"The Pirates of Penzance", Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Stratford, ON

Gord, Sister Sarah and I boarded the 11am train this morning and headed to Stratford.  We had tickets to see The Pirates of Penzance at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Gord and I go to the Stratford Festival twice a year ... this is our second time this year.  We saw The War of 1812 in June.

Here are Gord and I on the train to Stratford.

There were some delays on the tracks so we ended up arriving 40 minutes late to Stratford ... we had ten minutes to get to theatre.  The opera was at the Avon Theatre.

Here are Sister Sarah, me and Gord in front of the theatre.  We are standing on Justin Bieber's star ... he is from Stratford and used to busk in front of the Avon Theatre before he became famous.

Could this be Stratford's next superstar?

The story concerns Frederic, who, having completed his 21st year, is released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley, and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic finds out, however, that he was born on February 29 so technically, he only has a birthday each leap year. His apprenticeship indentures state that he remains apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday so he must serve for another 63 years. Bound by his own sense of duty, Frederic's only solace is that Mabel agrees to wait for him faithfully.

The Pirates of Penzance is a comic opera in two acts by Gilbert and Sullivan.  The opera's official premiere was in New York City on December 31, 1879.

This production was okay.  I found that when they were singing, especially as a group, it was hard to understand what they were saying so I didn't really know what was going on.  But it was lively and colourful.  It was my first Gilbert and Sullivan play ... I'm not really into period pieces so won't be rushing back for another.

After supper at the Boar's Head Pub, we took a walk along the Avon River.  The leaves are changing.

Here are me and Sister Sarah.

And here are Gord and I.

The changing leaves were lovely.

We headed home on the 9pm train.

It should be interesting to see what productions they have next year.