| rdfs:comment
| - The Pirates of Penzance is a "Savoy Opera" by Gilbert and Sullivan. The only Gilbert and Sullivan opera to have a premiere in New York City, it was a smash hit on its opening on New Year's Eve in 1879, and remains one of their most popular works today.
- Frederic was sent in the care of his nursemaid, Ruth, to be apprenticed to a pilot. But she misunderstood her instructions, being hard of hearing, and apprenticed him instead to the Pirate King. Now turning 21 years old, his service is finished, so he decides to leave the Pirates of Penzance. Ruth wants him to take her with him, but he soon meets some young maidens, the daughters of Major-General Stanley, and realizes that Ruth is "plain and old". Frederic quickly falls in love with one of them, Mabel. He has a strong "sense of duty" and has vowed to lead a blameless life and to exterminate the pirates. Soon, however, the pirates return and seize the girls. Their father then arrives and lies to the pirates, telling them that he is an orphan. He knows that they are orphans themselves and ne
- The Pirates of Penzance, or "The Slave of Duty", was a comic operetta written and composed by Gilbert and Sullivan in the 19th century. In 2368, Dr. Beverly Crusher intended to mount a production of Pirates on board the USS Enterprise-D. She hoped that Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge would play the role of Major-General. Although La Forge was reluctant, Crusher convinced him to attempt the Major-General's signature song, "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General". However, her efforts (and La Forge's) were interrupted by the collision of the Enterprise with a quantum filament. (TNG: "Disaster" )
- The Pirates of Penzance (ou "The Slave of Duty") est une opérette écrite et composée par Gilbert et Sullivan en 1879. (Réalité extrapolée *) En 2368, Beverly Crusher encouragea Geordi La Forge à chanter le rôle du Major-général de "The Pirates of Penzance". Bien qu'hésitant, La Forge accepta d'essayer de chanter "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General", jusqu'à ce qu'il fut interrompu par la collision de l'USS Enterprise-D avec un filament quantique. (TNG: "Disaster")
- The Pirates of Penzance, or: The Slave of Duty is a famous and much-parodied (and itself redolent with parodies and lampshade-hanging) operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan, and one of the most famous works of 19th century English drama. The eponymous slave to duty is Frederic, who was accidentally apprenticed to a pirate ship when he was a boy, and felt honour-bound to be the best pirate he could be -- but now he has come of age, and his period of apprenticeship is over, he feels honour-bound to round up a posse and wipe the pirates from the face of the earth. Hilarity Ensues.
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| abstract
| - The Pirates of Penzance is a "Savoy Opera" by Gilbert and Sullivan. The only Gilbert and Sullivan opera to have a premiere in New York City, it was a smash hit on its opening on New Year's Eve in 1879, and remains one of their most popular works today.
- The Pirates of Penzance, or: The Slave of Duty is a famous and much-parodied (and itself redolent with parodies and lampshade-hanging) operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan, and one of the most famous works of 19th century English drama. The eponymous slave to duty is Frederic, who was accidentally apprenticed to a pirate ship when he was a boy, and felt honour-bound to be the best pirate he could be -- but now he has come of age, and his period of apprenticeship is over, he feels honour-bound to round up a posse and wipe the pirates from the face of the earth. Hilarity Ensues. One of the most widely-recognised bits of the operetta is the Patter Song "I am the very model of a Modern Major-General", sung by the father of the obligatory love interest.
* Abduction Is Love
* All There in the Script: The Pirate King and the Sergeant of Police have their names listed in the dramatis personae as Richard and Edward, respectively. This never comes up anywhere else.
* Better yet, the Pirate King is regularly renamed Roderick because so many directors like to have Frederic, Ruth and the Pirate King perform some variation on "My Eyes Are Fully Opened" from Ruddigore.
* Antiquated Linguistics: Wouldn't be a G&S play without it.
* A Running Gag throughout the play relies on the fact that in Victorian Received Pronunciation, the words "orphan" and "often" sounded the same. The jokes still kind of work, but it means stretching the sounds of the words to their limits.
