The Huntington Wraps Season
With "Pirates! (or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder’d)"
Raucous Adaptation Of Classic
The masterful work of Gilbert and Sullivan
returns to the Huntington Theatre Company stage to
put a boistrous button on the company's 2008-2009 Season. "Pirates!
(or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder’d)" transports
the action of "The Pirates of Penzance," the
classic operetta about a Pirate King and his motley band, to the Caribbean
in a raucous update complete with swordfights, sex appeal, and Sullivan’s
original music. Performances are May 15 – June 14.
Gordon
Greenberg ("Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and
Living in Paris"), Nell Benjamin ("Legally
Blonde, the Musical"), and John McDaniel
(“The Rosie O’Donnell Show”) co-conceived
the adaptation. The production will be directed by Greenberg, who has
directed earlier versions of the piece at the Goodspeed Opera
House and The Paper Mill Playhouse.
As in the original, "Pirates!" tells the story of a band of
pirates, their dutiful apprentice Frederic who longs for the day when
he can be freed from his servitude, and his nursemaid, the “piratical
maid of all-work,” Ruth. When the pirates discover a beautiful
bevy of young women, they make plans to marry. But when the girls’
guardian, Major-General Stanley, pleads that this act would leave him,
an orphan, all alone in the world, the similarly orphaned pirates withdraw.
Riddled with guilt over lying to the pirates, Stanley is comforted by
his wards, who encourage a nervous regiment of police to go forth and
face likely slaughter at the hands of the frightening pirates. Meanwhile,
as Frederic prepares to join the Police in their charge, he is visited
by his nurse and the Pirate King who inform him that, upon examination
of the facts of his indenture, his servitude is not, in fact, complete
and he must return to their band.
"Pirates" includes a cast of 22, featuring Steve
Kazee ("110 in the Shade" on Broadway)
as the Pirate King, Tony Award winner Cady
Huffman ("The Producers") as Ruth,
Ed Dixon (Broadway’s "Sunday in
the Park with George") as Major-General Stanley, and Mel
Johnson, Jr. (Broadway’s "The Lion King")
as the Sergeant of Police. Anderson Davis (Broadway’s
"Les Miserables") plays Frederic, the pirate
apprentice, and Farah Alvin (Broadway’s "Grease!")
recreates the role of Mabel, which she previously played at Paper Mill
and Goodspeed.
Greenberg commented, “The humor of the original 'Pirates' text
is based on Victorian social values and morals. The idea of having pirates
in Penzance, an inland town, was a joke in and of itself — it’s
like saying ‘the Pirates of Newton.’ Even the subtitle of
the piece, 'The Slave of Duty,' was a jab at Victorian social conventions
about morality and duty. By taking these ideas and folding them into
a new, contemporary context where they really hit home, we’ve
been able to get to the core of what Gilbert and Sullivan were trying
to do. I feel our adaptation is right up the creators’ street.
They were famous for plundering from others and from themselves and
making light of social themes of the day, and that is exactly what we’ve
done.”
Benjamin has contributed to the original book and penned
new lyrics for some of the classic songs to move them to the new setting
while keeping the spirit of Gilbert’s trademark wit. Choreographer
Denis Jones ("She Loves Me"
at the Huntington) will infuse the piece with a contemporary musical
comedy style and athletic, swashbuckling dance numbers.
Greenberg previously directed the Drama Desk and
Drama League Award-nominated revival of "Jacques
Brel is Alive and Well…," the national tour of "Happy
Days," "Working" at The Old Globe,
"Band Geeks" at the Goodspeed Musicals,
"The Baker’s Wife" and "1776"
at the Paper Mill Playhouse, and the national tour of "Peter
Pan."
Nell Benjamin received a Tony Award nomination with
her husband Lawrence O’Keefe for their score
and a Drama Desk Award nomination for their music and
lyrics for "Legally Blonde, the Musical."
The pair also received an Ovation Award for "The
Mice." Benjamin wrote the lyrics for "Sarah,
Plain and Tall," won the Kleban Award
for Lyrics, and is the recipient of a Jonathan Larson Foundation
grant. Her television work includes “Unhappily Ever After,”
Animal Planet’s “Whoa! Sunday with Mo Rocca,”
and the new “Electric Company.”
John McDaniel received two Emmy Awards for his work
on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” where
he led the band for its six-year run. He served as the arranger and
conductor for “A Rosie Christmas” and for
four years of Comedy Central’s “Friar’s Roasts.”
He also served as producer, music supervisor, arranger, and orchestrator
for "Brooklyn, the Musical," music director/arranger
for "Grease!," and conductor for "Chicago,"
among others.
Of a previous production of the trio's creation, Variety said,
"'Pirates! 'abounds in vivacity, charm and musical allure. While
faithful to the original operetta's core, this freshly conceived and
performed update is an appealing confection. Ed Dixon stops the show
when he sings the tongue-twisting ‘very model of a modern Major-General."
The New York Times added, "This Pirates
takes the beloved operetta to rollicking heights."
The Huntington Theatre is located at 264 Huntington Avenue
in Boston. For tickets and information, stop by the box office, call
617-266-0800 or visit www.huntingtontheatre.org.
--
OnStage Boston
