The Pirates of Men’s Pants

This production was billed as a ‘brand new jazz version’ of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, adapted and composed by Felicity Courage originally for the Edinburgh festival.  For this production, Felicity has embellished it with more songs, updated references, a larger cast and a more opulent set, which resulted in an interesting mix of the original version interlaced with modern touches.

The sets for both Act 1 and Act 2 were very impressive.  For Act 1 we had a Pirate ship in a steam punk style, complete with a washing line and rocks on the shoreline.  For Act 2, there was a wonderful gothic building and gravestones that were beautifully crafted and detailed; really first class!

The story follows the original and began with a rousing song from the men’s chorus of pirates.  It was lovely to see such a young cast in this production, having seen so many Gilbert and Sullivan productions with a more ‘mature’ cast. They gave an enthusiastic delivery to the songs and dances that fitted this modern version well. 

When the ladies made their entrance ‘Climbing over rocky mountains’ they were in fine voice and all good movers. 

The updated words to ‘I am the very model of a modern major general’ were hilarious and brilliantly written. In fact, there were many very funny and updated references in the show that had evolved from the director’s approach of encouraging improvisation.  With such a young cast, there were bound to be references to twerking and the like!

The policemen were nicely portrayed, with each one a different character. I especially enjoyed one of their numbers which resembled Minnie the Moocher, with their chorus of ’hi de hi de hi de hi’.

The choreography, by Felicity Courage, worked well on the whole, although some numbers were more successful than others.  In fact, that could also be said of the musical numbers.  Some worked brilliantly with this more modern approach, but others rather less so.  There seemed to be rather too many styles and may possibly have been more successful if there had been just one genre of music.  It was great to see a modern version though and I am all in favour of the Gilbert and Sullivan Operas being brought up to date.

The most successful thing about this production though was its young cast, who have now been introduced to Gilbert and Sullivan.  Their enthusiastic approach was a delight to watch and they were obviously enjoying the performance, which was infectious. It was a very entertaining production which was, quite rightly, well received by the audience on this first night.

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