* Blue Blood
* Boisterous Bruiser: Traditionally, the only way to portray the Pirate King... though in recent years 'Jack Sparrow' has been gaining popularity for some reason.
* Breaking the Fourth Wall: If it doesn't have it at some point, it's not true Pirates. Sorry. There is even a notable sword fight with the conductor, which has occurred in several versions, and originated as a spur-of-the-moment outburst in the original production.
* Deus Ex Machina: The pirates finally surrender when asked to do so "in the name of the Queen". A deliberate parody of Victorianism.
* Dirty Coward: The entire police force.
* Don't Explain the Joke: The Major-General. The orphan gag.
* Dramatic Gun Cock: "I do not think I ought to listen to you..."
* Drink Order: Apparently for reasons of scansion, these pirates prefer sherry to the more obvious rum.
* Either or Title
* Evil Sounds Deep: Played with. All the pirates, except the King and Samuel, are tenors--the range traditionally assigned to the hero. The policemen are all basses--usually the range of the baddies.
* Failed a Spot Check: "I thought I heard a noise."
* He thought he heard a noise... HA! HA!
* General Stanley fails to notice the group of about two dozen pirates and policemen hiding (poorly) in his garden. On top of that, the pirates fail to notice the policemen. This despite all of them serving as chorus to General Stanley's song.
* Flaw Exploitation: The Pirates themselves make a point of two things: 1. Never to attack a weaker party than themselves, and 2. Never to harm an orphan. Word gets around.
* Also, it's common knowledge that every British person loves his queen.
* Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die
* Heartwarming Orphan: Hoorah for the orphan boy!
* High-Class Glass
* Honor Before Reason: Frederic's defining trope.
* "I Am" Song: "I am the very model of a Modern Major-General", "Pirate King".
* Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: The pirates are too soft-hearted to be much good at piracy.
* Irony: "With Catlike Tread".
* Sung, of course, at the top of one's lungs. Often while performing a kick line.
* It's Probably Nothing
* The Ingenue: Mabel: a young soprano winning the affection of the lead tenor, whose role calls for some terribly soprano-ey cadenza runs (which are hilarious).
* Insane Troll Logic: Major-General Stanley claims the portraits in his house are of 'his ancestors', even though he bought the house and moved in recently and the portraits show ancestors of the family who previously lived there, because he bought the house, they're his portraits, so therefore they're his ancestors!
* I Was Quite a Looker: Ruth, or so she says
* There are the remains of a fine woman about Ruth.
* I Will Wait for You: Till 1940, when Frederic's indenture is finally up.
* Large Ham: The Pirate King. And pretty much the rest of the cast too.
* The Major General especially.
* Lawful Stupid: Frederic, the eponymous "Slave of Duty".
* Hell, the entire cast. The plot runs on it.
* Leap Day
* Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: hence the desire to Talk About the Weather
* Lyrical Dissonance: The notation for the song "With Catlike Tread...", which covers (and talks about) the Pirates quietly sneaking into Major General Stanley's manor and into his house to gain revenge, is Fortissimo. For those unfamiliar with musical notation, for singers Fortissimo means "sing it at the top of your lungs, as loudly as you can". The number is accompanied by heavy use of cymbals and brass in the accompaniment, and brother, its a show-stopper.
* Motor Mouth
* Opening Chorus: "Pour, O Pour the Pirate Sherry."
* Overly Long Gag: Often.
* Often, often, often!
* Patter Song: The Major General's Song is a shining example of the craft.
* Pirate
* A Pirate 400 Years Too Late: Well, more like 300 but still...
* Pirate Girl: Although describing piratical maid-of-all-work Ruth as a 'girl' might be a bit of a stretch.
* The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: subverted, sort of- they attempt piratical activities, they're just useless at them, combining being very soft-hearted with being rather dim-witted.
* Police Are Useless
*
* :(Tarantara tarantara tarantara...)"
* Rags to Royalty
* Selective Slaughter
* Self-Deprecation / Take That Us!: "That infernal nonsense Pinafore"
* Should Have Thought of That Before X:
* Skeleton Key: In the song, "With Cat-Like Tread", one of the pirates' tools mentioned is their "skeletonic keys."
