Pirate Queen Official Reviews

It says there will be a full review tomorrow, so I'm guessing this is a preliminary review? Not sure, but here it is nonetheless:

"The Pirate Queen" has an excellent captain in Stephanie J. Block.

Block, who wowed Chicago audiences last year as Elphaba in the first "Wicked" tour, delivered a powerhouse performance Sunday as Grace O'Malley in the world premiere of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's "The Pirate Queen."

The show, which premieres on Broadway in April, needs a strong, steady hand at the helm and Block supplies it. Essentially, a love story about a woman who puts duty to country above personal desires, "The Pirate Queen" has a few leaks. The score by Boublil and Schonberg ("Les Miserables," "Miss Saigon") is a mixed bag. The staging gets fussy at times, the scenes at the English court come dangerously close to camp and it's 50 minutes before things kick into high gear with an exhilarating "Riverdance"-inspired dance number (although choreographer Mark Dendy and his fine dancers make it worth the wait).

That's not to say the show --directed by Chicago's own Frank Galati with gorgeous, watercolor-inspired lighting by Kenneth Posner and rich costumes by Martin Pakledinaz - isn't seaworthy. It is. It's a grand, entertaining but predictable show that makes for a pleasant voyage but not a thrilling adventure.


• Read Barbara Vitello's full review in tomorrow's Daily Herald.



Daily Herald

Updated On: 10/30/06 at 03:15 AM

Thanks for posting these! Mixed, as expected, but hopeful--and kudos for Steph.

The first review mentions something that bothered me, as well.
Mark Dendy is listed as Choreographer and Carol Leavy Joyce as Irish Dance Choreographer, which leaves Dendy the stuffy English Court movement to stage. All of the other choreography IS Irish Dance. Why did they even need Dendy? And why is HE listed as Choreographer and Joyce designated as something that sounds like second fiddle? The review credits Dendy for bringing the show to life, when clearly it is Joyce's work.

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Dean Richards on WGN just gave it a pretty bad review. He also did a nice backstage tour with Balgord and Fraser. The video is not posted on WGN's site yet but it will be soon.
Look for Dean Richards/Lunchbreak.
WGN

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As expected, Stephanie J. Block appears to be the only gem in the middle of a problematic show. Hopefully Boublil and Schonberg will be able to tweak the show for Broadway, though to me they're only trying to have the next "Les Miz" or "Miss Saigon" instead of trying to create something new.

"Never mind, thought the other was the Sun-Times.
I need my coffee NOW!"

I think I want something a little stronger than coffee.. THIS is the Sun-Times:

Far too much of “Les Miserables” and not nearly enough of “Riverdance.” That may be the simplest, if not the fullest, way to explain the problems facing “The Pirate Queen,” the handsomely designed but drearily predictable quasi-operatic musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg (“Les Mis,” “Miss Saigon”) that received its pre-Broadway world premiere Sunday at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.

Inspired by the historical figure of Grace O’Malley — the 16th century Irish pirate who attempted to fend off English control of her homeland — the show ends up feeling a lot like “Wicked” with an Anglo-Irish “grande dames” twist. Key to its story is the tension between two intensely competitive women — Ireland’s Grace (or “Grania” in Gaelic) and England’s Queen Elizabeth I. At a time when their status as powerful women was viewed as aberrational at best, these dueling queens had to find some way to define themselves and also reach an accord.

The story, as with all Boublil-Schonberg musicals, is sung-through, which allows for little subtlety in character development and even less finesse when it comes to the real politics (not just sexual) that might have given the show an added dimension.

The droning tone is set from the start. A long overture plays as the audience stares at an ancient map of the Irish seacoast overlaid with projections of wild waves. A massing of hunky pirates pound their oars (as if they were on the barricades during a French revolution).

And, in a scene that is a dead ringer for one between Jean Valjean and Cosette late in “Les Mis,” a sentimental bond is forged between Grace (Stephanie J. Block), and her charismatic but aging chieftain father, Dubhdara (Jeff McCarthy).

