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I left this production singing the operetta’s glorious melodies. It’s not always necessary to be enlightened by theater. Sometimes it’s more than enough to have a rollicking good time.

Pirates of Penzance is tantamount to a three-ring circus being held at a beach volleyball tournament.

Pirates of Penzance is tantamount to a three-ring circus being held at a beach volleyball tournament.

The brilliant 80-minute-long revamping of the Gilbert & Sullivan classic is so good, you’ll leave with with sore cheeks from grinning throughout the entire show. The not-so-swashbuckling pirates lack both swords and swagger, but make up for these shortcomings — and then some. They’re extraordinarily talented musicians who meander about while playing guitars, banjos, an accordion, a squeezebox, spoons and a saw.

…the American Repertory Theater is presenting a spirited, affectionate, and nearly irresistible sendup of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance’’ by the Hypocrites, a Chicago-based troupe.

The Hypocrites production of Sean Graney’s adaptation of “The Pirates of Penzance” has landed on the mainstage of the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass.