Try Gilbert and Sullivan for the Fun of It

When people get together to put on a show, they don’t usually start out with something as ambitious as operetta.

But that hasn’t stopped the Orpheus Lyric Theatre, which will present their production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance” on Saturday at Glendale Central Christian Church.

“We wanted something that people would like, that would draw an audience,” director Riccarla Roman said of the decision to produce Pirates for the fledgling company’s first show. “Basically, it’s a fun show and we all liked it.”

“We” includes Roman, who has been studying and working in the theater most of her life, her husband, singer Robert Roman, and Henry and Barbara Ebert.

“We had met through another group and we found that all of us agreed on the sort of productions we wanted to do. And since we all agreed on the way we wanted to do things, we decided to form a company and do them,” Riccarla Roman said.

The operetta chronicles the pirates who won’t attack a party weaker than themselves (and so invariably get thrashed), or orphans, which a wily Modern Major General uses to his advantage to rescue his numerous daughters from the pirates.

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It also chronicles the story of Frederick, who rises out of his indenture to quit the pirate band and falls head over heels in love with the Major General’s daughter, Mabel, only to find that the pirates have a hold on him after all, through an incredible loophole in a contract.

“I wanted it to be this charming picture of a world gone by; like a picture postcard with the little Victorian valentine kind of thing,” Riccarla Roman said.

The play begins at 7:30 p.m., at the church, 1479 E. Broadway. Suggested donations are $10, $7 seniors, $5 students.