#126
Posted: 4/6/07 at 1:18am
John Simon is Mixed:
"No showbiz term is more abused than ``true story,' but if there is story enough, who cares about true? ``The Pirate Queen,' concocted by the duo that gave us ``Les Miserables' and ``Miss Saigon' and presented by the married team behind the ``Riverdance' juggernaut, has some virtues, without exactly teeming with them.
We do get production values by the bucketful .......
What of the music? If you liked Boublil and Schonberg's previous shows -- or even if you didn't -- you'll find them unabashedly recycled here. Close your eyes and forget the lyrics (lots of luck!), and you can set sail for Saigon or Paris with ease. It is music from the team of meat grinder and cookie cutter, vaguely operatic and only barely operational.
The cast of 42, under Frank Galati's shrewd direction, does enough foot-stamping to decimate a nest of cockroaches. This is Irish dancing by Carol Leavy Joyce, neatly Americanized by Graciela Daniele, no less choreographic than all that rope- and ladder-climbing to make the show swing.
Stephanie J. Block is a doughty Grace, deservedly given plenty of swagger time. Staunch support is provided by Hadley Fraser as her somewhat doughy but well-sung lover, Jeff McCarthy as her loving pirate father, Marcus Chait as her scurvy husband, William Youmans as her English adversary and Linda Balgord as a lofty and crafty Elizabeth. There is even a duet for the two women, ``She Who Has All,' that achieves fugitive grandeur.
If you crave another musical, you may, as Hamlet almost said, take into your arms this sea of troubles. If not, you may, by opposing, end them."
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=apArAq90WCU4&refer=muse
"No showbiz term is more abused than ``true story,' but if there is story enough, who cares about true? ``The Pirate Queen,' concocted by the duo that gave us ``Les Miserables' and ``Miss Saigon' and presented by the married team behind the ``Riverdance' juggernaut, has some virtues, without exactly teeming with them.
We do get production values by the bucketful .......
What of the music? If you liked Boublil and Schonberg's previous shows -- or even if you didn't -- you'll find them unabashedly recycled here. Close your eyes and forget the lyrics (lots of luck!), and you can set sail for Saigon or Paris with ease. It is music from the team of meat grinder and cookie cutter, vaguely operatic and only barely operational.
The cast of 42, under Frank Galati's shrewd direction, does enough foot-stamping to decimate a nest of cockroaches. This is Irish dancing by Carol Leavy Joyce, neatly Americanized by Graciela Daniele, no less choreographic than all that rope- and ladder-climbing to make the show swing.
Stephanie J. Block is a doughty Grace, deservedly given plenty of swagger time. Staunch support is provided by Hadley Fraser as her somewhat doughy but well-sung lover, Jeff McCarthy as her loving pirate father, Marcus Chait as her scurvy husband, William Youmans as her English adversary and Linda Balgord as a lofty and crafty Elizabeth. There is even a duet for the two women, ``She Who Has All,' that achieves fugitive grandeur.
If you crave another musical, you may, as Hamlet almost said, take into your arms this sea of troubles. If not, you may, by opposing, end them."
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=apArAq90WCU4&refer=muse
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
