(Photo courtesy of Central Florida Vocal Arts)
ORLANDO | Central Florida Vocal Arts is bringing one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular works to the Dr. Phillips Center’s Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater in Orlando Aug. 9-11.
“The Pirates of Penzance,” a comedic opera that follows a young pirate who falls in love, leading to hilarious misadventures, will open Central Florida Vocal Arts’ 12th season.
“Written in 1879 as the fifth theatrical collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan, ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ offers the vocal finesse of operatic arias, ballades and choruses, paired with sharp dialogue, a twisting plot and clever lyrics,” states Central Florida Vocal Arts in a press release. “A celebrated example of the operetta genre, the piece follows Frederic, a young pirate apprentice, as he disembarks the ship on his 21st birthday. He promptly meets the Major-General and his beautiful daughters, including Mabel with whom he immediately falls in love, leading to hilarious misadventures and rollicking romance.”
Frederic is played by AJ Morales, a rising star in Central Florida who recently received a Singhaus Scholarship for the Performing Arts during the LGBT+ Center Orlando’s Diversity Awards. Morales has previously appeared in Central Florida Vocal Arts productions “A Little Night Music” and “Dracula the Musical.”
“As someone who just graduated high school, I find myself relating to Frederic in a lot of ways,” Morales says. “As someone who is now coming of age and finding himself, where he fits. I’m going into school, and you know, kind of leaving the house, leaving the nest. So, I felt very inspired to dive into this role and bring myself to it.”
While the character is not explicitly queer as part of the plot, Morales adds that being queer himself he does play Frederic as a queer person.
“I bring my own bisexuality into this character,” Morales says. “He’s interested in a woman in this story but I still see him as bisexual.”
Frederic isn’t the only aspect of this production of “The Pirates of Penzance” that leans into queer identity. Michaela Wright, director of digital marketing and studio manager for Central Florida Vocal Arts and Opera del Sol, says they have focused on including gender and sexual variations throughout the cast.
“We have some characters that are overtly queer, we have characters who are straight, who are gender creative,” Wright says. “We are playing with all the different variations in between in the show. We have female-identifying people playing police officers and pirates. … It’s not a very nuanced piece of theatrical storytelling but we’re trying to layer some nuance in. It’s not enough to just mention queer themes, we have to be intentional about how we mention it.”
Eric Pinder, who is Central Florida Vocal Arts’ artistic director, will bring his talents to the “Pirates” stage as the tongue-twisting Major-General Stanley. Pinder, who has been preforming in Central Florida for over 30 years, recently drew rave reviews for writing and directing the hit Orlando Fringe show “Cocaine Bear: The Opera.”
“[The Pirates of Penzance] is something I loved as a teenager and I was not an opera fan at the time,” Pinder says. “I thought it was incredibly boring, a lot of it, I think because I didn’t understand the words. Gilbert and Sullivan, being in English, is something that became easily accessible for me.”
Pinder added that Gilbert and Sullivan, and “Pirates” more specifically, is a great gateway into opera for those who don’t think they are “opera people.”
“There is such a whimsical, ridiculous and fun aspect to ‘Pirates’ that sort of draws you in,” he says.
The cast also features Sarah Beth Ganey as Mabel, Chris Teixeira as the Pirate King and Susan Neves as Ruth, the “Piratical Maid of all work.”
Back before becoming the Central Florida Vocal Arts artistic director, Pinder was planning to bring the Major-General to the stage for the arts organization.
“I was all set to play the Major-General and then COVID happened,” he says. “Of course, that delayed everything so by the time we came back to it I was already the artistic director and said I probably shouldn’t do it and Theresa [Smith-Levin], our executive director, said ‘Oh yes you should.’”
Pinder has an even deeper history with the character, playing the Major-General years ago in graduate school.
“Now I’m the right age to do it,” he laughs. “So it’s been delightful. It’s sort of come full circle, in fact, we are going to use the teddy bear that I used in that production years ago that I still have. I got to keep it and I’ve had it all these years. It’s seen some wear but we are going to put it in the show as sort of a sweet tribute to the fact that I’ve done this part before.”
Joining the production will be the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of its founder Aaron Collins. This will be the seventh collaboration between the two organizations.
“It is rare and wonderful to actually have live musicians, especially a full orchestra, perform with us,” Pinder says. “A live orchestra brings so much energy to the theatre. You can get tracks that are amazing but at the end of the day, it’s still a recording. It’s not happening in front of you. There’s something about hearing live music, all of the textures, it makes a huge difference.”
After its performances at the Dr. Phillips Center, Central Florida Vocal Arts and the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra will move to Florida’s east coast for a semi-staged production of “The Pirates of Penzance” at The Scott Center in Melbourne Aug. 17 and at the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center in Vero Beach Aug. 18.
Tickets for the performances at the Dr. Phillips Center start at $35 and are available at DrPhillipsCenter.org.
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