PIRATES! THE PENZANCE MUSICAL Reviews

4 stars from TimeOut

Pirates! The Penzance Musical

4 out of 5 stars

Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance gets a merry Louisiana makeover.

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/pirates-the-penzance-musical-broadway-review-penzance-gilbert-sullivan-david-hyde-pierce-rupert-holmes

Feldman wrote the review a la Gilbert and Sullivan

"The modern world is full of stress, so go and have a party, brah,
And shake it like a necklace made of gaudy beads at Mardi Gras.
Enjoy this Broadway hybrid that is tuneful and poetical:
A most delightful model of a modern operettical. "

(before the pedants come to quibble that operettical is not a word in English, he coins it in the first line of the review. Read the whole thing.)

Updated On: 4/24/25 at 09:53 PM

Green in NYT: Not a Critic's Pick

Theater

Review: Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Pirates,’ Now in Jazzy New Orleans

A Broadway remake of the operetta, starring David Hyde Pierce, moves the plot to the Big Easy, where good times roll, even if some jokes don’t quite land.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/theater/pirates-penzance-musical-review.html

"Though jolly enough, the latest Broadway incarnation, which opened on Thursday at the Todd Haimes Theater, trusts neither the material nor us as much as it might. Clumsily but accurately retitled “Pirates! The Penzance Musical,” and transported to post-Reconstruction New Orleans, it is also significantly altered in tone. Except for the central performance by David Hyde Pierce, marvelously underplaying the tongue-twisting Major-General, the production has a sweaty quality, bordering on frenzy, that’s hopelessly at odds with the cool wit of the original."

 

The Wrap

‘Pirates!’ Broadway Review: David Hyde Pierce Steals a Show That’s Only Half Ship-Shape

A radically retooled “Pirates of Penzance” makes a rocky voyage to New Orleans

Regardless of the role, David Hyde Pierce plays basically the same nebbish guy, and always, he's simply marvelous on stage.

https://www.thewrap.com/pirates-the-penzance-musical-broadway-review/

 

Chicago Tribune/NY Daily News

Review: ‘Pirates! The Penzance Musical’ is a delightful bit of Gilbert and Sullivan, back on Broadway

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/24/review-pirates-the-penzance-musical-is-a-delightful-bit-of-gilbert-and-sullivan-back-on-broadway/

 

" Holmes, best known for writing “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” gives the show a fresh and loving applied coat of paint, even writing Gilbert and Sullivan themselves into the experience, taking a leaf from Jamie Lloyd’s little homage to Andrew Lloyd Webber in the current “Sunset Blvd.” But Ellis also has delivered an old-school analog pleasure in a Broadway season much seduced by digital temptation.

In their graves, Gilbert and Sullivan must be turning topsy-turvy with delight."

3 1/2 stars from NYP

‘Pirates! The Penzance Musical’ review: Hilarious high-seas hijinks with David Hyde Pierce

https://nypost.com/2025/04/24/entertainment/pirates-the-penzance-musical-review-hilarious-high-seas-hijinks-with-david-hyde-pierce/

Solid if not effusive reviews. 

Similar to what I thought when I saw it. 3.5/5 is probably where I’d go for this. Hyde Pierce and Karimloo are the reasons to see it with good support from Barasch and Monsoon. 

Bravo, Adam Feldman! One of his best write-ups ever. 

George in DC said: "It will be interesting to see which category they will fall under for nominations."

Almost assuredly a revival. Although there are modifications to the material, I highly doubt any are considered so substantive that the Tonys would consider this 160-year operetta revisal a “new” musical.

I think they meant the actors. Pierce and Monsoon could go either way in terms of lead or featured (both are above the title, but they stand a much better chance at a nomination in featured).

JudyDenmark said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "Bravo, Adam Feldman! One of his best write-ups ever."

Wait, this needs to be called out louder. The whole reviewis in Gilbert-style rhyme. Incredible!

'The Crescent City’s sass and brass have quite rejuvenated it
As Joe Joubert and Daryl Waters have reorchestrated it.'

Slow clap."

Bravo, indeed. It works as an actual review too.

David Hyde Pierce on Returning to Broadway in ‘Pirates! The Penzance Musical’ and Turning Down the ‘Frasier’ Reboot

https://variety.com/2025/legit/news/david-hyde-pierce-broadway-return-pirates-the-penzance-musical-frasier-reboot-1236382414/

I've seen the Roundabout's ''Pirates,'' but if you want to see the definitive and most delightful version of this Gilbert & Sullivan calssic, check out the Public Theatre's 1981 revival, starring Kevin Kline as the Pirate King  George Rose as the Major General, Rex Smith as Frederic and Linda Ronstadt as Mabel. Everyone was in their prime, looking and sounding sexy, in this multi-Tony-winning revival, directed by Wilford Leach. Kline won his Tony for it, and Smith got a Theatre World Award. In fact, this ''Pirates'' has been filmed twice: once in Central Park's Delacorte Theatre with Patricia Routledge as Ruth, and a second time with Angela Lansbury as Ruth (in a colorful movie version I prefer). It's a musical must-see!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOAr-_vk4tM

Updated On: 5/11/25 at 07:24 PM