thoughts on PIRATE QUEEN

I'm back in New York after a great Chicago trip. Dad and I talked about the show non-stop on the drive home. The good, the not so good. And I've had a few days to think more about what I saw.

Yes, there is a lot of work left to be done. Some scenes don't work. Some characters are difficult to understand. The climax of the show is a bit unclear. The tone of the scenes in England need clarification. Some are small issues, some are bigger. But for a show of this magnitude, in its first week of previews, I think we as theater fans have reason to be optimistic.

I've been poking around various message boards since I've been back, and have to say some of the comments I've been reading lean more towards "I hope this show fails" rather than "here's what I think they could do to fix it". I read someone called this show a "turkey" already. Really? You can say that of a show in its first week. Someone asked, "will they still bring this to Broadway?" Seriously? The show is already in better shape than some of the drek currently taking up space in Broadway houses. I think we have to remember this is a show that is still, for all intents and purposes, IN REHEARSAL. The reason they went to Chicago before opening in New York is to see what works and what doesn't. Sure, as I've said, there are most definitely things that don't work. And we can only hope that people intelligent enough to bring us shows like Les Miz and Saigon, Ragtime and Grapes of Wrath are intelligent enough to see where those flaws are. But I would hope, as lovers of musical theater (I would assume that's why we're on these boards) we would be pulling for them to fix these issues. Maybe I'm just an idealist.

I felt the score was incredibly powerful, and have not been able to shake certain tunes from my head. "I'll Be There" could be one of S & B's most powerful ballads to date. "I Dismiss You" has the intense emotion of "The Confrontation" in Les Miz. "A Day Beyond Belclaire" and "Sail To the Stars" could pack as strong a punch as "One Day More" (if they had strong choral endings rather than moody orchestral playoffs).

The set blew my mind. The costumes were breath taking. And we cannot overlook the performances across the board. A remarkable ensemble led by a leading lady with acting chops and a huge voice. Hadley singing his brains out while portraying an honest hero. Marcus bringing huge stage presence, interesting unexpected choices and powerful vocals to a character that could be very one dimensional in the wrong hands (I read on one message board that he was too good an actor, too handsome, and too strong a singer for the role. Not sure how to respond to "criticism" like that). Jeff McCarthy brings gravitas and passion to a one act role that could be completely forgetable on another actor. And William Youmans draws you in as the villanous Lord Bingham, the man you love to hate. I've said before that Linda's material is the most challenging as Queen Elizabeth, but I don't think that's any fault of the actress. I just think they need to reconsider where they want her vocal material to lie if they want the audience to connect to her character and that integral part of the story.

The biggest flaw I see, looking back on the show, is that I'm not sure exactly what the climax of the show is. The end seems to wrap up rather quickly, and doesn't pack enough of an emotional punch at this point. Hopefully this is something that can be addressed. It might be a big change that will take time between Chicago and New York. If they can focus for us as an audience more of what the exact conflict is we are supposed to watch unfold and resolve, I think we'd have a much more satisfying evening of theater.

I realize now that I am repeating much of what I said in my reviews from the other day, so I'm not sure what the point of this post was, other than to say, let's remember this is a work in progress. I for one am thankful that at least someone is trying to create a NEW/ORIGINAL musical based on an historical figure, rather than recycling tunes we've heard a thousand times and forcing them into some meaningless plot.

I was fortunate enough to be at the first week of previews for Wicked in San Francisco, and I have to say it was a very different show than the one many of us have fallen in love with here on Broadway. I would just hope that as fans of the theater we would trust that intelligent people are at the helm of Pirate Queen and are doing their best to improve the show on a daily basis.

I just don't want us to scare off other writers from attempting to write original material.


I'm seeing Chorus Line next week. And I can't wait.

-qb

Well, I called it a "turkey" because I don't think that there is much that can be done to save this show from mediocrity unless they do some MAJOR rewrites. That said, I certainly hope they can fix it, and that it does well.

qb- so nice to read your post. You always seem to choose your words so carefully and take the time to actually think about what it is you want to express before you post. That is really apreciated and very refreshing!

