second-draft review of *The Pirates of Penzance*

Rodgers and Hammerstein first came out on vinyl. Gilbert and Sullivan first came out on wax cylinders: Way old.
But you know all that do-your-duty, curtsy-to-the-queen Victorian priggishness and prudery? Gilbert and Sullivan spoofed it like Monty Python mocking Margaret Thatcher.
And this month, the Civic’s offering a playful and enchanting production of the G&S musical The Pirates of Penzance. Nine reasons to catch it:

An entire pirate ship with a poop deck and everything | David Baker’s set makes you feel like you’re on Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride, only these privateers can sing... in rhyme. The Pirate King even swings in on a rope. How threatening are his fellow buccaneers? Think Stuart Little with an eye patch.
We have missed our opportunity / Of escaping with impunity.

Elvis was a Victorian | Yvonne A.K. Johnson’s direction repeatedly finds the comedy inside the romance: Coloratura flourishes and trills develop into self-mockery. Updating this comic operetta from 1879, Johnson weaves in allusions to Busby Berkeley, do-wop cheerleaders, Monty Python and the King himself.
I can hum a fugue of which I’ve heard the music’s din afore, / And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore.

Only suckers make promises | Watching The Pirates of Penzance is like looking into a funhouse mirror. Victorians expected every man to do his duty; we’ll look out for ourselves, thanks. They actually valued sexual modesty; we created the Internet so we could have more porn.
Oh, is there not one maiden breast / Which does not feel the moral beauty / Of making worldly interest / Subordinate to sense of duty?

The boots beneath the petticoats | Our hero’s torn between his “duties” and the Major-General’s “daughters, all of which are beauties.” Jan Wanless puts the women’s chorus in lavenders and sea-foam greens, with every muslin and every bustle varied but blended. This is how costumes enhance a show.
Pray observe the magnanimity / We display to lace and dimity!

Ladies, wield your parasols | The choreography, by Troy Nickerson and Jillian Wylie, allows dancers their individuality while still creating group effects: Damsels in distress form a porcupine circle with umbrellas pointing outward. Side-step sashaying with locked arms unites the choruses of pirates and lasses.
Let us gaily tread the measure / Make the most of fleeting leisure.

Their daddy is Ichabod Crane | Doug Dawson — a kind of scarecrow wraith in a pith helmet, with medals splattered on his chest and the cutest little knock-knees peeping out above his starched socks — plays the daughters’ father as a bamboozled old coot.
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical / From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical.
In short, in matters vegetable, animal and mineral, he’s the scrawny model of a modern major-general.

The cutest widdle teddy bear | The Major-General clutches it when he’s scared.
There is no quote from G&S / About the bear’s great worthiness.

Gosh, that leading couple can really sing and act | Russell Seaton’s Frederic is very much in earnest and quite naive (that is, until he winks at us). Andrea Dawson’s Mabel seems like a prissy soprano (until she hits the high notes while bending over to check out Seaton’s backside).
[They] shall quickly be parsonified, / Conjugally matrimonified.

Finale | Johnson’s production, an escape into inspired lunacy, is so accomplished and so wonderful that in matters actorly, directorly and choreo-fantastical, it’s the very model of a modern major musical.

*The Pirates of Penzance*

through Oct. 25 at Spokane Civic Theater
Michael J. Muzatko as the Pirate King
Andrea Dawson as Mabel, Russell Seaton as Frederic, with the Major-General (Doug Dawson) and his bevy of beautiful daughter in the background
Darnelle Preston as Ruth

Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan; book and lyrics by William S. Gilbert; directed by Yvonne A.K. Johnson; music direction by Trudy Harris; choreography by Troy Nickerson and Jillian Wylie

