The Pirates of Penzance

As I made my way to my seat, I thought, oh I’m quite towards the back, do you know, that didn’t matter at all. I had a really good view of the stage, the sound was good and the lighting was good as well, so I had a really good view of the show. I settled back to read the programme as I always and started by admiring the very photogenic front cover, a sailing ship with a gorgeous ‘Norfolk’ sunset, nothing else, a really eye-catching cover. What a good idea. The lights dimmed and the long overture started, all the familiar tunes, great for humming along to.

When you’ve seen a show several times and performed it a couple of times you don’t always expect to enjoy a show, well I did with this production. The cast may not be the youngest that I’ve seen and they might not be the sprightliest but they gave a jolly good performance and all looked as though they were enjoying themselves and the large Matinee audience enjoyed themselves as well.

As always there was an excellent set from Paul Lazell, just one different set for each Act, perfectly fitted to the stage and excellent costumes provided by Lichfield Costumes. The lighting design throughout the show was well suited to the set and the various scenes. The sound was good, there was no trouble in hearing the vocals and the harmonies, in fact I made a note in my programme about the harmonies, particularly on ‘What ought we to do’ and the finale of act one, and also with the principals in ‘Oh men of dark and dismal fate’.The singing throughout was generally very good as it should be with such an experienced cast, although there was a rare occasional off-note, the company had obviously been worked hard by the Musical Director Richard Winch and Director Debbie Bennett. As a whole there was very little to niggle about, with a company of this age the choregraphy was less frenetic but movement on stage, entrances and exits were very smooth and obviously thought through with care. The opening number ‘Pour oh pour the pirate sherry’ set the scene for the whole show, good singing ease of movement and an introduction to the pirates and Frederic. Ruth gave a great rendition of ‘When Frederic was a little lad. Then of course we got introduced to the ‘Maidens’ in ‘Climbing over rocky mountain’ followed by ‘Stop, Ladies pray’. What I liked with these numbers was that although they were chorus, they all did their own acting throughout these scenes, little movements, little gestures, this was indeed something that carried on throughout the show, although I noticed it more with the ladies than with the men.

As always with this show the chorus becomes depleted in the second act as half the pirates become policeman, but they didn’t ‘down size’ their volume with their vocal numbers for the policeman’s number ‘When a felon’s not engaged’ or the lovely number ‘With cat like tread’. The Police were ably led by Steve Scales and their antics never failed to amuse.

The principals worked hard and deserved their applause, one does have to imagine them as playing characters much younger than they actually are although Andy Hiles as Major- General Stanley and Ellie Hiam as Mabel were probably about right, a good patter song – ‘I am the very model’, a bit slower than I have heard before, but clearly sung. There were some excellent performances and singing from Julie Bjerregaard as Ruth and Anil Chakrabarti as Frederic, as well as Ellie Hiam were also excellent, with nice duets in both acts. Peter Walters as the Pirate King, Desmond Holmes as Samuel, Denise Bridge and Anna Boden as Edith and Kate gave good supporting performances to the main principals.

This was a really good and enjoyable production, so congratulations to Debbie and Richard for all the planning, drilling and direction (and probably tears) that they put into this over its long and drawn out Covid rehearsal period. It was worth it because the company gave its best, well done to all involved.

 

 

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