* Suddenly-Suitable Suitor: In the final scene, Ruth reveals that all the pirates are "Noblemen who have gone wrong." The Major General is suddenly eager for the buccaneers to marry his daughters, as are the girls themselves. "With all our faults, we love our House Of Peers!" Gilbert and Sullivan used this trope regularly.
* Swiper No Swiping: The pirates turn themselves in when requested to surrender in the name of Queen Victoria.
* Talk About the Weather
* Tenor Boy: Frederic
* Title Drop: "For I am the Slave of Duty!"
* That Reminds Me of a Song
* Two Words: Subverted. The 'two words' are "we propose to marry your daughters."
* Victorian Britain: With all our faults, we love our Queen.
* Villain Song
* Villains Out Shopping: Lampshaded in one of the songs as the reason why "A policeman's lot is not a happy one."
* Weddings for Everyone
* With Catlike Tread: The Pirates sneak up on the General while singing, in chorus, forte, with cymbals and drums, about how stealthy they're being.
* World of Ham: Oh yeah. Especially during the "With Catlike Tread" number.
- The Pirates of Penzance (ou "The Slave of Duty") est une opérette écrite et composée par Gilbert et Sullivan en 1879. (Réalité extrapolée *) En 2368, Beverly Crusher encouragea Geordi La Forge à chanter le rôle du Major-général de "The Pirates of Penzance". Bien qu'hésitant, La Forge accepta d'essayer de chanter "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General", jusqu'à ce qu'il fut interrompu par la collision de l'USS Enterprise-D avec un filament quantique. (TNG: "Disaster") Premiers vers de "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" : I am the very model of a modern Major-General, I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
- The Pirates of Penzance, or "The Slave of Duty", was a comic operetta written and composed by Gilbert and Sullivan in the 19th century. In 2368, Dr. Beverly Crusher intended to mount a production of Pirates on board the USS Enterprise-D. She hoped that Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge would play the role of Major-General. Although La Forge was reluctant, Crusher convinced him to attempt the Major-General's signature song, "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General". However, her efforts (and La Forge's) were interrupted by the collision of the Enterprise with a quantum filament. (TNG: "Disaster" ) According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 2, p. 147) , The Pirates of Penzance was first published in 1879.
- Frederic was sent in the care of his nursemaid, Ruth, to be apprenticed to a pilot. But she misunderstood her instructions, being hard of hearing, and apprenticed him instead to the Pirate King. Now turning 21 years old, his service is finished, so he decides to leave the Pirates of Penzance. Ruth wants him to take her with him, but he soon meets some young maidens, the daughters of Major-General Stanley, and realizes that Ruth is "plain and old". Frederic quickly falls in love with one of them, Mabel. He has a strong "sense of duty" and has vowed to lead a blameless life and to exterminate the pirates. Soon, however, the pirates return and seize the girls. Their father then arrives and lies to the pirates, telling them that he is an orphan. He knows that they are orphans themselves and never attack an orphan. After the pirates leave, General Stanley wrestles with his conscience, having told a lie. Mabel and Frederic try to cheer him up, and Frederic has engaged the constabulary to help him defeat the pirates. The police arrive, but they turn out to be timid. Then the pirate king and Ruth find Frederic alone. They have reviewed the fine print on his apprenticeship indenture and have discovered that he is still a pirate because he was born in leap year on February 29, and he will not be out of his indentures to the pirates until his 21st birthday. Mabel agrees to wait for Frederic until then. The Police return and, hearing the pirates approach, they hide. The pirates arrive and seize the still guilt-ridden Major-General. The police are coaxed to battle the pirates, but they are defeated. However, the Sergeant of Police calls on the pirates to "yield in Queen Victoria's name." The pirates tearfully do so and release the Major-General, surrendering to the police. However, Ruth reveals that the pirates are all "noblemen who have gone wrong", and the Major-General pardons them and invites them to marry his daughters, as all ends happily.
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