Thus the timing here and nearly everywhere else is impeccable. Within it, Leigh effectively groups his principals and his chorus вЂ“ only 13 daughters and a modest police force, very wise, though rather more in the way of pirates вЂ“ so that, for instance, 12 of the daughters, shocked that sister Mabel should have declared devotion for unindentured pirate Frederic, decide they need to sing about the weather and cluster at the front of the stage to keep a keen eye on Parry. That also makes the best of a space thatвЂ™s not ideal for the intimacies of G&S (the present Savoy Theatre would always be a better option). So Alison ChittyвЂ™s beautifully crinolined daughters of Major General Stanley, Victorian picturebook pirates and very 19th century policemen are contained within a more topsy-turvy kind of set which makes great play of the circular frame in the middle of the stage вЂ“ I wonвЂ™t spoil its funniest use, since the production photographer hasnвЂ™t either вЂ“ as well as the stylised mix of blue sea and green rocky mountain. You neither can nor need to take Pirates out of its Victorian framework: after all, the paradox of a leap-year baby born on 29 February, thus reaching his 21st birthday in 1940, the tongue in cheek homage to Queen Victoria and the excessive reverence for the House of Lords вЂ“ which is what the gone-wrong pirates turn out to be, no real plot spoiler there вЂ“ demand no less. The results stand in the same relation to ReganвЂ™s riotous send-up as the Royal Ballet Swan Lake вЂ“ or, rather better at the moment, the English National Ballet version вЂ“ does to Matthew BourneвЂ™s brilliant alternative: I wouldnвЂ™t want to be without either. ThereвЂ™s also something serious beneath the surface being said about time, the young being old and the old being childlike, which eludes clear definition, by me at any rate.Дown in the pit, David Parry captures the ingenious orchestration and the loving spoofs of everything from Handel to Wagner, so not just the bel canto repertoire he knows so well, with the perfect mixture of Г©lan and subtlety, guiding the best of choruses and a very classy line-up of soloists into fresh and nuanced takes on the score. The results are exactly the opposite of the camp busyness which smothered a Scottish Opera Pirates and the Finborough TheatreвЂ™s disastrously re-written Princess Ida. The answer would seem to lie in serving, as he writes in a fascinating programme note, 'the Gilbertian requirements of outrageousness delivered straight', more or less as Gilbert the director seems to have done, and rather more than less.

Having been tickled recently by the resourcefulness of companies staging the Savoy operas on a shoestring, not least Charles Court OperaвЂ™s reinventions at IslingtonвЂ™s KingвЂ™s Head and the return of Sasha ReganвЂ™s all-male Pirates, I wondered what Leigh could do to charm us just as much. That could keep the house happy for over a decade. By the end of last night, though, it was clear not only that Leigh and his musical team had been the best possible choice to tackle this work of classical perfection, but also that if operatic schedules could be rearranged and our greatest living Savoyard didn't have more films to make, he should return to give us one of these light-opera gems every season.

Pirates of penzance