The Pirate Queen Reviews

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 8:22pm

Opening is tomorrow.

Michael Musto's is already up:

"The Pirate Queen—that '80s-style indulgence in musical nostalgia for the 16th century—is basically a two-and-a-half-hour Irish Spring commercial as if reimagined by American Idol. Heather Mills could easily have stretched and played Captain Hook, but it turns out the show is not about the first gay pirate after all. It's about the first female one, who's portrayed as sort of SANDRA BULLOCK meets CELINE DION en route to GLORIA STEINEM, with a sprinkling of both MAUREEN O'HARA and some Lucky Charms. The result? Lyrics like "She's confused about gender/She's been too long at sea" truly stink, as do the stagnantly staged stretches of boring screeching and mushy recitative. But alas, this is no classic nuclear weapon like Carrie or Dance of the Vampires; occasional enjoyable scenes and cotton-candy tunes take the sting out of what could otherwise have been called When Irish Eyes are Sleeping."

http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0714,musto,76242,15.html

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 8:58pm

Ouch. I hope his opinions do not spread to the other critics tomorrow.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 9:08pm

Musto is not the critic for the Voice -- Michael Feingold is. And that's not an official review -- just a paragraph out of his gossip column (which is a fun read, but nothing anyone in the theatre industry takes seriously and has no more weight that a random "review" from the posters on BWW).

The Feingold's Voice review will be up next Tuesday.

Updated On: 4/4/07 at 09:08 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 9:14pm

...I never said it was an official review...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 9:19pm

Well, there are already a dozen "unofficial" review threads on the show at this point. Why create another?

Updated On: 4/4/07 at 09:19 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 9:24pm

Simple: it's more interesting to have this than it is to have 92 threads on Spring Awakening student rush.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 9:47pm

You underestimate Spring Awakening's rush policy.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 9:49pm

Probably, yes.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 11:58pm

WEll if we're going the route of "unofficial" reviews, then https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=931001&dt=0.

Not that mine really counts for anything.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:31am

And here's mine:

http://roscoewrites.blogspot.com/2007/03/pirate-queen-is-new-musical-from.html

I'm looking forward to the more official reviews. I like what Musto said about the show being an extended Irish Spring commercial. The only thing missing from the show is a song entitled "Manly Yes, But I Like It Too!"

Posted: 4/5/07 at 8:01am

that reminds me of when i used to work @ a coffeehouse in asheville, nc & there was this elderly homeless woman who would come in & wash in the restrooms.
she would sing, "i keep me snatch clean with irish spring!' & then cackle madly.

Posted: 4/5/07 at 8:33am

Now *that*'s a lyric I bet Shoenberg could do wonders with...

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 8:59am

Wasn't that one of the Beggar Woman's cut lyrics from Sweeney Todd?

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 6:44pm

Talkin' Broadway is up...and Lordy, it's a rave....

"Much like the first glimpse of your home port following a ‘round-the-world cruise, the new musical at the Hilton, The Pirate Queen, is a sight for weary eyes. Sailing into view near the end of a mostly waterlogged season for Broadway musicals, this is the first new tuner of the season that looks, feels, and behaves like a bona-fide hit."

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/

[commasplice]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 6:48pm

The AP is mostly negative - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/04/05/entertainment/e143506D02.DTL

The AM New York critic hated it - http://www.amny.com/entertainment/stage/am-pirate0406,0,6499753.story?coll=am-theater-headlines

[lovesclassics]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 6:56pm

I wouldn't call the Talkin' Broadway review a rave. More like a back-handed compliment but overall mixed to positive. From everything I've read on the boards, I'm surprised he liked the show more than the cast. Everyone else has said just the opposite.

lc

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 6:59pm

Frankly, any reviewer who doesn't give credit to Stephanie Block should consider a new profession. She does remarkable work in the show, and should be given credit by these reviews...even if the show gets trashed (which it should), Block should get raves.

[rocker05]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:02pm

Wow, the Talkin' Broadway review was quite a shock. Poor Stephanie, she didn't deserve to slammed like that. Even though I can't say much about her performance because I only saw her for about 20 minutes last night, she seemed to pack quite a punch as Grace. As for the other reviews, they are somewhat right and agree that the better numbers involve Hadley and the duet between the Queen and Grace. Of course, Hadley got raves. I fear for the show if the Times is negative, they've usually been the ones who cause many shows to close. The AM New York review actually took the words right out of my mouth. They said this was a 1980's musical, and I completely agree, to me it belonged in that era. Here's hoping there are a little more positive write-ups for the wonderful performances.

[courtnyj]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:03pm

Thanks for the links!
I'm excited to read more reviews as the night goes on. For some reason I've really been looking forward to the critic's reviews for this show...and I look forward to seeing their impact (if any).

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:08pm

Murray is crazy. He'll bash shows like Company and Follies. But this he raves?

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:09pm

I will say one thing for Brantley. Even if he doesn't like a production, he does recognize good talent in the peroformers. I have no doubt that he will give a positive review for Stephanie, while the rest of the show might get panned.

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:13pm

Wow. Crash & Burn, or what?

AMNY really hated it. Though the writer does generalize all Irish dances as jigs, probably hasn't got a clue what the difference is between a jig and any other type of European dance. All just jigs to him.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:15pm

I'll be doing Grace's "Told You So" dance all night!

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:30pm

Not exactly a shocker

I imagine they will only get worse as the night goes on

Looks like pirate queen wont be around very long.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:36pm

This isn't a shock at all, anyone could see it coming.

I will say though that while I am not a fan of the show (I saw it, it was OK, but nothing special) why do people take such pleasure in the fact that it's getting negative reviews?