Who says opera and operetta can’t be fun? The Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY, opened its 2024 season with two lighthearted productions, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance (1879) and Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto (1651), both featuring inventive staging, magnificent voices, and lots of frivolity.

Pirates has been a perennial favorite not only of G&S aficionados, but of general audiences as well thanks to a smashing Broadway revival in 1981 starring Linda Ronstadt, Kevin Kline, George Rose, Rex Smith, and Estelle Parsons which ran for 787 performances and was filmed with the original cast (save for Angela Lansbury replacing Parsons.) There will be a production presented by Roundabout Theatre Company in spring 2025, marking the 27th Broadway staging. If the Roundabout version is anywhere nearly as delightful as director-choreographer Sean Curran’s edition (originally presented by Opera Theater of Saint Louis), New York City audiences are in for a rare treat.

Curran takes the right bemused, whimsical approach to the material which, as most G&S works do, satirizes 19th century melodrama and British class distinctions. Conductor Joseph Colaneri and the Glimmerglass orchestra produce a lush and warm interpretation of Sullivan’s classic music and the cast ably delivers Gilbert’s intricate lyrics. I only had to consult the supertitles above the stage a few times in the second act.

Troy Cook is a rapid-fire wonder, rattling off the tongue-twisting patter song for Major-General Stanley and creating a cunning caricature of English authority. Craig Irvin punctures the Pirate King’s pomposity with a thrilling baritone. Eve Gigliotti is a marvelously conniving Ruth, the pirate maid scheming for, but being thwarted in her search for love. Christian Mark Gibbs and Elizabeth Sutphen are hilariously saccharine as the young lovers Frederic and Mabel, displaying rich vocals and investing the roles with parodistic humor. Too often, these roles are overshadowed by the more comic supporting players, but these two are on a par with the entire company.

The chorus of pirates is closer to the Lost Boys of Peter Pan than the stereotypical cutthroats associated with seafaring swashbucklers. (One chorister even wears glasses and a top hat, and carries a teddy bear, reminiscent of Wendy’s brothers.) The policemen of the second act, led by a comically quivering Joshua Thomas as the Sergeant, move like mechanized penguins and the young ladies are a wonderfully individualized group of flighty debutantes, all are ably coordinated by chorus director Katharine Kozak. James Schuette’s outlandish sets and costumes are appropriately cartoonish.

In a brilliant stroke, Curran interjects a deadpan Queen Victoria (a comically stone faced Mary-Jo Merk) to deliver the denouement for a rousing finale to this perfect Pirates.

Cavalli’s rarely performed La Calisto is almost as frothy as Glimmerglass’s G&S offering. The silly plot recalls the woodland, supernatural hijinks of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In disguise as the goddess Diana, the randy god Jove changes genders and seduces the nymph Calisto, a virginal follower of Diana. Jove’s jealous wife Juno descends to earth to wreak her vengeance while the mortal shepherd Endymion pursues the real Diana and nymphs and satyrs indulge in frolicsome carnal play. The story is forgettable so the emphasis in Mo Zhou’s well-paced production is on enjoying the superb music (beautifully conducted by Ron Ainsley) and voices. Eric Sean Fogel’s sensual choreography adds to the sexual spice of the proceedings.

Pirates cast members Craig Irvin and Eve Gigliotti show their versatility with powerful renditions of the lusty Jove and outraged Juno. Emilie Kealani displays a silky soprano range as the innocent Calisto, ascending to celestial heights as she is transformed into a star at the opera’s climax. Schuyler Vargas has the right mischievous, randy glint and dark tones as Jove’s lecherous henchman Mercury. Taylor Raven skillfully embodies both the chaste Diana and the amorous Jove in disguise. Costume designer Carlos Soto cleverly differentiates between the two in the garments for the dual characterization, adding war-like touches to Diana’s diaphanous drapery.

Counter tenor Kyle Sanchez Tingzon sustained Endymon’s difficult notes while Winona Martin gave a sharp comic spin to the young nymph Linfea (Soto went with a contemporary style for her costume, giving her Auntie Mame-ish lounging pajamas. She was also equipped with a modern long cigarette holder, wielded to humors effect.) Amanda Sheriff was an impish satyr, vying for Linfea’s affections.

Calisto’s sexual politics reflect both a 17th century and 21st view of gender roles. Callisto can enjoy physical pleasure when Jove is transformed into a woman, yet she is also a victim of the male god’s lust and his wife Juno’s wraith. Juno casts a spell on the poor girl, turing her into a bear. But Jove redeems her by making her a starry being once the bear transformation wears off. As noted, the ridiculous story is not the main point of this production which is to display the magnificent voices and Cavalli’s sublime music.

The Pirate of Penzance: July 22–Aug. 19.

La Calisto: July 23–Aug. 17.

Alice Busch Opera Theater, Glimmerglass Festival, 7300 NY-80, Cooperstown, NY. www.glimmerglass.org.