Modern Major General - Pirates of Penzance, Jr.

[AlyssaR99]

i am doing this show in school. i am a police. it is very fun.

[TheRWOCompany]

I found out that we're doing this next year for our school play, and because I'll be in Grade 8 'm qualified for a lead role. I'll be auditioning for the role of the general which I'm really excited about! The best part is, I didn't know that they had a Jr. version for this play and practiced the song with the original version! Now I can sing the song at a lightning speed for a 13 year old girl while my teacher can't XD

[Overpowertheworld]

I'm doing this play right now, I'm the Major General too (: But I'm a girl. On the CD I rehearse with the guy sings off pitch and too low...So I just pull this up on youtube to practice haha (:

[EeveeIced]

nice job! i just did this musical



[Generalbob117]

This kid's got some skill!

[tomjones90210]

I am going to do the jr. version too but I cant find the orphan scene? How bad is it in the jr. version? Because that is like the best part of the play. Is it like complete;y butchered?

[MrsShredder]

@tomjones90210 The orphan/often scene is gone from the Junior version. There's a little nod to it, but that's about all.

[mjsax2390]

Oh the junior version just destroys the Act I Finale as well as the Orphan - frequently scene before it that is the funniest scene in the show!

[MrsShredder]

Yes, the junior versions leave out some great stuff, but in a small school when you can't have a pit band/orch., you do what you can!

[mjsax2390]

Oh there's nothing wrong with not having a pit orchestra. In fact, you could probably do the full version with the piano accompaniment in the vocal score. It's really a shame that they left out that scene, though.

[jojosh40]

@mjsax2390 I'm the major geeral in my play at school and we added that part in because it wouldn't be complete w/out it!

[mjsax2390]

@jojosh40 Glad to hear it. I just finished a production of Pirates of Penzance (full version) a few weeks ago in which I was the Sergeant of Police. Gilbert and Sullivan is a lot of fun to perform! Good luck with your role as the Major General. If you haven't seen it yet, check out George Rose's version, which is one of the related videos on the right.

[vampireratt]

I watched the video again...its a shame your school has no pit band or accompanist....But your school has talent!!!

[MrsShredder]

Well, thanks! We're doing The Music Man, Jr. this year. I don't like it half as much as Pirates or the Into the Woods, Jr. we did a few years ago. Where do you sing opera? We go to the Madison, WI, opera every year or so for the dress rehearsals which are performed for HS kids. We've seen The Marriage of Figaro and Madame Butterfly as well as others. The kids really enjoy seeing a real production.

[vampireratt]

He left out half the song and did not do it fast enough

[MrsShredder]

"He" didn't do anything of the sort. If you can read, you can see that this was a Broadway Junior production. The people at Music Theatre International put out shortened versions of major shows like this for smaller schools and younger students to perform. Our school does not have a pit band, so it was performed with the CD put out by MTI. MTI shortened the song and slowed it down. Please be more informed before making derisive comments.

[vampireratt]

Ok So it's not a he... but my nephew was just the major general in a 6th grade production of Pirates and the entire song was performed and at FULL speed, including the high speed runthrough at the end!!. I helped teach him as I played Major General Stanley in highschool. The kid in this video has a very good voice though!!!

[MrsShredder]

Ah! They probably did the full production then. We're a small school with no accompanist available, and all of the singers ARE the kids in the band. We love the Junior productions because we don't need to take half the singers out for a pit band, and they do simplify some songs which helps if we don't have the greatest singers. As you saw in this video, our Major General was a fantastic singer, so we had him do the full song at solo&ens. where he scored high enough to go to the state contest!

[MrsShredder]

And I'm sorry for being snarky above, but my students are very proud of their productions, and we keep getting comments about "changing" the music which was completely out of our control. We had nothing to do with the changes. (P.S. Our entire high school is around 100 students, and our middle school is about the same.)

[vampireratt]

Your students are talented.

the kid in this video in my opinion could have handled the entire song at full speed with no problem!!! I guess MTI ruined it. Just my opinion...but When you slow down the Major General song which is a patter song...it is like performing Italian Opera in English....It loses something. I think the Major General song should be perfomed ala the late George Rose!!!! AS an opera singer...I am funny about music being changed.

[Choirgod4445]

Major General Stanely is supposed to be an extremely comic role..... This is just a luke warm performance at best.... However nice job at MAJOR GENERAL SONG.... From One Major General to another always look at how others have portrayed the character

music peace and harmony

Mike

[gonavy1616]

I had to do this at audition I got the part of samuel though

[IagoParrot]

i auditioned for samuel too but lost

[godlikeguard]

that kid could b-come a professional singer!!!!

[whazzahappawichoo]

hmmm. im looking to play Major General Stanley in Pirates of Penzance Junior.I'm also a girl, are the notes too low for a girl to sing convincingly?

[MrsShredder]

They might be too low in some spots, but can you possibly get a copy of the script to look at before auditions? Or at least you should be trying out on one or two of the actual songs from the show. That might help you decide.

[iluvjoel33]

WOOOOTT GOOOOO FALL RIVER :D