The fearless Grace will go on to disguise herself as a boy and win respect as a pirate. But she also will accede to her father’s demand that she give up Tiernan (the boyish Hadley Fraser), her true love from childhood, and help consolidate power by marrying Donal (Marcus Chait), another chieftain’s son and a quintessential male chauvinist pig. (Easy to hiss at, Donal serves the same function here as Javert does in “Les Mis,” though he is a hedonist rather than a prig.)

The sexual politics tend to be reduced to the level of “balls,” with Grace at one point delivering a hard kick to Donal’s codpiece. In another scene, she defends her ship just minutes after childbirth, clutching her own groin in agony all the way.

Meanwhile, on the show’s far more successful front, Queen Elizabeth (Linda Balgord), must find her own footing and deal with her all-male court, issuing commands to the unhappy Bingham (the excellent William Youmans), whom she has put in charge of the Irish problem.

Ultimately, of course, it will be up to the two powerful queens to forge a grudging respect and iron things out far better than the men. This is the show’s strongest scene, as it had to be. It also should be the finale, but isn’t.

Frank Galati, ever the master of winning stage pictures, has created his share of them here, with huge help from costume designer Martin Pakledinaz (who has truly outdone himself with his fabulous creations for Elizabeth), and emblematic rigging, Irish stone walls and Tudor court drapes courtesy of designer Eugene Lee.

But aside from several all-too-brief Irish dance sequences (created by Carol Leavy Joyce and superbly performed by the lead male dancers and a contingent of feathery light female “steppers”), plus a few standard issue fight scenes, the show’s characters tend to proclaim — often squaring off to face the audience head-on — rather than connect with one another.

Musically, there is the periodic sound of Irish pipes and whistles, and the traditional Irish singing of Aine Ui Cheallaigh, but none of this fully permeates the score’s fabric. The one terrific musical innovation that does succeed is writing Queen Elizabeth in a stratospheric coloratura range (think Baroque oratorio style).

And Balgord, who easily steals the show — by virtue of both her acting and singing — is remarkable.

As for Block, she has a phenomenal instrument, with a big, rich sound, a vast range, and staggering stamina, but she isn’t very good at communicating an inner life, and the way her part has been written doesn’t help matters.

The same is true for the men in her life, all of whom have powerful voices and two-dimensional characters.

Thanks to the confrontation scene, “The Pirate Queen” turns out to have a somewhat stronger second act, which is not the usual way of things. But to make this show something more than an instant target for “Forbidden Broadway,” the music and book must be massively reworked. That is unlikely to occur, given that it has arrived with such lavish trappings and has a Broadway opening date of April 5.




Chicago Sun-Times

Ha. Pretty funny, Foster. The "Pirate Queen" shills have been pretty full-force since day one.

She looks like a rabbit caught in headlights, they could have found a better photo.

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FosterChild, I don't think you'll do very well as a theater PR professional.

Here's Variety's review, which is the one I've been most anxious to read. The reviewers at Variety tend to think in terms of a show's business prospects. Their readers want to know if they should expect to have a tour of the show play for a few months in their subscription house next year, or if they should try to get in on merchandising and so on...

Variety The Pirate Queen By STEVEN OXMAN

Lush melodies, soulful scenery and an occasional jolt of Irish step-dancing don't do enough to lift "The Pirate Queen," the newest musical from "Les Miserables" and "Miss Saigon" creators Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. The show, playing in a Chicago warm-up before moving to Broadway in March, promises a more emotional experience than the current climate of jukebox musicals and Disney film adaptations. But despite great singing, it fails fundamentally to create characters deep enough to engage an audience in its too-tepid love story.

Teamed with the producers of Riverdance, Boublil and Schonberg struggle mightily to re-create the formula that brought them such commercial success in prior decades. Out of the story of true-life 16th century Irish chieftain Grace O'Malley (here called Grania), they concoct a sweeping tale of love set in a political context, mixing musical influences with the help of Gaelic pipes and whistles. While one can hear plenty of sounds that immediately bring "Les Miz" to mind, particularly when the cast of 40 sing simultaneously, much of Schonberg's scoring is also reminiscent of James Horner's music for the film "Titanic," another enterprise that sold a few tickets.

