‘Pirates’ invading Acting Company this weekend

Pirates will descend on Yuba City this weekend, but once they’re gone, nothing will be missing.

The pirates will be limited to The Acting Company for its production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera, “The Pirates of Penzance.”

Even if they weren’t limited to The Acting Company, the pirates in the opera wouldn’t be ransacking homes since the Penzance pirates “are very tender-hearted,” said the opera’s director, Foster Campbell-MacManus.

“They’re a band of pirates ... (who) never accost anyone stronger or weaker than themselves, so they never make any money,” she said.

In “The Pirates of Penzance,” Frederic (played by Darek Riley) is an indentured sailor. The first act begins on his 21st birthday - the day when he will be released from his servitude.

A group of young girls approaches the pirate lair, and Frederic appeals to them to reform his pirate ways. One of the girls, Mabel (Shannon Doscher), decides to help, and she and Frederic soon fall in love.

The other pirates soon appear, intending to capture all of the young girls, but are stopped when their father, the Major-General, appears and lies about being an orphan to have him and his daughters released.

Act two begins with the police intending to arrest all the pirates. Frederic, meanwhile, encounters the Pirate King (Travis Leonard) and the pirates’ maid, Ruth (Sharon Wonder), and learns he is not free from his life as a pirate. Since he was born on a leap year, he is considered only 5 years old and won’t be released until he’s in his 80s.

“It was written as a satire,” Campbell-MacManus said. “The humor is still very funny all these years later.”

“The Pirates of Penzance” is one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most well-known works, Campbell-MacManus said. “It’s one of the most-produced (operas) in musical history.”

She was attracted to directing the opera because of her familiarity with the material. “It was a favorite piece of my son, Michael. The Pirate King has always been his audition piece.”

The underlying message of the opera can be found in its subtitle: “The Slave of Duty.”

“The message is the sense of duty,” Campbell-MacManus said. “It’s to do what you know you need to do.”

Since “The Pirates of Penzance” is an operetta, all the dialogue is sung instead of spoken.

“(The opera) is a ‘feel-good’ piece. It’s very entertaining and very funny with wonderful music,” Campbell-MacManus said.