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Review: Get on Board With Pirates! The Penzance Musical
April 24, 2025, 11:31.34 pm ET

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Photos: Joan Marcus

By Brian Scott Lipton

Still a staple of community theater and a few smaller companies, the operetta-like works of W.S Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan are rarely presented anymore as Broadway fare -- despite their easily digestible (if slightly convoluted) plots, romantic ballads, and clever patter songs. The great Joseph Papp last succeeded at this task over 40 years ago by modernizing the pair’s popular “The Pirates of Penzance” slightly and providing inspired casting, including a ribald Kevin Kline as a show-stopping Pirate King and legendary pop songstress Linda Ronstadt as the sweet but saucy heroine Mabel.

Now, the Roundabout Theatre has taken a similar tack with “Pirates! The Penzance Musical,” a diverting concoction which re-sets the original show in 1880s New Orleans. Sadly, that city’s famed beignets are missing, but the fleet-footed direction of Scott Ellis, the spirited choreography of Warren Carlyle, the jazzy orchestrations of Joseph Joubert, and, above all, a delightful cast led by Ramin Karimloo, Jinxx Monsoon, and, especially, David Hyde Pierce provide enough deliciousness for this version to go down easily.

In the kind of meta-twist that Broadway now revels in, adapter Rupert Holmes starts the proceedings by having the show’s “real-life” authors (played by the versatile Preston Truman Boyd and Hyde Pierce) explain that they are premiering their newest work “The Pirates of Penzance” in New Orleans to avoid instant copycat productions and get a proper U.S. copyright. It’s sort of a silly concept (if based slightly on truth), but the precis does help us understand the change of venue. (The authentic looking sets are by David Rockwelll, while the very fine costumes are by Linda Cho.)

Soon enough, we’re back to the original tale, which focuses on young sailor’s apprentice Frederic (a wonderful, strong-voiced Nicholas Barasch), who is set to rectify a mistake decades ago made by his overly adoring, partially deaf, and slightly wacky nanny Ruth (Monsoon, broadly playing this broad). He was supposed to apprentice as a pilot, not a pirate. Now, on the eve of his 21st birthday, Frederic is preparing to do good for the rest of his life by joining the local police, which will make his former friends (portrayed by an excellent company of agile actor-dancers) his sworn enemies.

Surprisingly, there are no hard feelings, especially from the dashing Pirate King (a wonderfully virile if slightly too-serious Karimloo, unleashing his deep operatic voice to full effect). In fact, he even suggests that all the pirates find a bride before their next voyage. As it happens, they soon encounter a bevy of beautiful sisters – who just happen to be the daughters of the pompous Major-General Stanley (Hyde Pierce, stealing the show with his unparalleled sense of comic timing).

Among them is the spirited Mabel (Samantha Williams) who becomes instantly smitten with Frederic – and vice versa – which leads to much conflict in the more traditionally staged Act II. That’s when the pirates decide to attack the Major General’s mansion and a further-confused Frederic (Is he 21? Is he 5?) is forced to choose – and re-choose – sides.

Musically, the show has plenty to recommend it to 21st-century audiences: Hyde Pierce easily nails Stanley’s famed patter song, “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General,” while Barasch, Karimloo and Monsoon shine collectively in Act II on “A Paradox,” “Away, Away,” and the show’s biggest crowd-pleaser, the engaging “Daughters with Cat-Liked Tread,” which also best shows off Carlyle’s choreography. Meanwhile, Monsoon makes a meal of the torchy “Alone, and Yet Alive” (interpolated from “The Mikado”—one of four interpolations in the show’s score), a song perfectly suited to her particular talents.

Conversely, Williams surprisingly fares less well, especially with the well-known “Poor, Wand’ring One,” and fails to generate much chemistry with Barasch. Indeed, the show’s romantic subplot feels practically non-existent, one of the production’s few real failings.

Still, if you allow yourself to get carried away, you’ll have a delightful time with “Pirates! The Penzance Musical.” And if you bring your own beignets, please eat them after the show.

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