"The biggest flaw I see, looking back on the show, is that I'm not sure exactly what the climax of the show is."

I saw PIRATE QUEEN yesterday afternoon (Sat. mat.) and I agree completley about your assessment of the climax as the biggest flaw. However, I think I can tell you exactly what it is.

The only problem is, it happens behind a screen.

*Possible Spoilers below*
The root conflict of the show is the war between England and Ireland--everything else that happens really happens as an attempt to strengthen either side's resolve against the other. So shouldn't the climax be the point where the heads of each side (Grania and Queen Elizabeth) actually get to confront each other? This does happen in the show, but only for about, say, 30 seconds. Then, when the two driving forces of the show actually start to talk, they move behind a screen.

I repeat, they move BEHIND a screen.

So the audience is robbed of seeing OR hearing this dramatic conversation and is ridiculed by just watching the Queen's servants and subjects lean and and repeat scattered phrases to each other. This is how the plot gets resolved and WE DON'T HEAR A WORD OF IT.

Maddening. Imagine SWEENEY TODD just skipping the entire 'City On Fire' and final sequence to when everyone's dead. Especially goes, as many others have mentioned, the show has A LOT going for it up until that point AND they have the start of a great song for the two of them, but then it just abruptly ends and they go behind a screen. THey should rewrite the whole English section late in Act Two to focus on just the Queen and Grania and give them a big whole number to confront each other and find resolution, not just the snippet they have now. It's just a shame to let it end like that.

The other things I need should get tweaked:
-the Queen's songs need to get re-written or lowered or something to make them intelligible. No one knows what the hell she's saying half the time.
-the scenes between the Queen and Bingham need to get rewritten to be more confrontational and dramatic. They need music like they currently have elsewhere in the show during 'The Dismissal' and less of the operetta they have right now. It just doesn't drive anywhere.
-Cut the other English characters (servants/subjects) alltogether. They're just not interesting enough and aren't really involved in the central plot as the show has it. It's abotu the Irish fighting back against the Queen. Irish/Queen.
-Find some big payoff endings to the big numbers, like both Stephanie and Hadley's solos in Act One and the choral numbers that end both Acts. The audience wants an end with a BANG and not a whimpering out. The ending of Act One finale is crying out, no DYING, for a big chorus acapella section.
-Cut down the transition staging between scenes throughout, especially in the first half of Act One--I just wanted them to get on with the story already. It dragged a lot.
-In Act Two, when the soldies are repairing the Irish ship's sails--let us see it AFTER it's repaired. They already have the set piece from Act One, so just devise a transition. The WHOLE audience is WAITING for it, especially as there's a whole number with them repairing the sail. The payoff needs to be seeing the sail triumphantly flying again.

BUT, as many others have mentioned, there are a lot of strong points in the show. I loved all the performers, esp. Stephanie and Jeff, and Hadley is just a knock-out, and a lot of the staging is creative and imaginative, and the design elements are really inventive and gorgeous. There is a really strong show on that stage somewhere, but they just need to find it.

..and please, for God's sake, write an actual climax.
CHRIS

P.S. Saw THE PILLOWMAN at Steppenwolf last night. One of the best straights plays I've seen. An absolute knockout. If you can see one show in Chicago, make it PILLOWMAN.

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Updated On: 10/8/06 at 02:29 PM

>having observed Martin Guerre being rewritten and revised
>over and over without any real improvement having been made. I

Oh give it a rest. You observed nothing! You have the CDs and saw the crappy US version.

The London version received MIXED reviews. Some were great and some were terrible. However, the show that closed in London was NOTHING like what is represented on the CD. It was excellent but sadly flawed.