first-draft review of *The Pirates of Penzance*

at Spokane Civic Theater through Oct. 25

Inspired Lunacy

Director Yvonne A.K. Johnson's production of The Pirates of Penzance is virtually flawless. You have to be in the mood for silliness -- but unless you're the sneering kind of snob who's never pleased with anything, this playful trifle of operatic down-the-rabbit-hole lunacy won't fail at cracking your lips into a smile. And then a guffaw, by Jove. And then the kind of open-mouthed admiration that only a capital production can elicit. It was indeed, all in all, a bully show, simply bully.
David Baker's set design -- first glimpsed as an entire working pirate ship swings into view, backlit behind a scrim and looking a bit fearsome -- sets the tone for a production that meets very high standards in nearly all departments. Once the buccaneer chorus has established itself with its swashes, buckles and songs, you start to feel as if you've blundered into a new version of Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride -- veddy British, less threatening, and a whole lot more tuneful. Michael J. Muzatko's Pirate King swings in on a rope, setting the tone for a pirate crew that dropped in from Neverland and is about as threatening as the Lost Boys.
Baker's second-act ruined chapel -- creepy and beautiful in just the right measure -- typifies the entire show in its artful attention to detail: marble-like vines and crypts with pop-out doors match the earlier delights of the shadowy skull imposed on the drop curtain's enormous map and the pirate sloop's French name, "The Tender Heart" (suitable for the growly milquetoasts that man this particular frigate).
The costumes, by Jan Wanless and her team, get their moment when the Major-General's daughters first appear, twirling their gossamer parasols and descending a stairwell. One by one they appear, and the moment amounts to a costume parade that's particularly impressive. Wanless et al. have particularized each of the half-dozen eligible young ladies with muslins and prints, bustles and cutaway, layered fabrics that contrast lavender with sea-foam green and plaids with solids while melding the entire fluttery composition into a pleasing array that shone particularly well under Baker's lighting scheme. From the creased black crush of the Pirate King's trousers to the bright spats of the Keystone Cops who arrive in Act Two behind their walrus mustaches, the Penzance costumes alone are worth gaping at.
The choreography, by Troy Nickerson and Jillian Wylie, typifies this production's attention to detail by individualizing dancers, giving them something expressive to do and adding visual appeal to what could otherwise be repetitive choruses. The daughters perform an initial ballet with their parasols for "Climbing Over Rocky Mountain" that combines conventional movements seamlessly so that the parts meld into a larger, balletic whole. When the daughters are imperiled, they form a defensive circle like Roman soldiers, their umbrellas sticking out ludicrously as weapons. Side-step sashaying with locked arms unites the choruses of pirates and lasses.
Johnson's direction repeatedly finds the comedy inside the romance: Coloratura flourishes and trills become self-mocking. Quick allusions to 20th-century movie musicals, pop stars and cheerleading routines update the 19th-century operetta, finding a more recent way to earn the same parody-laughs that G&S sought 130 years ago, just by different means.
All the leads in the Civic's Penzance are exceptional -- both in their self-mocking delivery and their impressive singing -- led by Doug Dawson's Major General, all knock-kneed and almost unrecognizable under layers of makeup, a pith helmet and enormous facial hair. Dawson -- so skinny he's wraith-like -- goes the opposite route from the barrel-chested pomposity of so many modern (and model) major-generals. The high-pitched voice, general state of fluster, pauses to recollect himself, sinking sense of defeat at having so many daughters to account for -- even a widdle tiny teddy bear for to keep him comfy during the very scary crypt episodes -- they're all there, along with the crisp diction needed for the hyper-speed patter song near the end of Act One. With his gawky, praying-mantis movements, Dawson's General is the ultimate comic-book caricature in a show that's full of them.
As Frederic, the apprentice pirate, Russell Seaton widens his eyes in surprise at all the moral reversals around him. He leans forward from the waist to express just how earnest he is about all the lovely ideals (and lovely ladies) that he finds swirling around him. Seaton has the kind of puppy-dog expressions -- and powerful voice - that suit Frederic perfectly: earnestness taken to a comic extreme.
Andrea Dawson, as Mabel, is the show's operatic centerpiece. She hits the high notes even while leaning backwards to ogle Frederic's backside. The character's comedy works well because Dawson is so accomplished at the technical requirements of singing: Coached by Johnson, she makes the vocal pyrotechnics both beautiful and comic at the same time.
Darnelle Preston clarified poor old middle-aged Ruth's relationship to our hero (and the consonants and diction in "When Fred'ric Was a Little Lad") as well as I have ever heard. Watch for her sword-handling in the second-act "Pirates' Lair" series of songs.
As I said, virtually flawless. A raspy voice from time to time, some sound wobbles, rough-housing among the pirates at the outset that was too self-conscious, some occasionally tinny attacks by music director Trudy Harris' nine-piece orchestra, some lagging pace in the first four numbers of Act Two ... but that was about it. And Harris led some startlingly good harmonizing in the Act One finale, "Oh, Men of Dark and Dismal Fate," and the slower pace soon after intermission probably only felt slow by comparison with all the frantic fun before and after it.
And not to get too heavy with a light-comic operetta, but ... the thought occurred, as Seaton was pressing fist to chest for the umpteenth time in a show of his devotion to duty, that G&S spoofed those who were slaves to duty so thoroughly in this show because their own society was so fixated on it. Duty and sexual propriety, even at the cost of common-sensical and natural human urges -- Sullivan was making fun of those who allowed codes of conduct to overwhelm their human urges.
But consider how our own society is just the reverse: With porn everywhere, a glimpse of a world where girls are embarrassed to reveal so much as their ankles is almost like a trip to another planet. And those who keep promises even when it disadvantages them? What suckers.
Johnson's production of this silly little operetta is so good that it elevates Penzance into something more than mere silliness. When we laugh, hum along, tap our toes and are startled into realizations (we could do with a bit more sexual modesty, we ought to admire those who keep their word, if only because theyv'e demonstrated a higher kind of life worth living), then we've spent an enriching and utterly enjoyable two hours at the theater. The Civic's Pirates of Penzance is not to be missed.

