Pirate Queen Official Reviews

[Popular]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 3:15am

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

[Popular]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 3:40am

And another from the Chicago Tribune:

'The Pirate Queen," the earnest and epic but ill-ruddered and oft-cartoonish voyage from the creators of "Les Miserables" and the producers of "Riverdance," is far from shipshape. How long its costly Irish sail will last in New York will depend upon the willingness of its creators to face potentially painful truths—beginning with a lack of clear commitment to the kind of legitimate, sophisticated, and, above all, complex musical that has marked Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's glorious careers to date.

These producers currently have a pre-Broadway show, which opened Sunday night after several weeks of previews, too dull and dour for the "Riverdance" or the family crowd, yet too full of predictable archetypes to function as the kind of weighty but broadly accessible musical of which this Broadway season is in dire need. They have a show about a potentially fascinating heroine, the titular 16th Century Irish freedom fighter Grace O'Malley, thorn in the side of Elizabeth I and adventurer of proto-feminist flamboyance and nationalist achievement, yet they garner perilously little emotional involvement from a willing Chicago audience hoping in vain to care as they once did for the Fantine of "Les Mis" or the Kim of "Miss Saigon."

They lack both a coherent choreographic pallet and a central visual metaphor, as "Pirate Queen" director Frank Galati achieved so brilliantly in "Ragtime" and Trevor Nunn with "Les Mis." And they are paying woefully insufficient attention to storytelling.

That may sound like more than enough to sink this ship. Perhaps. But these are brilliant, world-class artists—if they can stare down their own defenses—and they have things on their side. Most notable is Stephanie J. Block's central performance—a gutsy, powerful, honest piece of acting that will land her a Tony nomination, regardless of what happens to the show. And there are hints of a worthy score—the poignant "I'll Be There," the exciting "A Day Beyond Belclare," and, especially, "She, Who Has All," have the soaring melodies we associate with Schonberg.

But when the overall theatrical environment is so lacking in veracity or subtlety, it makes the score difficult to judge, as one cannot find an emotional pathway into the songs.

I suspect if the show could find some truth, the score would sound a lot better than now is the case.

Time after time, though, you can see Block fighting the show's broad melodramatic strokes. We get precious little backstory on Grace—one of the show's serious problems—and we see far too little of her spirited youth. Her men—and this show is way too much about her men—are boiled down into good lover Tiernan (played by the boyish Hadley Fraser) and bad husband Donal (Marcus Chait, whom we know as villain the moment we see his hair). Much of the first act is dominated by Grace's father, Dubhdara (Jeff McCarthy) a conventionally drawn (if well-sung) type whom we know is going to croak somewhere around intermission and who gets too much in the way of his daughter.

Halfway through Act One, we get Grace's obliged marriage to Donal, whom we already despise (we first meet him in a tavern number that recalls the Gaston number from "Beauty and the Beast.")

Unaccountably, the long wedding sequence is full of joyful Irish dancing, when it would make far more dramaturgical sense if it were a dark—or at least a complicated—event. Right now, the only complicated thing in the scene is Block. Everyone else is doing the kind of set piece one associates with a Michael Flatley tour.

Which brings us to Queen Elizabeth—the most heinous aspect of "The Pirate Queen." Instead of providing us with insight into a famously quirky monarch, the show turns Linda Balgord into an Elizabethan fashion model, at times resembling a gilded but constricted butterfly and at others Beatrice Straight in "Poltergeist." She's also stuck with a harpsichord perennially bleating in the background, lest we forget this is a court.

Expensive as they surely were and historically correct as they might be, the costumes need changing. In fact, all of the British sequences, with their Monty Python choreography and cotton-wool accents, are awful. This is no plea for the show's political realignment—by all means, make 'em villainous aggressors, as they surely were. But if the show refuses to make the British believable, there's no one for Grace to fight and no dramatic tension.

The key to this show, surely, lies in the relationship between Grace and Elizabeth (in "Wicked" terms, the Elphaba and Glinda of the tale). Both were obliged to be sworn enemies. Both suffered male betrayal (Grace of love, the Queen of political loyalty). Logically, they may have preferred each other.

In its last half-hour—the best half-hour—the two women finally converse and "The Pirate Queen" belatedly takes shape. Despite her constrictions, the brilliant Balgord's rich emotional life bursts out of her costumes (if only she had more to say and sing! If only it weren't all so high!). The women start to sing of torn loyalties, women's power, life's compromises, the pain that flows from nationalist aggression. Even then, the show runs away from them, rendering their pivotal negotiation scene as a dumb show behind a screen. Such a shame. That's the conversation—the compromise that maybe saved lives and maybe caused generations of bloodshed—we came to weep over.


Chicago Tribune

[bardolator]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 5:51am

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

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 8:16am

Thanks for posting those. If anyone doesn't have time to read the entire Tribune review I'll summarize it here:

The Pirate Queen," the...epic ...sophisticated, and, above all, complex musical...has marked Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's glorious careers.....

Most notable is Stephanie J. Block's central performance—a gutsy, powerful, honest piece of acting that will land her a Tony nomination...

...the poignant "I'll Be There," the exciting "A Day Beyond Belclare," and, especially, "She, Who Has All," have the soaring melodies we associate with Schonberg.

... full of joyful Irish dancing...

...the brilliant Balgord's rich emotional life bursts out of her costumes

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 8:42am

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.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 8:47am

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

Updated On: 10/30/06 at 08:47 AM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:07pm

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

[bella cantato]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:22pm

Thanks for posting- those were about what I expected.

