Music on the Ladder - AUDITIONS for Come and Sing The Pirates of Penzance

As some of you may have already heard, Music on the Ladder will be hosting a "Come and Sing The Pirates of Penzance" event on Saturday, 7 June at St. Paul's Church on Wightman Road.  The attached flyer has all the details for anyone wishing to come along to sing in the chorus or be part of the audience, but the purpose of this note is to let you know about the auditions we will be holding for the principal roles.

If you fancy your chances as a dashing young apprentice or a Pirate King, a Sergeant of Police or a piratical maid of all work (whatever one of those is!), please e-mail us at musicontheladder@gmail.com to book your slot - please let us know which part (or parts!) you wish to audition for.  The auditions will be on Saturday, 29 March between 2pm and 4pm.

Although we're putting on a concert performance of The Pirates of Penzance, we are looking for people who can portray the characters, rather than just singing prettily. The principals will be permitted to use books in the performance if they wish. The auditions will take place in the church itself.

Here is a link to a selection of free scores available free on the internet, all of which are more or less the same (you'll need the "vocal scores" tab): http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Pirates_of_Penzance_(Sullivan,_Arthur). We will also have hard copies available on the day. 

The principal roles and audition pieces are as follows:

Frederic, the Pirate Apprentice (Tenor) – Act I No.7, "Oh is there not one maiden breast?"
The Pirate King (Bass-baritone) – Act I No.3, "Oh better far to live and die"
Samuel, his lieutenant (Baritone) – Act I No.1, "Pour oh pour the pirate sherry" and Act II No.26 (marked No.12 in some scores), "With cat-like tread"
Major-General Stanley (Comic baritone) – Act I No.13, "I am the very model of a modern Major-General"
Sergeant of Police (Bass) – Act II No.24 (marked No.10 in some scores), "When a felon's not engaged in his employment"
Mabel, the Major-General's youngest daughter (Soprano) – Act I No.8, "Poor wand'ring one"
Edith and Kate, her sisters (both Mezzo-soprano) – Act I No.9, "What ought we to do?"
Ruth, a piratical maid of all work (Contralto) – Act I No.2, "When Fred'ric was a little lad"

In addition to attending the Come and Sing event (obviously!), we will be asking principals to commit to one or two ensemble rehearsals to go through the trickier principals-only numbers during the few weeks prior to the event, and we will be asking principals to sing along with the chorus when they don't have their own part to sing.

Although we are getting quite a long way towards world domination, as Music on the Ladder is a community music project, unfortunately we are not yet in a position where we can offer payment to soloists. There is likely to be a bottle of wine and/or a bunch of daffs in it, though!