Pirates of Penzance - The Ballet!

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The Queensland Ballet for "Pirates of Penzance – The Ballet!"

Pirates of Penzance – The Ballet! (originally called Pirates! The Ballet) is a comic ballet adapted from Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy Opera The Pirates of Penzance. The plot remains the same as for the opera.

The work was created for the Queensland Ballet. The choreographer was Daryl Gray, with orchestration by Henry Aronson and design by Christopher Smith. The world première took place at the Suncorp Theatre in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, on April 12, 1991.

Between 1991 and 1995, the ballet was slightly restructured by its choreographer, and given the new title of Pirates of Penzance – The Ballet!. The Queensland Ballet performed the work under its new title during March, 1996, following which the company took it on tour to the United States (also during 1996).

During the ballet, there are four opera singers seated in chairs on the sideline of the stage, who act as "members of the audience attending the ballet." There is some singing, and during the ballet both the Pirates and Police interact with these "members of the audience." The pirates and police hiding among them, and a pirate theatens the "audience members" with his sword.