About the work
Operetta in two acts by Arthur Sullivan and William Schwenck Gilbert. To secure American copyright, the work was first staged on 31 December 1879 at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York, a day after a copyright performance in Paignton, England; the actual London premiere followed on 3 April 1880 at the Opera Comique.
Plot
Young Frederic has completed his apprenticeship with a band of pirates on the Cornish coast and wants to begin an honest life. He falls in love with Mabel, daughter of the bumbling Major-General Stanley. A clause in his indenture upends his plans: having been born on 29 February, he has technically had only five birthdays and must serve on for decades more. The conflict resolves once it emerges that the pirates are in fact noblemen who have gone astray.
Cultural significance
The operetta remains one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most frequently performed works; the Major-General's rapid-fire patter song is considered a textbook example of the form and is still referenced in popular culture. A 1981 Broadway revival ran for 787 performances, one of the work's most successful revivals.