Pirates of Penzance
By W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan
Producer: Regan De Wynter Williams Productions
Director: Sasha Regan
Wilton’s Music Hall, London until November 23
Also touring to Theatre Royal Bath (December 2-7).
Cast: Cameron McAllister, Luke Garner-Greene, Lewis Kennedy, David McKechnie, Tom Newland, Robert Wilkes, Thomas Griffiths, Joe Henry, Kirwan Kaanan, Thomas Alsop Aaron Dean, Joshua Molyneux, Patrick Cook, Samuel John Taylor, Alfie French, Boaz Chad, Davo Storey.
Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes plus interval
Britain’s single sex public schools formed the holders of high office lampooned by Gilbert and Sullivan.
Tapping into the same tradition, director Sasha Regan’s all male operetta productions faithfully capture the febrile atmosphere of student interpretations in which adolescent boys, with raging hormones, play all the parts male and female, compounding the absurdity of Gilbert and Sullivan’s plots.
Her latest version of “The Pirates of Penzance” is in her hallmark style that adds professional polish and emotional nuance to schoolboy romp.
We begin with a solo piano overture that teases the familiar melodies to come and builds anticipation for the entrance of the pirate crew – not so motley as associate costume designer Josh Bamling works wonders on what I assume is a modest budget.
The audience, keen as eager parents, is instantly appreciative.
For me, the production truly hits its stride with the appearance of Major-General Stanley, played by David McKechnie, resplendent in a red military tunic, complete with buttons straining over his girth, and effectively contrasting the pirates’ lack of formal uniform and the chaste white of his many eligible daughters, He delivers a bravura Gilbert and Sullivan centrepiece, crammed with virtuosic wit, He also rides a broomstick horse, which he dismounts and hands to the unrequited Ruth (Robert Wilkes) who rides it side saddle, in one of the many sendups of gender stereotyping that also hints at pathos: Wilkes’ falsetto Ruth is every bit the unloved orphan that in every other case melts the hearts of the not so evil pirates.
At the helm are Tom Newland as a dashing, devil-may-care Pirate King and Cameron McAllister as Frederic, the innocent, indentured apprentice desperate to come of age and escape the pirate clutches, That could take a very long time, given he was born on February 29, but somehow, all is suddenly resolved with little more than vocal help from the thin blue line, Lewis Kennedy is the Sergeant of Police, leading a moustachioed chorus of true male voices, which almost has the force of a restoration of order after so much fabulous falsetto.
Barbara Lewis © 2024.
Pirates of Penzance
By W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan
Producer: Regan De Wynter Williams Productions
Director: Sasha Regan
Wilton’s Music Hall, London until November 23
Also touring to Theatre Royal Bath (December 2-7).
Cast: Cameron McAllister, Luke Garner-Greene, Lewis Kennedy, David McKechnie, Tom Newland, Robert Wilkes, Thomas Griffiths, Joe Henry, Kirwan Kaanan, Thomas Alsop Aaron Dean, Joshua Molyneux, Patrick Cook, Samuel John Taylor, Alfie French, Boaz Chad, Davo Storey.
Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes plus interval
Britain’s single sex public schools formed the holders of high office lampooned by Gilbert and Sullivan.
Tapping into the same tradition, director Sasha Regan’s all male operetta productions faithfully capture the febrile atmosphere of student interpretations in which adolescent boys, with raging hormones, play all the parts male and female, compounding the absurdity of Gilbert and Sullivan’s plots.
Her latest version of “The Pirates of Penzance” is in her hallmark style that adds professional polish and emotional nuance to schoolboy romp.
We begin with a solo piano overture that teases the familiar melodies to come and builds anticipation for the entrance of the pirate crew – not so motley as associate costume designer Josh Bamling works wonders on what I assume is a modest budget.
The audience, keen as eager parents, is instantly appreciative.
For me, the production truly hits its stride with the appearance of Major-General Stanley, played by David McKechnie, resplendent in a red military tunic, complete with buttons straining over his girth, and effectively contrasting the pirates’ lack of formal uniform and the chaste white of his many eligible daughters, He delivers a bravura Gilbert and Sullivan centrepiece, crammed with virtuosic wit, He also rides a broomstick horse, which he dismounts and hands to the unrequited Ruth (Robert Wilkes) who rides it side saddle, in one of the many sendups of gender stereotyping that also hints at pathos: Wilkes’ falsetto Ruth is every bit the unloved orphan that in every other case melts the hearts of the not so evil pirates.
At the helm are Tom Newland as a dashing, devil-may-care Pirate King and Cameron McAllister as Frederic, the innocent, indentured apprentice desperate to come of age and escape the pirate clutches, That could take a very long time, given he was born on February 29, but somehow, all is suddenly resolved with little more than vocal help from the thin blue line, Lewis Kennedy is the Sergeant of Police, leading a moustachioed chorus of true male voices, which almost has the force of a restoration of order after so much fabulous falsetto.
Barbara Lewis © 2024.
By Barbara Lewis • musicals, theatre, year 2023 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, musicals, theatre