OperaMetro (OM) had the privilege to chat with Jordan Fenster (JF), who sings the central role of Major-General Stanley in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance. The opera will be performed at the Norwalk Concert Hall tomorrow (April 2) at 2:30 and 7:00, to be repeated the following weekend on Saturday, April 9. We’re strolling along the shore, in part to get into a proper pirate mood, but also to welcome the spring weather, such as it’s been these past few days.

OM: Thank you for agreeing to this!

JF: You’re quite welcome!

OM: You’re a newcomer to Gilbert and Sullivan and Troupers

JF: Yes, I am new to operatic performance. I was trained in classical theater years ago but I have not until this point had the opportunity to perform Gilbert and Sullivan for anyone but my dog and daughters.

OM: They count.

JF: I was first introduced to Pirates as a child by my mother and, honestly, it remains one of my favorite pieces of music. It's not only hilarious but the music is stunning.

OM: Interesting! I, too, followed that path as a youngster, my father recorded on our reel-to-reel a TV production of Pinafore, which we watched many times, then my mother, at the urging of her boss, brought a D’Oyly Carte LP set of Pirates home. The Major-General was Peter Pratt, as I recall. Anyway, I was hooked.

Jordan Fenster stars as Major-General Stanley in Troupers *The Pirates of Penzance*

But now you’re onstage. you’re taking the big leap here starting with the role of Major-General Stanley. As do most of the comic baritone parts in G & S, the Major-General has a patter song, in this case "I am the very model of a modern Major-General." Tell me about the journey from your first introduction to the song (maybe at first hearing...) to your mastery of it, highlights in between.

JF: Everyone knows the speed of the words of this particular patter. It’s what I was amazed by when I first heard the song as a child. But, as I've learned, the song is intricately written

OM: Meaning?

JF: I've had to start at one-10th tempo, just to make sure that I'm getting the tune correct (and for some reason I'm still having trouble getting the A flat on the second line of the first verse).

OM: And the lyrics?

JF: Oh my, from a lyrical perspective it's literally dripping with irony. The whole song is a condemnation of the Major-General's class, and sets up the subtle social commentary that is the basis for the whole show. It's a challenge, and I hope I am up to it.

OM: I asked this question when I talked to Wendy:* As members of the audience we have the freedom to laugh at Gilbert's absolutely absurd lines or dialogue, but you on the stage must deliver these as if they are dead serious. As a performer, what secrets do you have to avoid breaking character and laughing at your lines or the lines of another character?

JF: I spend a lot of time thinking about the character, believe it or not. How would Major-General Stanley react to this or that? It may be comedy, it may be operetta, it may be lighthearted silliness but the character still needs an internal life. Let the character inhabit your body and you'll react with authenticity. I'm hoping to be the one who makes the other actors break and, during rehearsal, I pay a lot of attention to what makes the cast and crew laugh (Wendy in particular). If they laugh out loud at something I've done or said, I will try to replicate that. Likewise, I try to laugh at everyone else's jokes to give them the same feedback.
OM: Apart from the patter song in Act One, what other scenes or interchanges in Pirates between a character and the MG do you find particularly amusing?

JF: Well, the whole orphan/often interchange is hilarious and something out of Abbott and Costello. But I particularly love the exchange between Fred and the major in his "ancestral" chapel. It turns out (shocking!) that the major general bought his baronial estate and has no real lineage to speak of. But he still takes pride in it as if he was descended from lords. He calls himself a "descendant by purchase," which is just uproariously funny. This makes the realization at the end of the show that the pirates are, in fact, peers of the realm so much more biting. The major is new money but the pirates are noblemen? Scandalous!

OM: I love every part of Pirates, so to say ‘one of my favorites…’ is making an unnecessary distinction. But in the second act the Major-General sings "Sighing softly to the river...", which is not a comic number, apart from the fact that the Pirates are listening on the one side and the Police are listening on the other. It broadens Major-General's character. As the one singing, do you find shifting gears tricky?

JF: This song has caused me some consternation. I struggle with why the Major-General sings it at all. Shifting gears from patter to ballad is not the hard part, but rather I've found it difficult to understand the reasoning behind the song. Wendy, though, has used it as a way to amp up the tension and comedy, getting the pirates and police to creep behind and around him as he dreams about the breeze being a tease.

OM: I remember reading that the George Grossmith, for whom the role was written, had a less than stellar baritone voice, often frustrating Sullivan. Apparently Sullivan decided to make Grossmith ‘stretch’ a bit. It’s a pleasant number.

Moving on, though, I feel strongly that the Gilbert and Sullivan operas are really important artistic creations, yet they contain some stereotypes that are offensive to modern ears. Your thoughts?

JF: The show could easily be considered out-of-date. The major is happy to marry off his daughters to lords, and the pirates attempt to marry the women "against their wills." At its heart, though, the show is satire, a condemnation of the British caste system, of a societal structure we can appreciate in 2022. Do we not give status to the wealthy and highborn in the United States of today, simply because of the circumstances of their birth? The fact that the Major-General is more than willing to forgive the pirates and offer up his daughters merely because they turn out to be lords can (and I think should) be taken as satire and sarcasm. The show was wildly popular when it premiered I think because audiences then understood that it was a subtle ridicule and rebuke.

OM: As are most Gilbert and Sullivan operas…look at the plot of H.M.S. Pinafore or Iolanthe to name two.

It’s been a pleasure chatting with you, Jordan!

Best wishes to you, please extend my best wished to the others in the cast, crew and staff!

To repeat: Troupers Light Opera will be presenting that perennial Gilbert and Sullivan favorite, The Pirates of Penzance on two Saturdays, April 2nd and 9th at 2:30 and 7:00 pm. For tickets and information go to Trouperslightopera.org.