The Pirates of Penzance

The Pirates of Penzance (The Slave of Duty) is a comic operetta in two acts, with music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and libretto by Sir W. S. Gilbert featuring Pirates, Police, a Major-General, and his daughters.

On Frederic’s 21st birthday he is released from his apprenticeship to a ship-full of kind pirates and announces that he is now duty-bound to bring them to justice and departs. On shore, he encounters Mabel: one of the daughters of Major-General Stanley. He and Mabel quickly fall in love.

Frederic’s maid, Ruth, and the Pirate King appear and convince him that although he is 21 years old, he was born on leap day and must be indentured to the pirates for another 63 years.

Violence between the police and the pirates erupts after the pirates seize the daughters. The police are defeated and Ruth convinces the Major-General to forgive the pirates.