| The Pirates of Penzance | |
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&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:The-pirates-of-penzance-1982.jpg) Original theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Wilford Leach |
| Screenplay by | Wilford Leach |
| Based on | The Pirates of Penzance by Sir William Schwenck Gilbert |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Douglas Slocombe |
| Edited by | Anne V. Coates |
| Music by | Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (from The Pirates of Penzance) |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 112 minutes[1] |
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| Box office | $694,497[2] |
The Pirates of Penzance is a 1983 romantic musical comedy film written and directed by Wilford Leach based on Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera of the same name. The story takes place in the 1870s and centers around the pirate apprentice, Frederic, who leaves a Penzance-based pirate band of tenderhearted orphans and soon falls in love with Mabel, the daughter of an incompetent Major-General. But it turns out that Frederic was born on Leap day and is still apprenticed to the pirate band until he reaches his 21st birthday in 1940. His alliances shift back and forth between the pirates and "respectable society" until the pirates' maid-of-all-work, Ruth, reveals a fact that saves the day.
The film, starring Kevin Kline, Angela Lansbury, Linda Ronstadt, George Rose, and Rex Smith, is an adaptation of the 1980 Joseph Papp production of Pirates. The original Broadway cast reprised their roles in the film, except that Lansbury replaced Estelle Parsons as Ruth. The minor roles used British actors miming to their Broadway counterparts. Choreography was by Graciela Daniele. It was produced by Papp and filmed at Shepperton Studios in London. Universal Pictures made the unprecedented decision to release the film simultaneously with a release on pay TV, and the film was a box-office bomb, despite generally warm reviews.
- ^ "Pirates of Penzance (U)". British Board of Film Classification. July 20, 1983. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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