By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“)
In Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Rupert Holmes proves he knows how to take a popular hit, re-set it in an improbable location and adapt and reshape it for modern audiences. Based on the time-honored operetta The Pirates of Penzance or A Slave To Duty by William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, Pirates! turns the original work on its ear and gives it a fresh New Orleans flavor.

Holmes has enjoyed a solid reputation on Broadway as the two-time Tony Award winning lyricist and composer of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Basing it on an unfinished work of Charles Dickens, Holmes composed the score, provided lyrics and wrote the book for the original cast in 1985 at which the audience voted at each performance as to how the work would end. The musical enjoyed a more recent revival in 2012 with notable cast members Stephanie J. Block, Chita Rivera, Will Chase, Betsy Wolfe, Jessie Mueller and Andy Karl.
Holmes was also the book writer and lyricist for the Tony-nominated Curtains in 2007 and provided music for several plays in more recent years. But Pirates! is the first time since The Mystery of Edwin Drood in which he was responsible for the score, lyrics and book of an entire Broadway work. In truth, he does borrow heavily from the much heralded Gilbert and Sullivan work, but this version is quite unlike previous revivals of the operetta such as the 1981 cast that starred Linda Ronstadt, Kevin Kline and George Rose and was filmed for a 1983 release in movie theaters.

In line with the resetting of the work in New Orleans, Holmes also altered the musical arrangements to capture the musicality of jazz within the score’s structure. Musicologists will point out that the precursors to jazz such as syncopation, blues and ragtime probably did not exist or were not widely spread in New Orleans at the time of the debut of the original Gilbert and Sullivan work in 1879. This is, after all, a work of theatre and the suspension of belief is at its core. Seeing the work through a modern prism allows for a deeper appreciation for a work of art rather than as an accurate historical depiction.
That non-sequitur aside, the whole premise is deliciously contrived and opens the original book, lyrics and orchestrations into new sets of possibilities.
In the first of his two roles, David Hyde Pierce presents himself first as lyricist and librettist William S. Gilbert. At the start of the work, when he introduces himself to the “New Orleans” audience acknowledging its North American premiere, he bemoans the historical fact that their previous work of H.M.S. Pinafore had been widely “pirated” by as many as 20 different companies, none of whom paid him or his writing partner royalties. The premise elicits laughter in the audience, but it was hardly seen as a reason for levity back in the day.

Holmes seized on this historical oddity as the jumping off place for his adaptation and it is rather brilliant. The members of the audience are not only transported back in time to 1879, but also to post-Reconstruction and fun-loving New Orleans.
As Major Stanley, the father to eight unmarried daughters, Pierce also appears a bit later in the First Act with a great deal of penache, following the introduction of the pirates and their landing in New Orleans. He confronts the pirates and their leader, The Pirate King (Ramin Karimloo), as they prepare to carry off his daughters (“Hold Monsters”) before gloriously ripping into the well-known patter song of “I Am The Very Model of a Modern British General.”
Pierce, who began his career as an interpreter of Gilbert and Sullivan works – most notably that of H.M.S. Pinatore – steps into the role with absolute authority and confidence. After delighting the audience with his rapid-fire delivery and comic timing, he serves as a protector for his daughters and, noting the pirates’ kindhearted approach to piracy, portrays himself as an orphan to prey on the conscience of The Pirate King, himself an orphan.
Karimloo who has enjoyed a well-respected career as a leading man with roles such as The Phantom in both The Phantom of the Opera and its sequel Love Never Dies, Nick Arnstein in the recent revival of Funny Girl and his Tony-nominated Jean Valjean in the 2014 revival of Les Misérables, has a field day in Pirates!, jumping, prancing and swashbuckling his way across the Todd Haimes Theatre stage.

