CHARLESTON — The Charleston Light Opera Guild begins its 60th anniversary year with HMS PINAFORE, the first musical produced by the group in 1949.

 Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Jan. 30-31 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25 at the Charleston Light Opera Guild Theatre at 411 Tennessee Avenue on the West Side of Charleston.

One of the most loved theatre pieces of the English speaking world, HMS PINAFORE was the fourth collaboration of Sir William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan and opened in May, 1878, at D'Oyly Carte's Opera Comique where it ran for 571 performances and became a huge fad in England.  The popularity of HMS PINAFORE lay in its infectious tunes, mirth and silliness and its gentle satire of the Royal Navy and the British obsession with social stature.  The show's popularity spread to America where it was copied illegally by dozens of performing companies as well as by Gilbert & Sullivan and D'Oyly Carte themselves.  The comic operetta is more in demand today than a century ago - proof of the lasting brilliance of Gilbert & Sullivan.

This wonderful, seafaring musical romps through some of Gilbert & Sullivan's best loved tunes as it tells the story of two young lovers, Josephine and Ralph who are denied the one thing they most desire - marriage!  Can a proud Captain's daughter marry the lowly sailor she secretly loves?  Meanwhile, the Captain arranges for his daughter to marry the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Joseph Porter.  The lovers, separated by the obstacles of class, dastardly plots and the British Navy, search for happiness while Sir Joseph Porter, Head of the Queen's Navy (and a man who has never gone to sea) struggles to control his Cousin Hebe and numerous other female relatives.  Little Buttercup, a peddler on board the ship, reveals that she was a nursemaid who once had charge of two babies and mixed them up.  The two babies were the Captain and the sailor, Ralph, which means Ralph should be the Captain of the Pinafore and the Captain the common sailor.  The switch is immediately effected allowing a union between the Captain and Buttercup as well as Josephine and Ralph.

The veteran cast includes Joe Romagnoli as Sir Joseph Porter;  Roger Lucas as Ralph Rackstraw;  Eva Vidavska Kumar as Josephine;  Mark Hornbaker as Captain Corcoran;  Leah Marie Heater as Little Buttercup;  Roger Wolfe as Dick Deadeye;  Bill Rainey as Boatswain's Mate Bill Bobstay;  Tim Harper as Carpenter's Mate Bob Becket;  Erin Kishpaugh as Cousin Hebe.  Portraying Able Seaman are Evan Buck, Mark Felton, Rick Fleenor, Greg Garner, Bob McCarty, Jared Morgan, Mark Parsons, Richie Robb, Tim Whitener and Chris Williams, and Sir Joseph's Sisters, Cousins and Aunts will be performed by Jessica Cooper, Alina Cuadra, Liz Falstreau, Courtney Fint, Jeanne Matras, Johanna Meisner, Toni Pilato, Caroline Chamness Rainey, Shirley Romagnoli, and Tiara Sanders.

HMS PINAFORE is fully costumed and staged with an orchestra.  The show is directed by Nina Denton Pasinetti and musical director Ron Neal.  Box Office hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. beginning Wednesday, January 14 at the Charleston Light Opera Guild Theatre at 411 Tennessee Avenue or by calling 342-9312.   All tickets are $15 for festival seating.