Gilbert & Sullivan - The Pirates of Penzance / Hyslop, Tomlin, Carver, Stratford Festival
A stellar Brent Carver stars as the swashbuckling Pirate King in the  famous Stratford Festival's rollicking production of the Gilbert & Sullivan classic that  pits British bobbies against unlikely pirates on the Cornish coast. Sullivan regarded this  opera - a hit ever since its first production in New York in 1879 - as the best comedy  he composed. He even said of his collaborator, "The libretto is ingenious, clever,  wonderfully fun in parts and sometimes brilliant in dialogue - beautifully written for  music, as is all Gilbert does." Indeed, audiences will find the music every bit a match for  the lyrics, with the genius of the score lying in its parody of grand opera.