It's only been four years since
The Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company did The Pirates of Penzance, but I'm not mad about the repeat.
Pirates is my favorite G&S opera and the one that introduced me to the British team that wrote 14 comic operas in the late 19th century. And GSVLOC has done all of them in their 40+ years, so repeats are bound to happen. And this
Pirates has a twist. Since G&S operas are in the public domain, companies are free to adapt them (see also 2024's
The McAdo, which sets the original Japanese story of
The Mikado in Scotland), and here director Joe Andrews has set the story in the Old West. But not
Ken Burn's Old West (as a charming introductory slide show tells us), rather MGM's Old West, like those classic colorful mid-Century musicals. It works quite well, and brings in a bit of American history, some twangy deliveries, a few bars of Western songs, and just a dash of
The Book of Mormon. But what hasn't changed is this gorgeous score (that includes one of my favorite music-theater moments), and GSVLOC's usual huge cast and off-stage orchestra, both numbering 30+. See this fun new twist on a classic at the
Conn Theater inside Plymouth Congregational Church in South Minneapolis through November 22.
The plot of The Pirates of Penzance, like all G&S shows, is a silly thing that allows them to do their thing. In this case, young Frederic was mistakenly apprenticed to pirates by his nursemaid Ruth, instead of pilots as his family suggested. Contracted to serve through his 21st birthday, he is now free to leave piracy and live a more noble life. Which is to be accomplished by marrying a noble woman, to which her Major General father objects. But before this can happen, the Pirate King tells Frederic that because he was born on leap day, he's technically only had five birthdays, and is duty bound to continue the pirate trade. The pirates attack the Major General, but they're not the most successful pirates, and after some antics and hijinks, peace is restored in time for a happy ending.*
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the Pirate King (Seth Steidl), Frederic (Andrew Peterson),
and Ruth (Lara Trujillo, photo by Stephen Hage) |
In this production, the pirates are pirates of the prairie - outlaws in cowboy hats with bandanas to cover their faces when they rob stagecoaches and the like. And the "modern major general" is a "modern Morman general," based on the history of the Mormon Battalion that fought in the Mexican-American War in the 1840s, about 30 years before this story takes place (for more serious history about the Mormons in the Old West, I recommend
Jon Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven). Being Mormon in the 19th century, the general has three wives, hence the many daughters (superfluous sons are kicked out of polygamous communities). Stage director Joe Andrews has written new lyrics to some of the songs that reflect this history, but still include funny and clever rhymes.
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Mabel and Frederic (Maggie Benham and Andrew Peterson),
(photo by Stephen Hage) |
As they often do, GSVLOC has two principal casts that perform on alternate days. I saw "The Gilbert Cast," which includes Seth Steidl (who played Frederic in the 2022 production) as a mustache-twirling Pirate King in a long black leather coat and black hat, Andrew Peterson as the sweet and charming Frederic, Maggie Benham with a gorgeous soprano voice as Mabel, Lara Trujillo reprising her role as Ruth but adding an accent, Scott Benson as the fast-talking but slightly muddled Mormon General, and Waldyn Benbenek (2022's Pirate King) as the reluctant Sheriff. They're surrounded by a huge and talented supporting cast, dressed in cowboy gear and prairie dresses (costume design by Bronson Talcott).
Resident music director Randal A. Buikema conducts the huge orchestra, hidden somewhere backstage, and combined with the huge cast they sound gorgeous. But my favorite musical moment is the a capella "Hail, Poetry," which is indeed "divine emollient." The set design includes beautiful pastoral backdrops of the West, beautifully lit to show the changing time of day. And you can't have a Western without tumbling tumbleweeds, used here to comic effect. (Set design by Michael Hoover, lighting design by Carl Schoenborn.)
I've loved
The Pirates of Penzance since I saw it at the Guthrie my first season as a subscriber over 20 years ago (they're remounting it next summer), and have seen it many times since, including
Park Square's small-cast meta production in 2018 and
Pirates! the Penzance Musical on Broadway last year, which set it in New Orleans and incorporated other G&S songs. This is another fun twist on a favorite, that retains the gorgeous score and entertainingly silly story, but adds a layer of Old West legends.
