Berkeley Playhouse Presents The Pirates of Penzance February 25, 2012

Feb 25 - April 1, Fridays 7pm, Saturdays 2pm and 7pm, Sundays 12pm and 5pm

Frederic was supposed to be an apprentice pilot but instead became an apprentice pirate - which is where we join the hapless boy and his hard-of-hearing maid in this hilarious social and political satire. Director Jon Tracy casts the Victorian elements askew to give the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operetta a hip reimagining, taking the motley crew from the usual Cornish coastal village to a post-atomic city. Here, the Pirate King is female, the love-struck pirates coiffed and duck-tailed, the women punk- strong and willful, and the Major General a poster child for the 1%. Palatable percussive rock riffs punctuate the famous melodies and lyrics while the usual pirate antics exploit exciting fight choreography including parkour and pole acrobatics. Bolder, fiercer, funnier. This is not a Pirates for purists! Gilbert and Sullivan were famous for lampooning Victorian society's norms and values and Pirates continues to do so with a fresh and inventive focus - tossing many a scabbard and dagger (actually, chainsaw and wrench) at the scoundrels, we mean leaders, in politics today.

Director Jon Tracy is in true Tracy form with a contemporary twist on the Gilbert and Sullivan classic. According to Artistic Director, Elizabeth McCoy, "This ain't your grandmother's Pirates." And she is right as Tracy is taking Pirates to atomic levels. It shifts gears from an opera into a rock n' roll musical that is gender bending with a female lead pirate played by Cathleen Riddley. Tracy further revamps this swashbuckling classic adventure by infusing a futuristic, post atomic-punk vibe into the overall concept.

Director Jon Tracy is well known for refreshing such authors' works as Shakespeare (The Tempest), Orwell (The Farm) and Homer (The Salt Plays).

Official Website: http://www.berkeleyplayhouse.org