REVIEW
'Pirates of Penzance' holds pleasant surprises
By Carol Simmons
Dayton Daily News
Saturday, January 17, 2004

DAYTON -- No matter how familiar you may be with all of the plot twists and turns in Gilbert & Sullivan's beloved operetta The Pirates of Penzance, you'll find some pleasant surprises await in the Dayton Opera's new production that opened Friday night at Victoria Theatre.

Stage director Gary Briggle, who also sings the role of Major-General Stanley, has set the piece to bring out all of its comedic nuances without crossing the line into caricature.

The new mounting is delightfully imaginative and lovingly rendered, while remaining true to the Gilbert & Sullivan tradition. Of course, the work has everything going for it — an incredibly smart score, clever wordplay, colorful characters and even a happy, if fanciful, ending.

But Briggle and the cast and chorus didn't settle for that. They showed an effective sense of comic timing Friday night, while giving extremely physical performances. The chorus is especially stretched beyond anything its members have been asked to do before. And they thoroughly rose to the occasion.

Briggle is an amazing talent. Brilliant isn't a word you throw around easily, but . . . talk about your "model of a modern major-general." Briggle is tops.

Except for veteran Briggle, the principal parts are all sung by young newcomers, several of them members of Dayton Opera's Artist-In-Residence Program.

Both romantic leads, Chad Berlinghieri (Frederic, pirate apprentice) and Kristen Sharpley (Mabel, daughter of the major-general), are participants in the program. Their lovely singing was matched by the verve with which they threw themselves into their roles.

Subtitled "The Slave of Duty," The Pirates of Penzance turns on Frederic's dilemma: apprenticed when he was 8 years of age by his hard-of-hearing nursemaid to a band of pirates until his 21st birthday, he reaches his 21st year only to find that he was born on Feb. 29.

The Pirate King, played by a swarthy Dominic Aquilino (whose makeup and mannerisms seemed to take a few cues from Johnny Depp in the film The Pirates of the Caribbean, mixed with a dash of Peter Pan's Captain Hook) has his own ideas about where Frederic belongs. He has a wonderfully expressive baritone voice.

Setting a nimble pace in the pit was conductor Jeffrey Powell and a chamber orchestra of musicians from the Dayton Philharmonic.