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Application to mail at Periodicals Postage Rates is Pending in Pensacola, FL
This Community Newspaper is a weekly publication of Escambia Santa/Rosa Bar Association Page 1 Vol. 15, No. 10 VISIT THE SUMMATION WEEKLY ONLINE: www.esrba.com March 17, 2015
4 Pages
The Pirates of Penzance By Emily Echevarria
If you’ve ever felt like opera wasn’t for you because of its dramatic and often tragic storylines, the latest offering from Pensacola Opera’s 32nd season is a pitch perfect response to the more melancholic works in the opera repertoire. The Pirates of Penzance is a comedic romp filled with jovial pirates and jaunty tunes, and it comes to the Saenger Theatre stage March 13 and 15. The Pirates of Penzance is among the best known works of composer Arthur Sullivan and librettist W.S. Gilbert, a musical pairing that Pensacola Opera artistic director Kyle Marrero says is a tradition in and of itself. The style is known as operetta, which is slightly different from traditional opera. “In England Gilbert and Sullivan brought it to life where they would use the parlay and fun of these different characters and places and situations and they really began a whole genre of what they called operetta and we would say the beginnings of musical theatre in some ways,” he says. “But it’s opera with opera style music but then it has dialogue and raucous comedy and fun and silliness.” Marrero says he’s delighted to cap off this season with the jovial Pirates of Penzance after the romantic and tragic story of La Boheme in January, and patrons have been asking for it in post-show surveys. The story follows the duty-bound Frederic, who after 21 years leaves his apprenticeship with a band of pirates. Soon after being freed, Frederick meets a roving band of women and falls in love with one named Mabel. Continued on page 3.