Pirates of Penzance Revival?

[showchoirguy]

From what I saw in Edwin Drood Wednesday, several cast members in the show would be amazing in a production of Pirates. Does anyone see it? I could't help but imagine Jim Norton as the Major General and Will Chase as The Pirate King. Even Robert Creighton as Samuel. What do you guys think? Is the time right?

[someone.else's.story2]

No

[ReggieonBway]

I don't see PoP ever getting a revival.

[GavestonPS]

Why not? I mean, it's not like the 1980s revival was the first one. PENZANCE had its world premiere in NYC and has been revived off and on since the 1870s. PINAFORE premiered in England but it, too, has had various NYC revivals, as has THE MIKADO.

Does the D'Oyly Carte still present in NYC every few years? They used to do so, though I admit I'm not fond of the way the British race through G&S. Just play the damn material!

I think that's what made Wilford Leach's production so refreshing: yes, it was broadly comic, but the cast actually played characters in action. It wasn't just a race to see how fast everything could be sung.

[showchoirguy]

I think maybe a new interpretation of the piece could be interesting. They just did that reggae version at The MUNY this summer, right?

[GavestonPS]

There were two all-black "jazz" MIKADOs running simultaneously in 1939!

[Dollypop]

Does D'Oyly Carte still exist? On one of my last visits to London, I caught a production of IOLANTHE presented by what was called the "New" D'Oyly Carte.

[darquegk]

There's a company in Australia called Essgee that does a trilogy of Pirates, Mikado and Pinafore in a rather unique style. They use a mixture of musical theatre actors, opera singers and local comedians in the cast, improvise rather freely, and spoof musical theatre practices from Gilbert and Sullivan's time to the present- the Essgee Mikado, in particular, parodies overly-belabored rhymes, stunt casting, audience participation, the very concept of a running gag, and so on.

[GavestonPS]

dolly, there's a d'Oyly Carte company on the net, but it seems to exist just to sell merchandise, mostly recordings.

Here's an account of the demise of the company after 107 years:

http://pinafore.www3.50megs.com/fight.html


Apparently, the last time I saw them in New York (early 80s) was shortly before they closed their doors. Alas.

***

FWIW, there's a small theater in Sierra Madre, CA (just east of Pasadena) that devotes one slot in each season to G&S. I didn't know about them until 2 years ago, but so far we've seen THE YEOMAN OF THE GUARD and RUDDIGORE. They have scheduled THE GONDOLIERS for next Fall. It appears G&S are financially feasible for them, at least.

If you're out here visiting Palm Springs, the theater is a little over an hour away...

***

darque, the Australian company sounds great. If I ever get down there...

[darquegk]

The entire Essgee Mikado '95 is available on Youtube as a proshot video. The productions are listed by year, since they can change EXTREMELY radically depending on the cast; the '95 production has a real vaudeville meets Monty Python feel to its humor and the interactions of Ko-Ko and Poo-Bah, while the 2009 features members of the Umbilical Brothers, the improv comedy, standup and mime team well-known in Australia, as well as a Nanki-Poo who is more of a dancer than a singer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHf9qiDgwfw&list=PL26DA28BC7BB5450B&index=1&feature=plpp_video

A few jokes in the production will not make much sense because of A: being Australian in-jokes (musical theatre vet Jon English, as Poo-Bah, was a Sixties one-hit wonder, and is perpetually confused with another Sixties pop singer, Rolf Harris), or B: being references to other Essgee productions, which are generally produced together as a whole season and thus have running gags (Poo-Bah swings on a rope gratuitously because English plays both Dick and the Pirate King, and so it is expected for him to do some rope-swinging).

[Kad]

Penzance is still a very popular show around the country and the world. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we got a revival in the next 20 years.

[EricMontreal22]

Gaveston--didn't the reformed D'Oyle Carte close, as well? I thought it had... I know there was a 90s revival, but...


The Drood comparisons are apt, since Papp seemed eager to recreate his Penzance success with the show--so many of the smae actors in similar roles, same director, same choreographer, similar type of show...

I was obsessed with Pirates as a kid--in the 80s when I guess the show really took off again thanks to the new York staging. I remember watching videos of the movie, vs the Pirate Movie (which is still a camp fave) vs a Stratford filmed production with Jeff Hyslop all the time. It's not the best Gilbert and Sullivan, but it is, IMHO, the most fun.

[darquegk]

The same Essgee link I posted has links to a highlights reel of their production of Pirates. Daffy, chaotic fun is the order of the day.