Pirates of Penzance

Continuing with my time in Musical Theatre. I told you how it all began when the school where I was teaching put on Pirates of Penzance and I took the role of a pirate (seen on the left of photo behind the Pirate King - a student) in the first act. Then I was a policeman in the 2nd Act (on the right with truncheon at head below)

One of the other teachers had great difficulty keeping in time with the choreographed steps. We would practise with him interminably while off-stage but then, because he was out of step, he brought the house down. It was very difficult to maintain composure when you can see the School office ladies stuffing handkerchiefs in their mouths and tears of laughter running down their faces in front of you. The school theatre was very small.

Then having been in the Gondoliers and South Pacific in my local society, I was surprised when the next year (1987) they decided to stage the Pirates. As I said at the time, at least I knew the words. I was able to use the same costume as a pirate.


and then you can see me being admired by the ladies in their night dresses below. The painted on moustache is not very convincing.

I have searched and found a recent production of the University of Iowa singing the pirate king song in Act 1 and When a felon's not engaged in his employment sung by the police in Act 2. I chose these as not being as professional as some of the others available where the on stage antics were far beyond my athletic ability.

The Gondoliers

Yea, the Australian stock market rose today after decisive Government action over the weekend. As I post the European news is good and we are still waiting for Wall Street to open. Hoping that things might continue to improve, I am posting what I wrote several weeks ago as the next chapter in my musical career.

Actually it involves going back to the beginning.
In 1986 I was teaching in a Catholic Senior Boys' College. One of the other teachers was a keen member of a musical society and often took leading roles. He decided to join with the neighbouring Girls' College and stage Gilbert & Sullivan's 'The Pirates of Penzance'
However it was difficult to get enough boys interested. Some boys volunteered to play the Pirates and the Pirate Captain. The teacher took on the demanding role of Frederick and several male teachers were roped in to play the policemen. I also joined the boys as a pirate in Act 1. It was great fun and at the end I thanked the teacher for finally allowing me at the age of 42 to fulfill a dream and act in a Gilbert & Sullivan production. I had been a G&S tragic since my own school days.
He said ' Why don't you join your local society? I went home, checked the local paper and saw an advertisement for the Blue Mountains Musical Society. They were about to begin rehearsals for 'The Gondoliers' and so I joined up. I found it was much more professional and demanding than the school production but I loved it.
In the first photo I am 4th from the left in the back row as a gondolier in Act 1.

While in the next photo I am on the left as the gondoliers become courtiers in Act 2.And here is the chorus of the UBC Opera of Vancouver singing one of the best and most exhausting songs 'Dance a Cachuca'. It was the beginning of extending my jigging around the lounge room to the stage in front of an audience.