Central Florida Vocal Arts To End The Summer With THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

Central Florida Vocal Arts opens Season Twelve with a swashbuckling adventure in Gilbert and Sullivan's classic, The Pirates of Penzance, presented at the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater at Dr. Phillips Center August 9-11, 2024 with the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra.

Written in 1879 as the fifth theatrical collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan, The Pirates of Penzance offers the vocal finesse of operatic arias, ballades, and choruses, paired with sharp dialogue, a twisting plot and clever lyrics. A celebrated example of the operetta genre, the piece follows Frederic, a young pirate apprentice, as he disembarks the ship on his 21st birthday. He promptly meets the Major-General and his beautiful daughters, including Mabel with whom he immediately falls in love, leading to hilarious misadventures and rollicking romance.

Frederic will be sung by rising talent AJ Morales, who has previously worked with Central Florida Vocal Arts in 2023's A Little Night Music and Dracula, the Musical. Sarah Beth Ganey will make her CFVA debut as Mabel, although she is no stranger to Central Florida audiences. Sarah has previously worked with the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Theatre Winter Haven, and Osceola Arts, as well as local theme parks.

CFVA's Artistic Director, Eric Pinder will step out from behind the table and take the stage as the tongue-twisting Major-General Stanley. Eric has been a fixture of the Central Florida theatre community for over thirty years, and recently wrote and directed 2024 Orlando Fringe Festival Best of Fest, Cocaine Bear: The Opera.

The Pirates of Penzance will also feature Chris Teixeira as the Pirate King, and Susan Neves as Ruth, the "Piratical Maid of all work." Ms. Neves is a veteran of the Metropolitan Opera stage, having sung dramatic soprano roles nationally and internationally, but is equally beloved by Florida audiences for her performances with Vero Beach Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Florida Opera Theater. She is also a winner of the International Luciano Pavarotti Vocal Competition, and was given the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation's Distinguished Achievement Award in 2015.

Leading the creative team are Stage Director Selena Ambush, who serves as the Director of Theatre at Eastern Florida State College, and Music Director Philip King. King has been a fixture in recent years with Central Florida Vocal Arts, serving as Music Director for The Sound of Music, Hansel and Gretel and Scalia/Ginsburg. Of The Pirates of Penzance, he says, "The piece is funny, charming, and the music is sharply satirical - taking stabs at traditional opera, while carving out the template for English operetta, opera, and later, American Musical Theatre."

The stellar voices of the cast will shine against the lush backing of Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of its founder, Aaron Collins. This is the seventh collaboration between Space Coast Symphony Orchestra and Central Florida Vocal Arts, and the third to take place at the Dr. Phillips Center. Previous collaborations at DPC, Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music and the family classic "The Sound of Music" both saw sold-out performances and rave reviews by critics and audiences alike. Following the Dr. Phillips Center performances, The

Pirates of Penzance will travel to the East Coast to perform semi-staged productions for the Space Coast Symphony's audiences August 17th at The Scott Center in Melbourne, and August 18th at the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center.

Tickets to performances of The Pirates of Penzance at the Dr. Phillips Center will be available to Central Florida Vocal Arts' donors on pre-sale beginning Friday, June 14, and on sale to the general public Friday, June 21 on the Dr. Phillips Center website and at CentralFloridaVocalArts.org.

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