Avast, ye maties!
In case you didn’t know, I’m currently appearing in Encore’s production of “The Pirates of Penzance“ as a member of the Pirate chorus. It’s my first time back on stage since shortly after finishing college (my involvement in the Hillel Players survived my graduation, but not our first kid), and my first time in a musical.
It’s been quite an experience, and a lot of fun to boot, but it’s also been an enormous time commitment. Between the shlepping from work in Tel Aviv to rehearsals in Jerusalem, while still trying to see my family when they’re still awake, coupled with an apparently misguided sense that no rehearsal should be skipped (ever), I’m fairly exhausted. Despite the thrill of performing, I’m definitely looking forward to a more relaxing week ahead.
From what I understand, there are still tickets available for the remaining shows, but be forewarned that they’re a bit pricey at 100 NIS. I quote the following disclaimer another chorus member’s blog with permission:
Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance is being performed in Jerusalem this week and next. Pirates is an awesome, hilarious, magnificent show, particularly if your sense of humor leans towards straight-faced absurdity, British accents, and, well, pirates.
I’ll be singing in the chorus. Please don’t come to see me. If you’d like to come, make it because you think the show sounds like fun; if it doesn’t, it won’t be, and that’d be a shame. Also, the show’s on the expensive side (alack, 100NIS a ticket), so really – come iff you actually want to.
Of the production, I can say that this troupe has always put on excellent shows. A lot of the high price is due to high production values – we’ve got costumes, scenery and lighting out the wazoo; we’ve got a full live orchestra, we’ve got an excellent theater. More than that, though, we’ve got a cast which is having the time of their lives – we’ve got great actors and chorus doing their best and their most energetic. What all of this is going to say is, our production definitely lives up to excellent play.
If you have no familiarity with Gilbert and Sullivan, well, all I can say is that I’m very upset that you’re spending so little time around me, but also you can take a peek at some YouTube clips here and here. Those are from a Hollywood film with rather a larger budget and somewhat more renowned actors than we can claim, but they should give you an idea of what type of humor, story, and music you might expect from the show.
Full details are posted on the ENCORE website.