Avast, me hearties, the not-so-dreaded "Pirates of Penzance" are upon us! After a successful run last year, the Gilbert and Sullivan masterpiece, along with most of last year's cast and crew, is back to tread the boards at the Valley Center Playhouse once again.

"It was one of our top shows last year, it was so adorable," said Jody Renstrom, co-owner of the Valley Center Playhouse. "We had some people come four or five times to see it, so we wanted to do it again."

The story is about the Pirate King and his pirates of Penzance, a crew of good-natured salts with a soft spot for orphans and weaklings, and their naively obedient apprentice Frederic. When both the crew and Frederic happen upon the Major-General's bevy of beautiful daughters, the whole lot wrestles with its faithful, albeit comically misguided allegiances to duty, life and love.

"This show generally has a pretty large cast," Patrick Brannelly, who portrays the Pirate King, said. "It's a big production, pretty lavish, and Valley Center Playhouse is smaller, with an in-round stage, so it's been really fun making use of a smaller stage and cast and throwing people in different areas. I give Dana [Anquoe, director] a lot of credit for being creative and resourceful in using the stage and cast in unique ways."

"Pirates of Penzance," written in the late 1800s, was meant for a cast of 40 and an opera house stage. The Valley Center Playhouse, which has been around since 1975, seats roughly 150 people in a theater-in-the-round arrangement. This means the audience surrounds the center stage on three sides, providing an intimate and involved performance setting, which is fairly unique for this particular play. Preparing the elaborate "Pirates of Penzance" for the Valley Center Playhouse was quite the undertaking compared to the simpler "The Mikado," Anquoe said, referring to her directorial debut.

"What I love about doing this in theater-in-the-round is that any little smirk or wink you do, the audience catches it, and that makes it fun," said Anquoe, who also plays Ruth in the play. "They catch all the little nuances."

Brannelly and Anquoe, who have been rehearsing with the rest of the cast for eight weeks, are excited about the strides they have made since last year. Cast members have had time to settle into their roles and focus on character development and singing performance.

"Last year our problem was time," Anquoe said. "The thing with Gilbert and Sullivan is that it's straight-up opera ... we spent a long time turning non-singers into singers. This year my main goal was to find singers, and I got that. The voices are phenomenal."

The show, which started Jan. 23, is enjoyable for adults and children alike, but parents are advised to leave the littlest ones at home.

If you go

Pirates of Penzance

When: Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays at 7:30 p.m. through March 2

Where: Valley Center Playhouse, 780 N. 200 East, Lindon

Tickets: $5-$7, or $25 per family

Info: For reservations, call 785-1186, or visit www.vcpnews.com