South Shore Elementary Students to participate in professional production of Opera For The Young’s THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE.  The company will present The Pirates of Penzance at South Shore School’s Elementary Gym on Thursday February 6, 2020 at 4:00. A chorus of students from South Shore will appear onstage, performing right alongside Opera for the Young’s (OFTY) professional artists. 

About Opera for the Young 

Opera for the Young brings live, professional opera to elementary school audiences. All productions are fully staged, sung in English and created especially for children. Students appear onstage in chorus and cameo roles; they also help design certain elements of the production’s sets and costumes. OFTY audiences become acquainted with the original scores of master composers, set in contexts relevant to kids’ 21st century lives. OFTY’s Barber of Seville is updated to the 1950s; Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love is set in the old west; Grétry’s Beauty and the Beast is set in the exotic Indian Ocean; Mozart’s The Magic Flute set in outer space. OFTY’s repertoire also includes an original opera by Gendel & Garton Edie, Super Storm!, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, Dvorak’s Rusalka, A Mermaid’s Tale, Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel, Massenet’s Cinderella, and a work based on the masterpieces of Offenbach, Gluck and Monteverdi entitled, Orpheus Returns. Opera for the Young annually presents 200 performances, reaching 75,000 children every school year throughout Wisconsin, northern Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Kentucky. 

About The Pirates of Penzance 

OFTY’s adaptation of The Pirates of Penzance brings Gilbert and Sullivan’s swashbuckling operetta alive for young children. Without sacrificing essential storyline, language or representative musical score, this is a child-friendly version of a complicated tale. There is the stalwart Frederic, his sweetheart Mabel, her garrulous father the Major General, the robust Pirate King, and Ruth – loving nursemaid to Frederic, all interacting onstage with small pirates, constables and wards from each elementary school. Vivid characterizations for both professional and elementary school cast members draw young audiences into Gilbert and Sullivan’s world of clever word play, charming melodies and the old-fashioned (but never out-of-date) values of loyalty and forgiveness. Pirates will showcase elements that have come to define Opera for the Young: beautiful, challenging music; engaging, relevant stories; and myriad opportunities for student participation in both design and performance. 

About OFTY’s professional artists 

Every OFTY production features four professional singers and one pianist. Professional cast members are selected after competitive auditions held each spring in Chicago and Madison. All professional roles are triple cast. Recent cast members have included a Grammy award winner, Metropolitan Opera national audition winners, several Met regional winners, artists with doctorates, many with masters degrees, choristers from the Lyric Opera of Chicago and members of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. All are conservatory graduates and active performing artists. Further information about Opera for the Young is available at www.operafortheyoung.org