Pirates of Penzance, The or The Slave of Duty

A poster by H M Brock advertising the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Pirates of Penzance.

Operetta by Arthur Sullivan (libretto by W S Gilbert), produced at the Bijou Theatre in Paignton, Devon, on 30 December 1879. A pirated performance was given at New York's Fifth Avenue Theatre, on 31 December 1879, and the first London performance, at the Opéra-Comique, was given on 3 April 1880. The story is about Frederic, who is mistakenly apprenticed to some pirates but intends to turn in the outlaws when he comes of age. He discovers, however, that he was born on 29 February in a leap year and is consequently not yet 21; he must remain an apprentice.