But the plotting and characterizations are sorely lacking. The show creates a couple of potentially strong female roles in Grania (Stephanie Block) and her English counterpart, Queen Elizabeth I (Linda Balgord). But nobody here quite knows what to do with them beyond sticking them with stock male figures straight out of melodrama. Until they come face to face late in the show, both these characters have been awaiting a foil with enough personality to bring them to life. In the meantime, they're little more than typical plucky heroine and steely monarch-in-the-making.

Frank Galati ("Ragtime") directs a production that unquestionably looks beautiful, with the design team of Eugene Lee, Martin Pakledinaz and Kenneth Posner contrasting the naturally spare, misty, stony landscape of western Ireland with the over-the-top formalities of the English court.

The story begins as young Grania, forbidden from sailing by her chieftain father Dubhdara (a powerful performance from Jeff McCarthy), dresses as a boy to get aboard his ship and soon proves herself in a well-staged sequence where she courageously takes down a sail in the midst of a storm.

By the third song in this sung-through show, she has fallen in love with Tiernan, a handsome man with no noticeable characteristics beyond his faithful affection for Grania and, played by Hadley Frasier, a tenor voice that could make any heart melt. His song "I'll Be There" soars in the middle of the first act and seems likely to become an audition standard.

While the title would suggest some swashbuckling adventures, the pirate queen is presented here as a genuine ruler fighting for her land and people, not a female version of Captain Jack. Beset by the English, who seek to take full control of Ireland, Grania must choose between her love for Tiernan and a strategic marriage that will unite two clans. She chooses duty and finds herself married to Donal (Marcus Chait), who signals his intentions to be a terrible husband with the song "Boys'll Be Boys."

That song also provides the first opportunity for some Riverdance alumni to step-dance, which always brings the show to life.

Donal proves a most cowardly, chauvinistic nincompoop. He ultimately betrays Grania to Lord Bingham (William Youmans), who similarly plays the role of chauvinistic nincompoop on the English side. Such one-dimensional figures would be acceptable if they weren't quite so central to a serious plotline. Their shallowness makes it awfully hard to depict with any depth the true challenges that Grania or Elizabeth faced as female leaders.

While Tiernan does step forward as a heroic, if still generic, figure by sacrificing his freedom for Grania's, the only time the show really creates any true chemistry comes when the two queens finally meet to hash out their differences. Even here, however, Boublil and Schonberg scurry away from the details of their negotiations to manufacture a happy ending with the mushy message that women should seek love above all but can also solve the political problems of the world with a quick sit-down.

Still, even if the emotional content of their songs never emerges with authenticity, Block and Balgord are exceptionally potent singers, and their duets form a forceful musical climax.

There's plenty to work to do and not a lot of time between this run and the scheduled Broadway engagement. Lame sword fights must be addressed and can certainly be fixed in time, and the show really could use at least one additional dance number.

But the problems run deeper. Boosting superficial elements can help shows that seek to be escapist entertainments, but the more ambitious "Pirate Queen" is in trouble unless its love story can find true romance.

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Foster Child and ruprecht-- Tech is far from a shill. If you've read any of his comments on any of the other threads, you'd find that out very quickly.

"The story begins as young Grania, forbidden from sailing by her chieftain father Dubhdara (a powerful performance from Jeff McCarthy)..."

I have to agree with them on this. I thought Jeff McCarthy was wonderful in this role. And, for some reason, I was fascinated by his wig. It was gorgeous!

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They should just Cast Idina as Grace and Chenoweth as Liz and call this show what it is......Wicked II.

"Actually, if that is a photo of Grace in her wedding finery, I would say she looks like a woman facing a fate worse than death."


Have you ever been married, kec? It IS a fate worse than death.

BTW - I am going to the show tomorrow. I don't know anyone who liked it...so far, but I have to satisfy my curiosity and see for myself.


ETA: Just received an email from Hot Tix...guess which show has half-price tickets for tonight's performance at the Cadillac Palace Theatre? Perhaps I should have waited until tomorrow to purchase my ticket...

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Updated On: 10/31/06 at 11:32 AM

"Popular, you're not allowed to copy and paste reviews in their entirety. Only selections. Then you put the link so one can read the whole thing if they want afterward."

I'll keep that in mind next time, thanks.
*prepares to be attacked over her future "selection"*
damned if I do, and damned if I don't, eh?