let's vary piracy with a little burglary!

[orangerful]

I went down to the Laurel Playhouse with Amy this evening to see toothlesshag and verdatum perform in one of my all-time favorite musical The Pirates of Penzance. It was really fun to see live and in such a small setting. But now I want to watch the movie and for some strange reason it is NOT AVAILABLE on DVD. My parents have a copy, the one I watched over and over as a child...but it is on BETA! My guess, that probably is unwatchable (not even sure if the beta player is still alive).

So now I am chatting with verdatum and scouring YouTube for clips to get my fix. I've found a mix of film clips and clips from a live DVD that is out. I've posted a few of my favorite songs under the cut (warning: quality is about as good as a 25 year old Beta recording would be):



Modern Major General - such a great song, especially if you can pull it off at full speed like this:

Even though verdatum says he can't stand the police sgt. in the play, this routine is classic:

My FAVORITE song from the musical. The pirates being "quiet" and sneaky -- "With Cat Like Tread" (I had such a crush on Frederic and the Pirate King...)

Comments

[toothlesshag.livejournal.com]

So glad you could come! :)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

i had a great time! Keep me posted on more theater events!

[cheshire-c.livejournal.com]

It does exist on DVD, but it's really, really, really hard to find. If you ever do see it, buy a second copy for me and I'll pay you back?

You might also check the library -- I think we have the stage version (all the actors but for Ruth are the same as in the movie) on VHS, if you've still got a VCR. (If not, come over here and we can watch it on mine!)

Incidentally, this was one of my favorite bits:


PS -- I assume you've seen Topsy-Turvy (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151568/)?

PPS -- My dad was the Pirate King once! He occasionally would sing the music around the house when I was growing up. Ah, memories!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I like this one too (which according to Wikipedia is actually from a different G&S play...who knew!)



I saw 'Topsy Turvy' when it first came out. Don't really remember it very well. I'm going to add it back to my Netflix list!

Your dad is clearly a big dork a cool dude. :D

[cheshire-c.livejournal.com]

I love G&S. *sigh* And I had a childhood crush on Kevin Kline, specifically as a goofy pirate. :-)

Incidentally, this is Frederick now (http://www.rexsmith.com/). Interesting chap.

My dad has a PhD in theater... He loved musical theater, actually (no, he's not gay), and so there were many songs from musicals he'd sing. But more often he'd just sing along with classical music. Like scat to Mozart. So yes, both "a big dork" and "cool dude" rather apply! :-)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I wondered if he was still around. I was actually thinking of Google-ing him but was afraid of what the result might be. Looks like he's still having fun and singing. He'll always be sweet Frederick to me haha.

Kevin Kline is hard to resist as the Pirate King. I need to nexflix his version of Hamlet too, something tells me I'll enjoy that.

[ekaterin24.livejournal.com]

Oooohh, Gilbert & Sullivan!

I had to play a little before work this morning.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I found my CD and listened to it when I drove to the DC yesterday.