I attended the Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company and Minneapolis Pops Orchestra‘s concert version of The Pirates of Penzance at the Lake Harriet Bandshell as part of a friend’s birthday celebration, and I very much enjoyed it. The company were all dressed in beach attire and did a fairly low-key dramatization that was nonetheless high quality.
Lake Harriet Bandshell
This was my first time ever attending a production of a Gilbert & Sullivan show. Because of my encyclopedic knowledge of 90’s cartoons, I was familiar with many of their tunes, so it was nice to see them in context and with their original lyrics – which are rumored to be super witty. Unfortunately, the acoustics at the bandshell aren’t the most conducive to lyrics, but, from what I caught, the rumors were true. Wit abounded.
The event was made even more enjoyable because its sponsors, Larabars, were handing out as many mini bar samples as you’d wanted. And I wanted several handfuls. Delicious, healthy, organic, and generally-expensive-but-this-time-free!
Here’s a German-language Animaniacs rendition of I Am the Very Model of a Cartoon Individual, lifted (and taken liberties with) from The Pirates of Penzance.
Radically Amazed 