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Opera Theatre
University of Mississippi

April 2019

H.M.S. Pinafore by Gilbert & Sullivan

Friday, April 26, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 27, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts

H.M.S. Pinafore, or “The Lass that Loved a Sailor” offers plot twists, whistleable tunes, and rollicking fun aboard Her Majesty’s gallant ship, Pinafore. The story of a lass whose sorry lot is to “love too well” and a sailor who “alas, loves a lass above his station” remains popular 140 years after its premiere. Gilbert wrote many jokes meant to poke fun at the arch snobbery of these British characters and Sullivan parodied Italian opera, writes traditional British hymn tunes, and provides his famous patter songs. The longevity of this operetta can be attributed to not only its historical musical importance, but also the fact that an audience just wants to sing along with these tunes. One does not need to know this music theatre work to understand its humor, only observe “things are seldom what they seem.”