The problem is, however, that even though Frederic was happy enough apprenticed to a pirate band, his conscience dictates that he leave. Far from barring the way, the pirates ask no more than that he kill them swiftly and humanely, as he intends to exterminate all their kind--having discovered piracy is generally a dirty business and something of which he wants no part.
  However, he discovers women at about the same time, falling for one, Mabel, a daughter of the General. The general, "the very model of a modern major-general" knows all sorts of sciences quite well, accept, of course, the

science of artillery and the art of war.  He does know how to save himself from proving his ineptitude to the inept pirates; he naturally convinces them that he, too, is an orphan. The pirates surrender.
All is not, however, well.  In the second act, it seems that Frederic has not finished his apprenticeship at all.  Born on February 29, he has had only five birthdays, not 20, and thus must remain to finish out his term until his is, literally, four times twenty. Mabel vows to wait for him.
  When all seems hopelessly topsy-turvy, Frederic's nanny offers the information that the pirates are not pirates at all, really; they are noblemen who took a wrong turn. As the story ends, the hapless pirates return to their proper station in the House of Lords, promising to take General Stanley's daughters along in connubial bliss.
  The Pirates of Penzance is the only one of the Gilbert & Sullivan opus to have premiered in New York rather than London, opening there on December 31, 1979. The reason was that, with previous works, Americans had simply used them in New York without paying royalties to the English authors; there was no reciprocal copyright agreement between the two nations at the time. It was hoped that by premiering the thing in New York, the 'pirated' productions would diminish, and perhaps U.S. theatrical producers might pay proper due to the authors.
  It worked to a point; the D'Oyly Carte company--owned by Richard D'Oyly Carte and his son Rupert, Gilbert & Sullivan's producers--mounted its own touring companies for the U.S., before U.S. producers could get a jump on it.
  The first British performance was not in London, but in Paignton, Devon, in 1879. It was performed then and there primarily to secure copyright before the U.S. production.