The police sergeant, Tony Azito, is a hilarious miscast. That's not to say that he does his job badly, it's just that his voice – nasal and surprisingly high-pitched for a bass – sounds like a cartoon butler or a snotty teenager, not like an officer of Scotland Yard, much less the leader of an entire unit.

#piratesofpenzance

George Rose's Major-General Stanley is quite different from Douglas Chamberlain's ('85 Stratford), but he brings an unhinged energy to the table that Chamberlain didn't, so that's quite endearing.

Chamberlain played the posh upperclass socialite, who is utterly out of touch with the world by nature of his poshness.

Rose plays the unhinged weirdo, who sounds like he's one or two songs away from having to be talk down from some dangerous nutjob adventure.

I like them both tbh

#piratesofpenzance

I'm listening to the 1981 Broadway version of The Pirates of Penzance, and while of course (this being a studio recording, I think) the audio quality is much, much better than the TV-to-VHS copy of the 1985 Stratford Festival version, I'm... not really fond of the way many of the characters are interpreted?

Frederic loses his passion (being much more mellow about "pirates, I love you individually, but detest you collectively") and sounds too mature and lecturing, Ruth sounds more like the snake from Eden, scheming and deceitful, than the aging wallflower she's made out to be in Stratford, and the Pirate King sounds too posh, rather than the free-spirited-but-cultured hedonist I first saw him as.

Matter of opinion and all (and from what I could find on YouTube, the '81 Broadway and '83 film adaptation thereof seem to be somewhat definitive for modern productions of the play), but I really think it loses a lot.

Compare Frederic's passionate "pirates, individually I love you all" turning into a vigorous "but collectively, I look upon you with a disgust that borders on absolute detestation!" in the Stratford production with his sniffled woe-is-me version on Broadway, and Ruth's desperate "and your Ruth, what is to become of her?" cry in '85 Stratford with '81's my-voice-is-candy-and-i-will-deceitfully-seduce-you… it's just not the same, and not for the better.

Stratford > Broadway for sure.

#piratesofpenzance

i like him, by and large (well, i like how jeff hyslop plays him), but that bit is just... major yikes

#piratesofpenzance

nobody:

frederic: any ugly bitches willing to pityfuck me?

#piratesofpenzance

@JacobPhD oh my god I love that! I've been obsessing about #piratesofpenzance a bunch lately and this is 💯 😍

If god had wanted the word "Mabel" to be 30 seconds long, he would have put more hours in the day #piratesofpenzance

I forgot about the weird heteroerotic(? idk) dancing scene #piratesofpenzance

nobody:

frederic: "once i'm 84, i'll come back and marry you, promise you'll be faithful until then"

#piratesofpenzance

The sheer amount of fa-la-la-la-s in this song is honestly offensive #piratesofpenzance

With base deceit, you've worked upon our feelings
Revenge is sweet, and flavours all our dealings
With courage rare, and resolution manly
For death prepare, unhappy General Stanley

Still having #piratesofpenzance stuck in my head, why do you ask?

Now what is this, and what is that, and why does father leave his rest
At such a time of night as this, so very incompletely dressed?
Dear father is, and always was, the most methodical of men!
It’s his invariable rule to go to bed at half-past ten.
What strange occurrence can it be that calls dear father from his rest
At such a time of night as this, so very incompletely dressed?

This play has hilarious / amazing lyrics tbh #piratesofpenzance

Iiii am the very model of a modern holo engineer 🎶
The single most annoying boy to ever be a volunteer
I know the codes and buttons and I fix the bugs photonical
From sentient light to safety flaws and other bugs moronical

#startrek #piratesofpenzance

I gotta try and figure out my exact vocal range again some time. Last I checked, it was like E₂–E₄, but the extremes are a little hard to reach (high end gets nasal and tinny, low end gets thin and quiet), so I gotta figure out where exactly my usable range (tessitura?) is. All that is only chest voice btw, idk if you count head voice towards that?

This has nothing at all to do with the fact that I've started learning songs from #piratesofpenzance, no no.

Okay maybe a little.

Basically, according to Wikipedia, the Pirate King is a bass baritone, the Major-General is a "comic baritone" (?), and the sergeant of the police is a bass. And I've sung some of their parts with success so far (haven't tried to learn all yet), specifically the Major-General's song, "When the Foeman Bares His Steel", and "When a Felon's Not Engaged in His Employment" and some of "Here's a First-Rate Opportunity".

I did notice though that some of the police chorus's parts are a little too low for me though, especially the "it is" right before the start of "When a Felon's ...".

I mean, here's a super gay looking guy who's incredibly handsome, in touch with his emotions (sort of), clearly quite fond of Frederic, they hug a bunch of times (I know it's "just" part of the dance, but they hug!), did I mention he is very handsome and gay, and he puts in a lot of effort to get Frederic back, he's got decency (except for the fact he's a monarchist)

what do you want me to do? Not ship them?

#piratesofpenzance

Why does the Pirate King not get a name. How am I supposed to ship (no pun intended) two characters if one of them doesn't even have a name.

#piratesofpenzance

*humming to self*
a paradox, a paradox
a most ingenious paradox
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
this paradox

#piratesofpenzance

Help, I have "When a felon's not engaged in his employment" stuck in my head 😭

I sure hope the neighbours enjoyed my rendition of it 😬 I must have sung "when constabulary duty's to be done" ten dozen times in the shower 😂

#piratesofpenzance

He's kinda cute tho #piratesofpenzance

I will say one thing though, the 1980 production / 1983 film thereof has the better Mabel. No offence to *checks IMDB* Caralyn Tomlin, but her Mabel makes my ears bleed, and *checks Wikipedia* Linda Ronstadt does a great Mabel (as in, she's enjoyable more than painful), less shrill, more lively, and with more punch and heart to it. Her singing sometimes borders on yelling (melodically) and it's a lot better than the shrill soprano of my otherwise favourite version.

#piratesofpenzance