*GILBERT & SULLIVAN RARE LARGE MARCH 1881 PIRATES OF PENZANCE PROGRAM*
Specifications
| Return Shipping Will Be Paid By | Buyer |
| All Returns Accepted | Returns Accepted |
| Item Must Be Returned Within | 14 Days |
| Refund Will Be Given As | Money Back |
| Country/Region Of Manufacture | United States |
| Original/Reproduction | Original |
| Object Type | Playbill |
| Industry | Theater |
A rare large original March 5, 1881 program for Gilbert and Sullivan's brilliant comic light opera The Pirates of Penzance at the Boston Theatre with the Ideal Opera Company, Henry Clay Barnabee, George Frothingham, Tom Karl, Marie Stone, and more. Four pages. Dimensions twelve by nine and a half inches. Light wear and light fold otherwise good. See the story of The Pirates of Penzance below. Shipping discounts for multiple purchases. Inquiries always welcome. Please visit my other eBay items for more early Gilbert and Sullivan items, theatre, opera, film, magic, and historical autographs, photographs, programs and broadsides and great actor and actress cabinet photos and CDV's. From Wikipedia:The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences and critics.[1] Its London debut was on 3 April 1880, at the Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances, having already been playing successfully for more than three months in New York.The story concerns Frederic, who, having completed his 21st year, is released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley, and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic soon learns, however, that he was born on the 29th of February, and so, technically, he has a birthday only once each leap year. His indenture specifies that he remain apprenticed to the pirates until his "twenty-first birthday", meaning that he must serve for another 63 years.[2] Bound by his own sense of duty, Frederic's only solace is that Mabel agrees to wait for him faithfully.Pirates was the fifth Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration and introduced the much-parodied "Major-General's Song". The opera was performed for over a century by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Britain and by many other opera companies and repertory companies worldwide. Modernized productions include Joseph Papp's 1981 Broadway production, which ran for 787 performances, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, and spawning many imitations and a 1983 film adaptation. Pirates remains popular today, taking its place along with The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore as one of the most frequently played Gilbert and Sullivan operas.