The Pirates of Penzance
Hayes Theatre
Hayes theatre presents a Richard Carroll adapted by and directed production of the G&S favorite “The Pirates of Penzance”
This is a story about a sailor, Frederic, who, having turned 21, is released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets the high-born daughters of the incompetent Major-General Stanley, including Mabel, and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic soon learns, however, that he was born on 29 February, and so, technically, he has a birthday only once each leap year. His indenture specifies that he remain apprenticed to the pirates until his "twenty-first birthday", meaning that he must serve for another 63 years. Bound by his own sense of duty to honour his bond with the pirates, Frederic's only solace is that Mabel agrees to wait for him faithfully. The pirates' maid-of-all-work, Ruth, eventually reveals a fact that saves the day.
In this version we have only 5 hard working performers singing to a mixture of backing track and live music. The music is co-arranged and supervised by artistic director Victoria Falconer. It is on the on-stage Trevor Jones who is co arranger and musical director. He’s a total glue stick and brings not only maturity and skill to the stage but an inherent understanding of the G& S oeuvre. He is delicious in his roles and his Major- General is top notch in his rendition of the obligatory patter song: “I am the very model of a Modern Major General”. Maxwell Simon is admirably cast as our hero Frederic with looks and a fine tenor voice to die for. Brilliantly matched by soprano Brittanie Shipway as Mabel and maid-of-all-work Ruth, Shipway has some show stopping vocal moments and dazzles with her comic chops. She is a genuine star! Jay Laga’aia plays the Pirate King and the Sergeant of Police. He’s not a singer and brings little charisma to either of these roles. But big shoes to fill as the ghost of John English haunts the Aussie stage from as far back as the 1990s in the famous Simon Gallaher disco-inspired productions (sound track readily available!). Bille Palin is a stalwart and plays several minor roles as on-stage swing.
The production is delightfully set in what looks and feels like an am-dram pocket theatre (design - Nick Fry; costumes - Lily Mateljan, lighting - Jasmin Rizk). Sound design by Daniel Herten mixes the multi-modal delivery of sound quite well but in such a small space and with the home-grown feel of the production it is a wonder it is not acoustic.
Act One dazzles, full of promise with some reasonable genuine audience interaction. Act Two fizzles. It reveals a paucity of point of view and audiences are left behind. With a cast of five it is very hard to realise the complexity of this music and the text – as dazzling as it can be – has mostly been reworked for our contemporary times. That’s Ok but some of the original text is funnier.
Go for the cast who are working their butts off. There is some memorable work!
One is reminded how tricky it can be to recreate the buzz and excitement of an original in a re-worked classic. It shouldn’t stop anyone trying but do we lack the courage and madness of our musical forebears?
Review by Kate Gaul
Comments