A Starship Man is a Soaring Soul - NTP's Starship Pinafore

Next month I am going to have a once in a life time experience (for me, anyways): Getting to play Captain Kirk (or a version of Kirk) in a Star Trek inspired reinterpretation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, “Starship Pinafore”. North Toronto Players is putting on this production from February 24th-March 4th, at the York Woods Library Theatre in the west end.

Last year I played Nanki-Poo/Frankie-Loo in North Toronto Player’s Jersey Shore version of “The Mikado”, and I had an amazing time. This group is such a joy to work with, and their shows are always laugh filled, clever, and of course, full of great music due to the genius of Sullivan. I’ve always been a big fan of Star Trek, so being in this show and emulating the great Captain Kirk is especially exciting. I can remember, when I was a kid, having the entire original Star Trek series on VHS in our house. I don’t think I fully appreciated how the great the series was back then (I do recall being fascinated by tribbles), but it still laid the foundation for how much I like it now.

Aside from learning all the beautiful Sullivan music, and memorizing a ton of lines, my other task has been learning how to speak like William Shatner did in the original show. I’ve found this to be a real challenge, since accents and impressions have never really been my forte. However, it has meant that I get to watch the old Star Trek series and movies as homework, which is awesome. I have to say, Shatner gets some flack from critics for his performances in Star Trek, but I love him in it. He acts up a storm, and you can tell he’s into his role 100% of the time.

I’m having a great time working on the show, and I think we are going to have an amazing production to put on at the end of February. If you’re in town, I highly suggest you come out and see it - I don’t think you’ll be able to find a better Star Trek operetta anywhere else.