BWW Blog: Michael Hartung - A Rollicking Band of Pirates We

Welcome, to the inside scoop, the backstage pass, the exclusive source, the tell-all...well you know...everything and anything awesome about PIRATES OF PENZANCE at Barrington Stage Company! We arrrrre in our second week of rehearsals here in Pittsfield, MA, and as your resident Pirate/Policeman (trust me, it gets confusing for me too), it is my DUTY to keep you filled in on all of the trouble we're getting into. Did I say trouble? I mean super serious hard work.

You may have noticed the press release last week announcing our full cast and creative team. These guys arrrrre the real deal! I could go through every single name on that list and tell you how amazing they arrrrre at their job, but we would be here all day. I'll touch on them all eventually, but in the meantime, do yourself a favor and drool over that press release for a bit.

As you may have gathered from this post's title, here in PIRATES OF PENZANCE we sometimes talk a bit like...Yoda. Although that would be short changing the great Gilbert and Sullivan who wrote this show long before Yoda ever uttered an oddly ordered sentence. So in all fairness, it is Yoda who must take after Gilbert and Sullivan. All this to say, this show is really old, you guys. Gilbert and Sullivan premiered the operetta in New York City in 1879. That makes PIRATES OF PENZANCE 137 years old. So it's no wonder the language sometimes feels like decoding Shakespeare. The first week all of us had our dictionaries (read: iPhones) nearby to look up any unfamiliar words. With the help of our fearless director, John Rando, our incomparable choreographer, Josh Bergasse, and our brilliant music director, Darren R. Cohen we have been having nothing short of a blast as we figure out how to tell this story in the clearest possible way.

On top of the normal process of putting together a show, PIRATES OF PENZANCE calls for something a little extra. We've been doing a lot of work with our swords the last two weeks and our fight choreographer, Ryan Winkles, has created several sequences that arrrrre seriously awesome. These sword fights bring me right back to the middle school play ground, but this time, I have a REAL sword in my hand. You guys should see our Pirate King, Will Swenson, fight off every single cast member and still have the energy to sing at the top of his lungs and crack a joke along the way.

For those of you who arrrrren't familiar with the show, it is surely not lacking in humor. I don't think a rehearsal goes by that isn't brought to a complete halt by the entire room giggling over the latest joke. There's nothing quite like seeing John Rando pause to let the wheels in his head turn at full speed, then let out a small chuckle as he tells all of us pirates to enter meowing like cats. I'll explain later (or you'll just have to come see the show!).

I'll end every post with a Pirate Lingo Dictionary Entry so that when you come see the show, not only will I know what I'm talking about, but you'll know too!

Bumper - "Let the pirate bumper pass" - A drinking vessel filled to the brim. Especially for toasting. Sounds good to me!

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