By Lucy Komisar
It’s a charmer. A bit silly, but that’s part of the deal. If you’ve never seen a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, a charming take on British class oppression. Can those words go together? At a time when such subtlety was required. Still works under the smart direction of Scott Ellis.
The old favorite, cleverly adapted by Rupert Holmes, is improved by a jazz idiom, pastel French quarter houses with wrought iron balconies, a big boat (we just see the front of the hull). And the politics.
Young Frederic (Nicholas Barasch) has served his period of indenture to the age of 21. Turned out to be a mistake, he was supposed to be indentured to a ship’s “pilot,” but his hard-of-hearing nanny Ruth heard that to be a “pirate”! Ruth (Jinkx Monsoon) is very very funny. The pirate king (Ramin Karimloo) is cool, svelte. He will meet Mabel Stanley (Samantha Williams with a terrific soprano), smashing and seductive, the daughter of a major general. In addition to rippling muscles shown off by his dancing kicks (choreography by Warren Carlyle), this pirate has a great voice.
When Frederic appears, Mabel responds sympathetically with “Poor Wandering One.” Turns out he was born on leap year so hasn’t had 21 birthdays required to free him. So there’s a need to deal with his problem.
Back to the pirate. It also turns out the major general (David Hyde Pierce) has a soft spot for orphans. And when he confronts the pirate king, the clever guys sings, “I am an orphan boy.” The pirates dance with a lot of swordplay.
Pierce, with big white mutton chops and requisite gold braid, does brilliantly the famous song, the double/triple time “I am the very model of a modern major general.”
We learn that the general created the daughters at his various port stops in the world. The women turn out to be pretty interesting. And also good at jazzy dancing.
Then the view is a huge manor house. The major general has a nightmare. He does Swan Lake with a tutu. The dancing is surreal.
Frederic is now a cop. A New Orleans jazz band is marching in a funeral.
Here we get back to Frederic as duty bound, similar to the poor sergeant (Preston Truman Boyd), “A policeman’s lot is not a happy one.” Jibes at how the elites manipulated the working class into believing in “duty”!
But the best change is a big text change from the jingoist “I am an Englishmen” to “We are all from some place else.”
It’s worth posting the lyrics.
“We’re all from some place else.”
General: We’re all from some place else!
(to pirate king) for you yourself once said it
and we’re truly due some credit
that we’re all from some place else!
All: We’re all from some place else!
Pirate King: and not by chance or error
for we or some forebearer
once hailed from somewhere else.
All: Yes, they sailed from some place else!
Ruth: The result of this migration
to a patchwork, scratchwork nation
is we all are somethin’ else!
Ruth, major general and pirate king: And the human race could well embrace that we all trace from someplace else.
All: We all come from some place else
beat the drum for-
Mabel: Hey! Did you emanate from Ghana?
From Kuwait or French Guyana?
Frederic: Bet your great grandfolks’ dear hearts,
they were not from these here parts!
Police sergeant: From unsung bays and beaches.
Emma: Some far-flung outer reaches!
Daughters: And their past got rearranged.
Pirates and police: And their last names all got changed!
All: And though no one here invited us
our distinctions have united us
as the sum of some place else!
We were at each other’s throats.
Daughters: You got our goats!
All: But now we’ll float some boats.
(A giant chart of the world drops in.)
This anti-jingoist take would be disliked by the Trump administration. See the production while you can!
“Pirates! The Penzance Musical.” Written by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, adapted by Rupert Holmes. Directed by Scott Ellis, choreography by Warren Carlyle. Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street, New York City. Runtime 2 hours. Opened April 24, 2025, closes July 27, 2025.