Favorite Photo Friday: "Pirates of Penzance"

"Pirates of Penzance" August 2009.
A little context.... Frederic has been indentured to the pirates since he was just a little lad. On his 21st birthday he decides, now that his indentured time is up, he wants to give up his life of piracy and become a law-abiding citizen. He is pretty darn excited to find a girl since he hasn't really even seen one.... he has been at sea so long. He is therefore thrilled to come across a whole bunch of sisters dancing and playing on the beach. He bursts upon the scene and, more or less, asks if there is any one of them who will have him. "No way" they all say. But in proper, english verbiage of course. They go back and forth for awhile, Frederic trying to win one...ANY one...over. But he is a pirate..and in his blundering, inexperienced ways, has offended them all. "Not one?" he asks. "No, no not one!" they reply. Until Mabel comes in..."Yes one!" she announces. Frederic is stunned and delighted and watches in rapture as Mabel chastises her sisters:

"Oh sisters deaf to pity's name, for shame! It's true that he has gone astray, but pray...Is that a reason good and true why you should all be deaf to pity's name?"

So it's dress rehearsal. The stage and lighting is set. We're all in full costumes and make-up. I'm fully into my character as sweet but firm big sister Mabel. I chastise my sisters firmly for rejecting this "poor wandering one." I look up at them, waiting because theirs is the next line in the song. They are supposed to sing:

"The question is had he not been a thing of beauty, would she be swayed by quite so keen a sense of duty?"

It's a line I know well. One I've heard over and over and over. The line that prompts me to reply back, "For shame, for shame, for shame!"

But on this day? That's not the line that came back at me. No. On this day my "sisters" decided to play a joke on me. Instead I hear:

"The question is had he not been a total hottie... is it her duty or his gorgeous body?"

And I lost it! I laughed and laughed. My Frederic laughing too, but at me not them. He had heard them rehearsing the new line and knew of their plans. The directors out in the audience, the pirates and policemen off stage...everyone laughing. The whole production came to a screeching halt as we all got over our moment of hilarity. But what made it even funnier...most of these "sisters" of mine were high school or college girls. And they really did think "Frederic" was pretty darn hot. I had spent all summer watching them flirt with him. Some had even expressed envy that I got to spend so much time with him since our characters fall in love.
I wrote that new line in my official "Pirates" score so I wouldn't forget. I honestly don't think that I'll ever be able to sing or listen to that song again without remembering that moment and smiling. I love being in plays. As amazing as it is to perform on stage in front of an audience, it's the little things like this that I remember most fondly.