[ photo: Jim Broadbent as W.S. Gilbert and Allan Corduner as Sir Arthur Sullivan in Mike Leigh's 1999 film, *Topsy-Turvy,* from offoffoff.com ]

cast list for *The Pirates of Penzance*

Sept. 25-Oct. 25 at the Civic

Directed by Yvonne A.K. Johnson

Music Direction by Trudy Harris
Choreographed by Troy Nickerson and Jillian Wylie
 
Modern Major General ... Doug Dawson
Mabel....Andrea Dawson
Pirate King ...Michael J. Muzatko
Frederic ....Russell Seaton
Ruth .... Darnelle Preston
Samuel....Todd Kehne
Sargeant of Police.... Christopher Lamb
 
-- and nearly 20 more actors as Wards, Pirates and Policemen

audition for *The Pirates of Penzance* Aug. 3-4 at the Civic

The Pirates of Penzance
Music by Arthur Sullivan
Book and lyrics by William S. Gilbert

directed by Yvonne A.K. Johnson
musical direction by Trudy Harris
choreographed by Troy Nickerson

auditions: Monday-Tuesday, Aug. 3-4, at 6:30 pm; callbacks Wed.
on the Civic's Main Stage
roles for 16 men and 10 women

[ photo: Linda Ronstadt as Mabel (center) and Kevin Kline as the Pirate King (right) in Joseph Papp's 1980 Central Park production ]

Perform a verse and a chorus from either a Gilbert and Sullivan piece or a classical musical; cold readings, too, and be ready to move around.

to be performed Sept. 25-Oct. 25

When Frederic reaches age 21, it marks the end of his apprenticeship to the notoriously sensitive Pirates of Penzance. Overcome by a sense of duty to the crown, he vows to destroy the pirates he has come to love as brothers. This Gilbert and Sullivan gem features such songs as "I Am a Pirate King" and "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General."

The subtitle of Pirates is "The Slave of Duty."

Premiered in New York in Dec. 1879, and in London in April 1880.

Will the Major-General be able to protect his daughters from the fearsome pirates who are not so fearsome?

changes to Civic's 2009-10 season

The Fiddler got Pirated away. And it's Curtains for Chicago.

The Civic has announced changes to the first and third full-run slots in its next Main Stage season.

A touring version of Fiddler on the Roof will be coming through Spokane, so the Civic's season will now open (Sept. 25-Oct. 25) not with Fiddler but with Sullivan and Gilbert's The Pirates of Penzance, directed by Yvonne A.K. Johnson.
(Best of Broadway had no comment, saying that they'll announce THEIR season on April 16.)

The third long-run Main Stage slot (Jan. 15-Feb. 7, 2010) was going to be Kander and Ebb's Chicago, but now it's going to be another Kander and Ebb show, Curtains. (Think David Hyde Pierce investigating a murder in the middle of a musical production.) Troy Nickerson will direct.



Curtain Up reviews of *Curtains* from August 2006 and Feb. 2007 are here.