Is G&S (Gilbert and Sullivan) timeless entertainment or what? Opening night of Victorian Opera’s (VO) rip-roaringly enjoyable production of 146 year-old The Pirates of Penzance might even suggest that future generations will covet the way in which the Englishmen’s string of masterly collaborations bridge preposterousness and perspicacity.
Such is the successful fusion of words and music in their works that many might be hard pressed recalling who was the composer and who the lyricist. The brain behind the sharp-witted libretto, dramatic structure and comic plotting belonged to W. S. Gilbert.
Setting them to sublimely effulgent music sprinkled with teasing classical influences was the domain of Arthur Sullivan – Handelian choral genius, Mozartian delicacy and intrigue, Rossinian comic patter and Mendelssohnian romanticism all peep through.
In this striking arrangement by Andrew Greene, the overture is dispensed with and a flurry of Wagnerian bars set the piece in motion, altogether elevated to exciting musical heights by conductor and G&S diehard, James Pratt. An excellently primed Orchestra Victoria were clearly relishing the opportunity to energise their audience.
The fifth G&S collaboration and one of their most frequently performed operas, along with The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore, this two-decades old Opera Australia (OA) production – directed by Stuart Maunder and starring music theatre greats Anthony Warlow and Reg Livermore – has lost nothing of its raft of treasures and fizzing life.
Now firmly rooted as VO’s artistic director, Maunder extracts every ounce of comic charm. Few could get away with upstaging a soloist while a surrounding ensemble steals the limelight with hilarious choreographic strokes – Maunder is assisted generously by original choreographer and current company CEO Elizabeth Hill-Cooper and revival choreographer Anna Tsirigotis. But that he does, and does so in a manner that adds touches of parody to an already highly parodied melodrama.
It’s collaborative gold that extends through to the work of creative designers Richard Roberts (sets), Roger Kirk (costumes) and Trudy Dalgleish (lighting).
The overarching concept well and truly alludes to a carnival sideshow, playing out a 19th century pantomime-like world within the confines of a fairground-lit structure and unpacked to reveal quaint, cardboard-thin, whimsical set pieces.
The cartoonish trees, pirate ship, ancestral tombs and the Major-General’s citadel-like residence prop up the fun. It’s surely a concrete cue not to take any of this too seriously. since “it really doesn’t matter, matter, matter, matter, matter,” as the audience is reminded in one of a dozen highlights.
The story revolves around duty-bound pirate apprentice Frederic (Nicholas Jones), who falls in love with the young maiden Mabel (Nina Korbe), one of the many daughters of “the very model of a modern Major-General” Stanley (Richard Piper).
Incorporating a birthday leap-year twist ignited by the piratical maid Ruth (Antoinette Halloran), comic battles among pirates led by the Pirate King (Ben Mingay) and police forces commanded by the Sergeant of Police (Christopher Hillier), topsy-turviness turns to happy ending. On the way, the ridiculousness of rigid bureaucratic systems, moral posturing and social standing are nothing on a little humanity and common sense.
Jones is a standout, giving one of his most memorable performances as an irresistibly naive Frederic, his warm, flexible tenor and handsome frame showing what a solid, electrifying workout really means. Korbe brings a matured, subtly nuanced finesse to Mabel while effortlessly breezing through her soprano demands with flying colours.
To the Pirate King, Mingay brings loads of suave, swashbuckling flamboyance, sports a deliciously delivered tobacco-toned baritone to match it and is a natural at heightening the farce while revving up his audience. Able to take on the swift patter music with crystal enunciation, he certainly earns a good laugh running out of breath intentionally to emphasise its exhaustive demands.
While Piper is just about the very model of musical accuracy of operetta magnificence in Act 1’s iconic patter song, he nonetheless takes the role of M-G Stanley by the horns to give a magnetic and blustery satirical take on the 19th-century British military class. Following on in Act 2, every bit of Piper’s Act 2 doddering presence and diction-clear delivery is a gem.
Halloran’s character-driven, gnarling, Cockney vocals add much to Ruth’s colourful and crafty ways. Hillier perfectly captures the slightly hesitant yet loveable nature of the Sergeant, and the chorus of pirates, police and M-G Stanley’s daughters – so integral to the often nonsensical theatrical joy filling the work – is cast with a talented array of prize-winning young artists versatile in voice and faultless in comic timing.
Their involvement follows in the footsteps of many who have G&S associations. I’m not saying who was a maiden “climbing over rocky mountain” in an all-boys school, or fluked entry to a G&S Society in Tasmania for a few fun productions but, my hunch is, they are one of many in the audience who had no intention of a career in musical theatre but drummed up a little experience and had fun in G&S life.
For so many, it’s unimaginable to believe that the inspired absurdity, infectious melodies and theatrical spirit accompanying The Pirates of Penzance could be lost in generations to come – especially so given AO’s gold standard production and VO’s realisation of it.
The Pirates of Penzance
Palais Theatre, Lower Esplanade, St Kilda
Performance: Saturday 31 January 2026
Season continues to 6 February 2026
Information and Bookings: www.victorianopera.com.au
Images: The Ensemble of The Pirates of Penzance – photo by Jeff Busby | Antoinette Halloran, Ben Mingay and the Ensemble of The Pirates of Penzance – photo by Jeff Busby | Ben Mingay, Richard Piper and the Ensemble of The Pirates of Penzance – photo by Jeff Busby | Antoinette Halloran, Nicholas Jones, Ben Mingay and the Ensemble of The Pirates of Penzance – photo by Jeff Busby | Ben Mingay, Richard Piper and the Ensemble of The Pirates of Penzance – photo by Jeff Busby | Christopher Hillier, Nina Korbe, Richard Piper and the Ensemble of The Pirates of Penzance – photo by Jeff Busby
Review: Paul Selar