Gilbert & Sullivan Sticklers may need about 20 minutes to fall in love with Roundabout Pirates! Penzance musicalOpening this evening on Broadway at the Todd Haimmes Theater, but for the rest of us, the delight is almost instantaneous. Reinvented to include, as the production notes say, “Caribbean rhythms and French district”, this era of the beloved of the 1830 operetta is a charmer. Perhaps a trifle, but a charmer.
By sticking fairly close to the intrigue and the characters of G&S, the production of Rond -Point – the project was designed by the director Scott Ellis, the composer Rupert Holmes (who adapted), the choreographer Warren Carlyle and the musical director and orchestrator Joseph Joubert – assembled a high level section which knows how to bring joy and the stilling High sketer.
Ramin Karimloo (Funny girl) Play the pirate king, Jinkx Monsoon (TV RuPaul Dragsters raceBroadway Chicago) is Ruth, the maid and the mother of the pirates), David Hyde Pierce plays both WS Gilbert (in a framing apparatus) and, more deliciously, Major-General Stanley, this very model of a modern major-general. Nicholas Barasch, which could well be the MVP of the musical, is the apprentice Swashbuckler Frederic, who falls in love with one of the girls of the Major, the magnificent Mabel (Samantha Williams).
Playing on a New Orleans Street Ensemble designed more or less as a cartoon by David Rockwell, his pirates costumed by Linda Cho in Ragamuffin Seafaring Garb which nevertheless allows the Bouée of strange, strange, strange, strange, strange, strange, strange, strange Pirates! The familiar plot follows: When a pirate ship accosted in New Orleans in the 1830s, Roughneck’s Swashbucklers decide to go to the ground and find women. And the wives they find are the girls of the General Major, who do not have it.
David Hyde Pierce and the pirate company! The Penzance Musical ‘
Joan Marcus
But young and naive Frédéric finds his soul mate in Mabel, despite the protests of his nanny Ruth. There is time when, Ruth, hard of hearing, confused his master’s instructions to take care of the baby Frédéric by making him an apprentice a river boat pilot. She heard Pirate, so here they are, stuck until Frédéric reaches her 21st birthday.
Which actually approaches, until Ialous Ruth and the King of Pirates conclude that since Frédéric was born by a day of jump, the birthdays of February 21, 29 must be counted individually. The farce follows.
If the casting seems responsible for playing a little, and the jokes affect harshly, and the second act takes place a little too long, well, the too zealous areas does not do much to reduce the joyful global atmosphere. And just when things could start dragging, Pierce arrives, nailing each word game, each side of the public, each double take and each funny observation. It is a treasure.
Nicholas Barasch and the “Pirates!” business
Joan Marcus
Karimloo, who most often plays serious guys, brings a little bit of comics to the pirate king, and the monsoon is an absolute hée as a needy and accomplice pirate nanny. All manage their vocal tasks well, but Barasch, who made his debut on Broadway at 10 years old in the 2009 revival of West Side Story, is the ringing here. His performance of the opening of the program “Good Morning” makes things go by at a catchy start, and his figures with Karimloo and Monsoon are high points.
Borrow “we are all on the other hand” at Gilbert & Sullivan HMS PINAFORE For the final, Pirates! ends his story with a generous plea for tolerance – Swashbucklers are also people, after all – and having built fairly well in the previous two hours, the serious underlying at the end of the show seems absolutely deserved.
Title: Pirates! Penzance musical
Place: Broadway Todd Haimmes Theater
Director: Scott Ellis
Music and booklet: Arthur Sullivan and WS Gilbert
Adaptation: Rupert Holmes
Casting: Ramin Karimloo, Jinkx Monsoon, David Hyde Pierce, Nicholas Barasch, Preston Truman Boyd and Samantha Williams. The Cast also included Kelly Belarmino, Maria Briggs, Cicily Daniels, Ninako Donville, Alex Dorf, Rick Fagno, Niani Feelings, Tommy Gedrich, Alex Gibson, Afra Hines, Dan Hoy, Ryo Kamibayashi, Tatiana Lofton, Nathan Lucrezio, Shina Ann Morris L. Robinson, Cooper Stanton, and Bronwyn Tarboton.
Operating time: 2 h 15 min (including the intermission)
