2025 H.M.S. Pinafore

In Gilbert and Sullivan’s commercially and critically acclaimed operetta, the British ship H.M.S. Pinafore is currently docked at Portsmouth as the ship’s merry crew of proud English sailors attends to their usual duties. One sailor, the handsome Ralph Rackstraw, reveals to his shipmates that he is in love with Josephine, the daughter of Captain Corcoran, the captain of their ship, despite the problem that society prevents him from marrying someone above his station. Unbeknownst to Rackstraw, Josephine suffers from the society’s issue, wishing to marry Ralph instead of Joseph Porter, the pretentious “ruler of the Queen’s Navy.” Even after loud opposition from fellow sailor Dick Deadeye, the crew supports Ralph and Josephine’s forbidden union, sneaking around in the dead of night to escape notice from Corcoran and Porter while Corcoran experiences his own forbidden love interest budding between him and Little Buttercup, a hearty lower-class woman guarding some secrets of her own. In the end, the power of love triumphs over societal rank in life, fulfilling the promise of a happy and hilarious ending.

Music Director Guy Russo.  Stage Director Meighan Lloyd.