Anthony Warlow - The Pirates of Penzance

Opera Australia — 2006–2007 tour

Between 2 August 2006 and 2 June 2007, Warlow appeared in the Opera Australia production of "The Pirates of Penzance" (a popular Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera), in which he played the role of the "Pirate King" — with performances during 2006 in Sydney, New South Wales (at the Sydney Opera House), in Canberra, ACT and in Brisbane, Queensland (at the Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre), as well as enjoying full houses in Melbourne, Victoria in 2007.

Anthony Warlow's Pirate King appeared in dress, voice and mannerism very similar to Captain Jack Sparrow from "Pirates of the Caribbean". In a press interview in Brisbane, Anthony Warlow said that he had deliberately based his Pirate King on Johnny Depp's character from "Pirates of the Caribbean" so that people who may not know the opera but are aware of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy of movies could enjoy the opera more. David Hobson (as "Frederic") and Suzanne Johnston (as "Ruth") also appeared in this production. The lead female role of Mabel, initially played by Emma Matthews was taken over by soprano Taryn Fiebig for most of the tour. John Bolton-Wood, originally cast as "Major-General Stanley" was replaced by Reg Livermore for the Melbourne season, and the role of the "Sergeant of Police" in Melbourne given to Shane Lorencev after the departure of bass Richard Alexander, the original "Sergeant".

This production of "The Pirates of Penzance" was shown on television by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Saturday 9 December 2006. A DVD of the production was subsequently released.