I am so excited to be attending a performance of the HMS Pinafore at the Yerba Buena Center today. I love operettas, as they give you the beautiful music of an opera, but with a comic & satirical mood, usually with clever wordplay, which I love. Gilbert and Sullivan were a great team, and I actually prefer this genre to the standard Broadway musical, which can be overly dramatic and drawn out (Phantom of the Opera - groan!).
I first saw Pinafore at North Shore Country Day School, where I was a student from K-8th grade. Every year they would perform a different operetta, including this one, Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, the Mikado, etc. Because of the humor and catchy songwriting, everyone from the kindergarteners to the seniors enjoyed the production.
Here is Stewie from the Family Guy, performing a version of one of the numbers. There is also an episode of the Simpsons in which Sideshow Bob sings the entire score.
