5 Reasons to See Pirates! The Penzance Musical On Broadway

Arrr you excited for The Pirates of Penzance being back on Broadway? The Gilbert and Sullivan operetta has been reimagined by Roundabout Theatre Company as Pirates! The Penzance Musical, which opened April 24 at the Todd Haimes Theatre. Conceived by director Scott Ellis, adaptor Rupert Holmes, choreographer Warren Carlyle, and music arranger Joseph Joubert, this new take on the old classic shifts the action to New Orleans, giving the entire creative team license to give a new cajun feel to the entire affair.

And a starry cast has been assembled to perform it. Ramin Karimloo, Jinkx Monsoon, and David Hyde Pierce lead a cast that also boasts Nicholas Barasch, Preston Truman Boyd, and Samantha Williams.

With a fresh new update, along with songs that have been entertaining audiences for more than a century, this Pirates! has something for almost anyone. Here's five reasons why you might want to get to the Haimes box office as fast as your peg leg can manage.

David Hyde Pierce and company of *Pirates! The Penzance Musical* Joan Marcus

1. A Classic Score Like You've Never Heard it Before

Whether you've seen The Pirates of Penzance or not, you've for sure know the score. Whether it's the infamously tricky patter song "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" (expertly and hilariously sung in this production by Tony winner David Hyde Pierce), the plaintive "Poor Wan'dring One" (sung here by Samantha Williams), or the relentless ear worm "With Cat-Like Tread" (you might not know the title, but you certainly know the tune!), Pirates is a Gilbert and Sullivan score that really proves just how popular the operetta writing team was in their day. More than a century later, so much of their work has been embedded inside of the public consciousness. But this revival is mixing things up by transplanting the action to New Orleans, which became an excuse for arranger and orchestrator Joseph Joubert to give the entire score a Cajun, zydeco facelift. Even if you know all of the songs like the back of your hand, you've never heard them like they're being done in Pirates!

You even get some new songs, too. Well—songs that are new to Pirates. Some songs from Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore have been interpolated with entirely new lyrics. What are they? You'll have to set sail to Pirates to find out.

2. Laughs a Minute

Librettist W.S. Gilbert has been keeping audiences in stitches with The Pirates of Penzance since it premiered in 1879 (on Broadway, no less—the story they tell at the beginning of the show about the operetta's premiere and its relationship to copyright law is completely true, by the way), but this edition gets a new book—and lots of new laughs—courtesy of two-time Tony winner Rupert Holmes. If you've seen and belly laughed at musicals like The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Curtains, you know that Holmes is a true expert at keeping things moving swiftly and with a heavy dose of laughter. Holmes here has wisely chosen to give lots of the laughs to Pierce in the form of the dead-pan punchlines he become famous for on TV's Frasier (the two also collaborated on Curtains, which won Pierce his Tony Award in 2007).

If you love to laugh, Pirates! has lots to offer you. Also, in addition to his Broadway career, Holmes is the writer and original singer of tropical pop hit "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)." That has nothing to do with Pirates!, but it's always worth making sure people are aware of it when talking about Holmes.

Nicholas Barasch, Ramin Karimloo, and Jinkx Monsoon in *Pirates! The Penzance Musical* Joan Marcus

3. A Starry Cast

Pierce is far from the only celebrity leading this particular musical, though he is delivering a performance that is worth the price of admission. But in Pirates!, you also get two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon, returning to Broadway after two wildly successful stints as Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago and an Off-Broadway bow as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. This is her first time starring in a brand new production, and Monsoon is really showing that Broadway is where she belongs. You'll see her singing and dancing a lot more than in her earlier stage appearances, and—no surprise—she's just a delight, and ingenious casting for the scene-stealing role of Ruth.

Monsoon and Pierce are sharing above-the-title billing with Ramin Karimloo as the Pirate King, who can also be counted on to bring the vocals and heartthrob status. Scott Ellis and choreographer Warren Carlyle have him doing maybe his most athletic performance yet, from box jumping onto a three-foot-tall barrel, to swinging on a rope, to swashbuckling his way through sword fights. And not to get too thirsty on main, but let's just say that: In certain circles, Karimloo is as equally renowned for his soaring vocals as he is for his excellent physique. If that's a selling point for you, you'll be happy to know that costume designer Linda Cho has given the people what they want here, dressing Karimloo in open vests and coats that leave the goods on full display. And the aerobic staging leaves him bedewed with perspiration that has him shining like the top of the Chrysler Building, which really just gives us a lot to take in for our ticket-buying dollars here.

4. There's Tap Dancing Now

In its original form, Pirates has mostly lived at opera companies, which is to say most productions are not without choreography, but dance usually isn't the main thrust. Not so here! Carlyle has matched Joubert's jazzy new arrangements with some toe-tapping and, again, athletic new dance numbers that are just very entertaining. Major highlights are not one but two big tap numbers, with the Policemen ensemble now becoming a band of tap dancers. Their Sergeant, played by Preston Truman Boyd, takes center stage for the second tap number in a very memorable performance—I hope to see Boyd take on more spotlight roles on Broadway.

Company of *Pirates! The Penzance Musical* Joan Marcus

5. Mardi Gras Fun!

Moving things to New Orleans isn't just about jazzy music and funny jokes. The Mardi Gras vibe gives an infectiously fun vibe that permeates into the audience. Literally. This production has actors throwing things out into the house, delivering lines directly to people, and even making a fair amount of entrances and exits through the aisles of the orchestra. I'm not going to spoil the final surprise of this Pirates!, but let's just say you'd be wise to stick around for the entire curtain call. You might just find a special (and free!) memento hurled into your lap—if you've managed to stay seated, of course.