Aside from the scaled down orchestra (and staging at times) the UK tour was one of the most perfect shows I've ever seen. It was also one of the most passionately performed shows I've seen. Truly stunning. Described by one reviewer as a fierce musical animal and I couldn't agree more. The US version was like the Days Of Our Medieval Lives. I sat in the theatre in Mineapolis close to tears and not for the right reasons!

And heres some news for you: the reviews of the UK tour by the London press were pretty much a unanimous rave. It got fantastic reviews.

You're entitled to an opinion but please don't speak with such express authority about something you were neither involved with or witnessed.

Is English not your first language? Do I have to use more simple language?

Did I say he had to be in the creative team? No!

Did I say he couldn't exprsss his opinion? No!

I just told him not to express his OPINIONS like they were gospel when his experience of the show is very limited... as he's already stated on other threads on here.

He's using his limited knowledge of Martin Guerre and now Pirate Queen to try to illustrate the decline of Boublil and Schonberg's work.

I thought that it wasn't so much the music, as it was the endings. I would have liked a lot of things much more if there had been some sort of payoff at the end, instead of just dwindling...

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I think Pirate Queen is effin' amazing...


it's still in its first week and myself personally, I think it could not change a friggin' thing and I would STILL adore it.

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Thank you for that thoughtful review, it makes a nice change around here.

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I saw the show Saturday night and it definitely has potential. Some of the criticisms above are right on the money, particularly the lack of a memorable song and the lack of what I considered to be a strong finishing song for either act in the way One Day More and Can You Hear The People Sing end the acts of Les Miz.
But the biggest problem, IMHO, is the sound and how much of the lyrics are unitelligible. And I'm at a loss as to why. I've seen at least a dozen shows in that theater and never had such a tough time understanding lyrics. One thing that surprised me was seeing all the speakers they had at the back of the house. If they're just used for special effects, they're not a problem but if actor vocals are coming through the rear speakers as well as the front speakers, that could be a big source of the problem. Even within a theater, there is a perceptible delay in sound reaching your ears from the stage (or these days, from the stage speakers). Now introduce those same sounds from a second source (rear) reaching your ears at a slightly different time and very clear singing can be turned into mush.
I hope the show staff is aware of how difficult it is to understand things. For them, familiar with the lyrics, they may not be hearing the problem since the brain tends to fill in the missing words with what it knows belongs there. But we, unfamiliar with the lyrics, are left struggling.
An earlier thread pointed out this issue but was specific as to certain characters. I thought it was pretty generic and affected everyone. Whatever they're doing, it ruining what is normally a pretty good house acoustically (although I'll add the caveat that this is our first season in center orchestra after being in left orchestra for the last year plus and the loge prior to that).

Updated On: 10/9/06 at 05:56 PM

"So the audience is robbed of seeing OR hearing this dramatic conversation and is ridiculed by just watching the Queen's servants and subjects lean and and repeat scattered phrases to each other. This is how the plot gets resolved and WE DON'T HEAR A WORD OF IT. "

I thought this was a sophisticated and sly bit of theatricallity... no one knows what Queen Elizabeth and Grace O'Malley said to each other when they did speak in real life... pretending like the whole English/Irish conflict could be resolved in a single conversation is idiotic... and you are missing a major point... The Queen didn't give in... Ireland became a part of England... and the people of Ireland suffered horribly under English rule until Liam Neeson showed up dressed like Michael Collins... and that wasn't for hundreds of years. The conversation resolved nothing between the two nations... instead two women came to a private understanding... staging that understanding... reducing it to concrete text... it leaves nothing to the imagination and does a disservice to history... I think the ending should be tweaked... the subjects leaning in and listening and then singing... that wasn't quite what it should have been... but staging the conversation behind the screen is a way to make the ending seem positive without betraying the reality of the situation... which in life it wasn't positive at all. I do think there should be a bit more between Grace and Elizabeth leading up to the conversation... but staging the actual conversation would seriously ruin a lot of credibility and sophistication... which the production runs short of to begin with.


kmc

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