We look forward to seeing what the members of Cairn’s opera theatre will bring to the stage next spring!

(If anyone missed the show, keep a look-out for the DVD of the performance that will be coming soon from TS)