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Kingston
Whig-Standard
(by Greg Burliuk)
"Queen's has a hit with rollicking Pirates of
Penzance"
There's a reason The Pirates of Penzance has been
performed virtually non-stop since 1879: it's so much darned
fun. Let's face it, no matter how serious-minded we like to
present ourselves as being, we can't help but giggle at a clever
spoof.
I'm not sure if they invented it, but Gilbert and
Sullivan were certainly two of its most ardent
practitioners. Like Charles Dickens, they liked to take the
stuffing out of important types and they also loved to play with
stereotypes. In Pirates, they sully the image of
rough-and-tough pirates, brave policemen and military brass.
Queen's Musical Theatre's production of Pirates
takes this inspired silliness to new levels, which, combined with
a strong singing ensemble, makes for a delightful
evening.
These pirates look fairly nasty, until you notice
that one of them has a teddy bear tucked into his belt, and though
they occasionally snarl, they really have impeccable
manners. The cops march out smartly but are soon trembling
behind palm leaves. And the Major-General is basically a
doddering, but hilarious, old fool.
The show starts off with a bang in the opening
scene, when the scurvy pirates construct their ship (complete with
mast) in front of our very eyes, just like a magician showing us
how a trick is done. Director Christopher Bond's way of
informing us that we're in for a magical evening. (sic)
This is a production in which all the performances
are strong. After a while, I began licking my chops when a
full choral number began because I knew I would hear incredible
group singing. Not that the solos were chopped liver, but
there's nothing like 30 strong young voices belting out a
song.
As the romantic leads, Tyler J. Murree and Katie
Harder sang beautifully and were quite romantic, although I would
like to have seen them less serious (the romantic parts were when
my interest began to lag.)
I got a real kick out of Dan Dumsha's dipsy
Major-General, especially in his signature song, I Am the Very
Model of a Modern Major General. As is customary, a relevant
modern verse was thrown in (this one combined Queen's and computer
culture quite hilariously); and for good measure, Dumsha and the
chorus did a reprieve (sic) double time.
Pat Brown's Pirate King was mischievous and
Brown's booming baritone was impressive.
My favorite among the leads was April Johnson as
Ruth. Her performance was sly, and her singing clear and
unaffected. However, the strength of this production is the
ensemble work. The most stirring moments always occur when
the stage is crowded. My favorite had the police trembling
behind leaves while the pirates were yo-ho-ho-ing in front of
them.
This is the best QMT production I have seen in
years.
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