The Hillsdale Academy thespians are preparing a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 150-year-old operetta, “Pirates of Penzance.” 

The show will premiere in the Sauk Theatre in Jonesville on Friday, April 19 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, April 20 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $7 at the door or online at HillsdaleAcademyPresents.ludus.com.

Headmaster Mike Roberts said he is eager to see the performance. 

“The spring musical is one of the highlights every year for our school,” he said. “Students in grades 9-12 have been hard at work preparing for the show.”

Students have had one 45-minute rehearsal per week and a few weekend rehearsals, Hillsdale Academy acting coach Kathryn Wales said.

“Even with how little time we get, the kids, without fail, put on a wonderful show,” Wales said.

Wales said she was inspired to put on this particular show by the popularity it had when the Tower Players performed it a few years ago.

“People were buzzing about it for months afterwards,” she said. “I thought if the college students could do it, we could probably do it.”

“Pirates of Penzance” is a change from the Academy’s most recent performance of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” according to Wales.

“It’s a big show and an ornate show with an incredible amount of singing,” Wales said. “We have a really big cast — around 60 kids.”

Wales encouraged Hillsdale College students to come see the show. 

“It’s chock-full of professors’ kids, and it’s great fun to see the professor kids do these things,” she said.

The show will be worth the time to see, she said.

“We promise fun,” Wales said. “It is a rollicking romp of a show.”