The Pirates of Penzance – A Picturesque Production of a Giddy Gilbert/Sullivan

THIS is farce! New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players’ ebullient iteration of The Pirates of Penzance should by quality rights have a sustained run. (Alas, it’s finished.) The irresistible interpretation is framed in just the right amount of winking stylization, unusually manifest by every member of the large company.  Leads are excellent.

As a boy, Frederic’s (Alex Corson) nurse Ruth (Caitlin Burke) was told to apprentice him to become a pilot. Mishearing, she set his life until 21, among a band of tenderhearted pirates. We meet the birthday of his release. Though affection remains, Frederic tells his companions he’s now duty bound to eliminate them. The aptly blustering Pirate King (Matthew Wages) understands. (Ah farce!) They shake.

Sarah Caldwell Smith and Ensemble (Photo credit: Carol Rosegg)

Alex Corson is invitingly innocent = obtuse and has a satisfying, if sometimes quiet tenor. The fact that he’s the only one onstage with a contemporary haircut and no wig, however, is jarring. Caitlin Burke would be an asset to any production. She’s theatrically authoritative and sympathetic, inhabiting her role. Vocals are engagingly inflected. As the Pirate King, Matthew Wages is vulnerable and paternal adding humanity to antics.

Not wanting to be left on her own in her late forties, Ruth connives to become Frederic’s wife. As the young man has no one with whom to compare, he considers the offer. Young women, all wards of Major General Stanley come to gambol on the beach awaiting pick-up by servants. An inviting vignette finds them playing croquet, badminton, dancing, reading, and catching  butterflies. “Oh False One, You Have Deceived Me,” her charge sings to Ruth. (We later discover, she’s joined the pirates.)

Frederic observes what opposite sex of an appropriate age is like and becomes collectively smitten. He’ll take anyone who’ll have him. “How pitiful his tale/How rare his beauty” the girls sing. The Major-General’s daughter, Mabel volunteers. An attractive thespian, Sarah Caldwell Smith has a lustrous coloratura, splendid control, and admirable range. She flirts with subtlety, and moves with grace.

James Mills and Ensemble (Photo credit: William Reynolds)

The pirates return planning to kidnap and marry the girls who don’t seem at all averse. Major-General Stanley (James Mills) arrives, extricating them from the situation by declaring himself an orphan. The kindhearted Pirate King has developed a reputation for release on this basis. Suddenly everyone they capture is an orphan. The group is let go, but guilt haunts the Major-General.

Heavy make-up and whiskers, absurd costuming outside his uniform, and physical acting adds to Mills’ winning portrayal. A breathless “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” is met with appreciative audience roars.

In the face of “a very unusual paradox,” Frederic resolves to capture his former friends. A team of bobbies – think British Keystone Cops – is conscripted. They dance – twirling nightsticks, patting gloved hands, kicking in line, finally wearing small silver top hats – a little soft-shoe, a bit of minuet. One over-enthusiastic officer (David Auxier) has to be restrained. (think Ballet Trocadero.) Multi-faceted Quinto Ott leads the men with silent movie bravado and pixelated expression. He’s a find.

David Auxier (Photo credit: Carol Rosegg)

William S. Gilbert concocts an ingenious contrivance that finds Frederic still bound to the pirates whom he must then rejoin. The bobbies (police) become timid without a leader. They hide. Pirates arrive and also hide. (drolly managed.) A rolicking battle ensues. Once again , Gilbert pulls a rabbit from the hat finding a way to make seemingly impossible marriages suitable. (Clever man!) Happy ending.

Direction is imaginative and aesthetically pleasing, festooned with pop-up facial expression and small stage business that adds to delight anywhere one looks. Pacing spot-on. 

The orchestra is terrific. From the overture, one realizes it’s easy to forget how well Sullivan composed. Lyrics are immensely adroit.

Choreography by Bill Fabris is not only charming but fitting, taking into consideration stage space, credibility, whimsy, and skill.

Sets by Albere look appealingly like 19th century illustrations. I would question the labeling of everything in a ruined churchyard as belonging to “Stanley,” however. It makes it seem as if someone went crazy with a labeling apparatus.

Quinto Ott and Gail Wofford’s costumes are entirely captivating.    

Opening Photo of Alex Corson and the Ensemble by Carol Rosegg                                               

New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players present
The Pirates of Penzance or, The Slave of Duty
Words- William S. Gilbert; Music-Arthur Sullivan
First performed at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York in 1879
Directed by Albert Bergeret
Conducted tonight by Joseph Rubin

The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College