PIRATES! THE PENZANCE MUSICAL Previews

Arrrrrrrgh you ready for the final musical revival of the 2024-25 Broadway season?

Pirates! The Penzance Musical docks its ship at the Todd Haimes Theatre tomorrow (April 4). A reimagined version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta The Pirates of Penzance, here the antics get spiced up with a fresh New Orleans flair. The cast is led by David Hyde Pierce as Gilbert and the “modern” Major General Stanley, alongside Ramin Karimloo as the Pirate King; also featured are Jinkx Monsoon, Nicholas Barasch, Preston Truman Boyd, and Samantha Williams.

Pirates! boasts a new adaptation by Rupert Holmes, choreography by Warren Carlyle, and direction by Scott Ellis; opening night is April 24 for a limited run through July 27.

“Gilbert & Sullivan’s pirate ship docks in New Orleans in this jazzy-bluesy vision of the crowd-pleasing classic, in an outrageously clever romp sizzling with Caribbean rhythms and French Quarter flair. With the tongue-twisting Major General, the rabble-rousing Pirate King, newly imagined young lovers, daring daughters, footloose pirates and fleet-footed police, there's a shipload of musical comedy delights on board to dazzle first-timers and G&S aficionados alike.”

Who’s jazzed?!

Really looking forward to seeing it next month.  It's one of my favorite shows, and what a great cast!  I have the cd & dvd of the 1994 Australian revival of the show.  It was changed up a bit, pumping up the volume and making it just a whole lot of fun!  

The EssGee work should be required viewing during anyone’s early-stage musical theatre immersion. Fantastic re-interpretations and performances across the board.

Conversely, during the recent rehearsal video, I couldn’t understand any of the rewritten lyrics Ramin was singing. It seemed like I was trying to decipher parody lyrics of something that was already comedic in its prior lyrics. Like working twice as hard, if that make sense. Will be interesting to see if this production works. 

From the rehearsal video discussed above, it looks like they're adding in "the Nightmare Song" from IOLANTHE into the show for David Hyde Pierce, which I am zero percent mad at - as written, the Major General doesn't get a lot to do in act two.  

 

And, also, I LOVE the Joe Papp pirates. I think Sullivan would have too. (Not sure about Gilbert, who seems like he would resist re-interpretation of his work in a particularly insufferable way.) G&S deserves a better reputation than it has, but it works best when you embrace the fact that the vast majority of their work are satirizing a society that has drastically changed in the last century and we should re-examine them. Pirates is basically timeless because it's satirizing romantic tropes in, essentially, bodice-ripper romance fiction, and Joe Papp was the first to realize that it works best when it is just short of being a cartoon. From what I have seen of the show's publicity, this production understands that as well. 

Updated On: 4/3/25 at 01:20 PM

PIRATES! features a 15-piece orchestra conducted by Joseph Joubert, who also co-orchestrated this revival with Daryl Waters.

• 2 Keyboards
• 2 Reeds
• 2 Trumpets
• Trombone
• French Horn
• Drums / Percussion
• Bass
• Guitars / Banjo
• 2 Violins
• Viola
• Cello

nealb1 said: "Really looking forward to seeing it next month. It's one of my favorite shows, and what a great cast! I have the cd & dvd of the 1994 Australian revival of the show. It was changed up a bit, pumping up the volume and making it just a whole lot of fun!"

My parents took my sister and I to see the first run of the Victorian State Opera production with Jon English, Simon Gallagher and Marina Prior in the early 80s at the old Regent Theatre in Sydney ( I've never forgiven the then NSW government for allowing that beautiful old Theatre to be demolished not long after) and it was so much fun!!  That was Marina Prior's first big show. Jon English was so good as the Pirate King.

ChairinMain said: "I think the thing I am most curious about is what they're going to do with Ruth. the central joke of her character is that she's 47 and in love with a 21 year old, which plays...less well when you cast a trans actress in her 30s. So I am hoping they do something else with her? Maybe?"

Even from her run on Drag Race 12 years ago, the Jinkx Monsoon persona has always been canonically an old woman. I think she’ll be fine, haha. 

Whatever happened to the Nell Benjamin/Gordon Greenberg version that played at Goodspeed and Papermill in 2006 and 2007? 

Matt Rogers said: "Whatever happened to the Nell Benjamin/Gordon Greenberg version that played at Goodspeed and Papermill in 2006 and 2007?"

It also played the Muny and the Huntington.

I remember it just being okay - a totally solid regional production that didn't need a future life. Hopefully the current production will be better than okay...

Updated On: 4/4/25 at 06:05 PM

Roundabout lists a running time of an even 2 hours, including intermission. 

Not going until the end of the month, but I cannot wait. l I love Pirates of P, and I love this cast.   I'm totally intrigued by the concept - hopefully it will not disappoint!

 

Looking forward to hearing early reports!

Question for those that have attended the previews... when looking at the seating chart to purchase tickets, Row A in the center orchestra appears to have been removed. It goes from row AA to row B and does not show seats available or unavailable in row A. Can anyone confirm if you choose row AA (front row) do the actors use the row behind you during the show? Just wondering if we would be turning around to view something behind us.