I really, really hope they pull this show together for New York. It has so much unrealized potential.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:26pm

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.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 2:32pm

Unfortunately, as Hugh Jackman's performance in Boy From Oz where it was so entertaining one could overlook the poor show and still have a good time, Block, as good as she is, just doesn't have the material to make this show worth recommending.

[Popular]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 8:58pm

"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

[FosterChild]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 9:31pm

TechEverlasting, you are a trip. I love how you "summarized" the Tribune review by pulling out the occasional sort of nice quote. Here's another summary of the same review:

"Ill-ruddered and oft-cartoonish voyage!"

"Far from shipshape!"

"Too dull and dour for the 'Riverdance' or the family crowd, yet too full of predictable archetypes to function as the kind of weighty but broadly accessible musical of which this Broadway season is in dire need."

"They garner perilously little emotional involvement from a willing Chicago audience hoping in vain to care as they once did for the Fantine of 'Les Mis' or the Kim of 'Miss Saigon.'"

They lack both a coherent choreographic pallet and a central visual metaphor!"

"They are paying woefully insufficient attention to storytelling."

"When the overall theatrical environment is so lacking in veracity or subtlety, it makes the score difficult to judge, as one cannot find an emotional pathway into the songs."

"The costumes need changing. In fact, all of the British sequences, with their Monty Python choreography and cotton-wool accents, are awful."

"Such a shame!"

[ruprecht]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 1:34am

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

[Popular]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 3:53am

I'd hardly call posting those other reviews "shill"ish of me, but, you're right. I DO have to now add some positivity into this thread. Hope that doesn't upset anyone too much :)

THEATER REVIEW THE PIRATE QUEEN
Irish saga builds emotional power
Monday, October 30, 2006
Michael Grossberg
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

CHICAGO — With so many creators of musicals playing it safe by borrowing familiar tales from well-known movies and novels, it’s impressive to see a Broadway-bound show adapted from a little-known tale from history.

The Pirate Queen, from the creators of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, reflects the passion, courage and vision of Irish heroine Grace O’Malley.

It’s no Les Miz, but what is?

Joining with former central Ohio lyricist John Dempsey, composer-author Claude-Michel Schonberg and authorlyricist Alain Boublil adapted Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas, a Morgan Llywelyn novel. The 2 1 /2-hour saga brims with authenticity, beauty and melody, if not thrills.

From the opening sequence in which Irish sailors stamp oars rhythmically to well-staged sword fighting and ship battles, The Pirate Queen moves smoothly through waves of operatic intensity.

Stephanie J. Block plays the proto-feminist Irish chieftain (also known as Grania) who rallied her tribe to fight for freedom against Queen Elizabeth I in the 16 th century.

She brings O’Malley to passionate life as she struggles to redefine "what a woman should be." Block throws her athletic body and resonant voice into the role; at the start, the character is an impulsive tomboy who dons a male disguise and saves her father’s ship from a storm.

Grania matures into a woman torn between passion for a young soul mate (Hadley Frasier’s Tiernan) and her mandated marriage to weak Donal (Marcus Chait, in a cartoonish, villainous role).

After the death of her noble father, Dubhdara (Jeff McCarthy, regal in an underwritten part), Grania assumes leadership and takes her army into battle, only to be betrayed.

The story builds to a confrontation between two strong women.

As Elizabeth, Linda Balgord wields her vibrant soprano to convey the loneliness of a canary in a gilded cage. But when the British and pirate queens finally meet, sparks of recognition fly; clearly, they’re both mavericks in a man’s world.

Partly because the unfamiliar story requires more exposition, the first act is slow. Nevertheless, at a preview, the show steadily built emotional power toward the sweeping second act.

As one might expect from a show commissioned by the producers of Riverdance, The Pirate Queen kicks into high gear when Irish dancing fills the stage for a tavern scene (Boys’ll Be Boys), a variation on Les Miz’s Master of the House.

Director Frank Galati balances the epic and the intimate in the same fashion that won him a Tony for The Grapes of Wrath.

Kenneth Posner’s lighting gives landscapes and seascapes a mythic glow. Martin Pakledinaz’s period costumes and Eugene Lee’s English and Irish scenery deftly contrast rival worlds.

Even more than Les Miz, The Pirate Queen sounds and looks like a grand opera.

The best moments express character and feeling through solos or duets: Tiernan’s vow of loyalty in I’ll Be There; Grania’s anguished Lament; Grania and Elizabeth’s revelatory Woman to Woman.

The Celtic-tinged score offers ample pleasures, including a nod to Rodgers and Hammerstein with Grania and Tiernan’s wistful duet, If I Said I Loved You.

The creators’ refusal to bow to what’s fashionable in theater today — namely, bits of spoof and satire — could make the show a hard sell on Broadway.

Yet, like Wicked and The Color Purple, which found audiences despite mixed reviews, The Pirate Queen celebrates female empowerment.

And throughout history, mistakes have been made by underestimating the power of a woman.


NEW PICTURE!
The Columbus Dispatch

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 5:59am

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

[kec]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 7:15am

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.

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 7:37am

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.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 9:55am

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.

And Hedy Weiss proves once again why you should never listen to the Sun-Times theatre critic.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 10:10am

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!

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 10:40am

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.

[Ciaron McCarthy]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 11:06am

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

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 11:08am

That's such a funny image. Kristen would drown in those dresses.

[NYLG]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 11:32am

"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...

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

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 12:14pm

That, obviously, is not a good sign. Two days after opening? I guess the people that were waiting for the reviews before deciding to buy tickets were the smart ones this time. I am sure the box office expected the phones to be ringing off the hook by now.

[Popular]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 12:15pm

"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?