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The Pirates of Penzance

or

The Slave of Duty

Frederic, the hero, was apprenticed as a child to a pirate by his nurse who, being rather hard of hearing, had mistaken her master’s instructions to apprentice the boy to a pilot.

The Pirates of Penzance had its premiere on December 31, 1879, at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York with Arthur Sullivan conducting. It opened on April 3, 1880, at the Opera Comique in London and ran for 363 performances.

Durham Savoyards Performance History

• May 17-18, 1963, Durham High School Auditorium

  Production Director: William L. MacIlwinnen — Music Director: Paul Bryan

• May 10-11, 1968, Page Auditorium, Duke University

  Director: J. W. Talarowski — Music Director: Allan Bone — Producer: John Setzer

• April 21-22, 1978, Page Auditorium, Duke University; April 29, 1978, Stewart Theatre, Raleigh, NC

  Director: Randolph Umberger — Music Director: Allan Bone — Producer: Esai Berenbaum

• April 22-23 and April 29-30 1988, Page Auditorium, Duke University

  Director: Randolph Umberger — Music Director: Benjamin Keaton — Producers: John & Betty Setzer

• April 22-25, 1999, Carolina Theatre, Durham, NC; May 1-2, 1999, Thalian Hall, Wilmington, NC

  Artistic Director: Randolph Umberger — Music Director: Benjamin Keaton — Producers: Patrick Kenan and Cathy & Randy Lambe

• March 15-17, 22-25, 2005, Carolina Theatre, Durham, NC

  Director: Derrick Ivey — Music Director: Alan Riley Jones — Producers: Karen and Charles Guidry
  [Cast & Crew] [Web page] [Audition materials] [Publicity materials]

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