Among the members of his crew is Frederic (Nicholas Barasch), indentured until his 21st birthday, now only a matter of a few hours away. Frederic’s father had insisted the boy be given to a pilot (“a pi-LOT”) to learn that trade, but his hard-of-hearing nanny, Ruth (Jinkx Monsoon), explains in song that she misheard the instructions and mistakingly sought out a pirate (“a pi-RATE”) instead. Monsoon explains the predicament with impeccable comic timing and sings the role quite convincingly.
After her seven siblings sing “We’re Sashayin’ Through the Old French Quarter” and become the desire of the pirates for wives, Ruth suggests to her younger charge that she might make a proper wife for him once he has been freed from his servitude. She intimates she is, after all, a lively catch. Noting their age difference, Frederic is a bit suspicious and asks the pirates their opinon. Wanting to be freed of both, they respond duplicitously that she is, indeed, a fair catch.
To his credit and to his great luck, Frederic chances upon Mabel (Samantha Williams), who he implicitly knows is a more appropriate choice for a mate. With a strong and lovely voice, Williams is first introduced as Mabel in “Oh. Is There Not One Maiden Breast” and quickly follows with a strong solo part in “Poor Wand’ring One,” both of which include her sisters in vocal support. She and Barasch make quite the lovely and vocally complimentary couple.

Preston Truman Boyd portrays Arthur Sullivan in the opening scene opposite Pierce as Gilbert and is also a memorable the Sergeant of Police in Act Two as he leads his force in opposition to the pirates, playing a jazzy trumpet with the merry men in musical support. There’s lots of quick changes among members of the pirate crew, who make exits to play police officers with very little time to accommodate those elaborate costume changes.
It’s all a tribute to the strength found in the ensemble members of the ensemble who support and drive the action of the leading players.
In order to advance the book, Holmes adds scenes from other popular Gilbert and Sullivan opuses. The openings of both acts incorporate songs from Iolanthe: “Good Morrow” in Act One and “The Nightmare Song” in Act Two. Ruth is given an appropriate selection from The Mikado (“Alone, and Yet Alive”), while both finales are given extra lift with reworked classics from H.M.S. Pinafore: “We Sail the Ocean Blue” and “He Is an Englishman.” They are humorously turned out as “The ‘Sail the Ocean Blues” with one of the most inventive uses of washboards ever conceived for the stage in Act One and “We’re All From Someplace Else” that wraps a bow around this tremendous crowd pleaser.

Of course, the choreography by Warren Carlyle (The Music Man) is about as good as it gets. The pirates, Stanley’s daughters and the police all find themselves moving throughout the work in finely-tuned movement, making entrances in groups and executing nearly impossible jumps and lifts, all while singing their hearts out. John O’Neill who worked previously with Carlyle on Harmony and The Music Man handled the precision dance arrangements along with Sara Edwards who served as associate choreographer. A shout out should additionally be given to Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet, the father and son fight directors, credited with a weighty job in a work that has multiple swordfighting scenes.
Joseph Joubert’s rich musical arrangements and joyful music direction also adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of Pirates!, breathing new life into classic selections that otherwise might have attracted dust rather than applause and he is given appropriate acknowledgment as one of the work’s creators. Daryl Waters is given credit for the orchestrations.
Tony Award winning director Scott Ellis (Take Me Out) is, of course, the lynchpin to the musical. Having worked with Holmes previously as the director of Curtains and the revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood made him the logical choice. His vision in selecting David Rockwell for the scenic design was brilliant, the two having worked together in the revivals of On the Twentieth Century and Doubt.
Linda Cho’s costumes were magnificently rendered, especially given several of the aforementioned quick changes for the pirates cum police officers. Well executed hair and wig designs were by Charles G. LaPointe.
Pirates! The Penzance Musical, conceived by Rupert Holmes, Scott Ellis, Warren Carlyle and Joseph Joubert, continues its run at the Todd Haimes Theatre of the Roundabout Theatre Company, 227 W. 42nd Street, through July 27. For tickets, click here.