Ahoy! Fun Times!

Photo credit to Linda Johnson.

I know I’ve said this before, but I’m a huge fan of musical theatre.  Musicals have always been so important to me, and nothing will ever change that.  And if you really want to go back to the roots of musical theatre, you definitely have to look at anything by Gilbert and Sullivan.  I’m sure the names are familiar to both theatre people and non theatre people alike.  The writer and composer are absolutely iconic, and created amazing operettas such as The Mikado, HMS Pinafore and of course…The Pirates of Penzance.  You see them performed all over, and they’re never easy, but Quintessence tackled The Pirates of Penzance and they did an absolutely amazing job!

If you’ve ever seen a Gilbert and Sullivan musical, you know the basics.  There’s a comedic start, a love story, something catastrophic, and a happy ending.  You’re going to see this formula in pretty much everything they’ve written.  Pirates is no exception, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less fun.  We open with Frederic, the hero of our story, who is preparing to end his indentured time with a band of pretty terrible pirates.  When I say terrible, I don’t mean they’re mean and ferocious, I mean they suck at being pirates.  Frederic is quick to point all of this out, despite the fact that he’s still a part of them.

Again, things are pretty formulaic here.  There are beautiful young ladies, the band of pirates, and of course, a comedic patriarch- Major-General Stanley, played by the incredible Christopher Patrick Mullen.  The actors were incredible, though, through the funny parts, the heartfelt parts, and everything else in between.  And there was all of that, and more.  We laughed a lot, and enjoyed the subtler moments.  There’s something really reassuring about knowing things were going to end on an up note.  I feel like even if you’re not familiar with the Gilbert and Sullivan formula, you can tell it’s going to have a happy ending.

Gilbert and Sullivan isn’t easy to perform on the technical side.  The cadence of the songs is complicated, and many of the lyrics are absolute tongue twisters.  And coming from the person who pretty much memorized The Mikado at age thirteen or so, I would not want to actually be on stage performing that.  What these actors did was absolutely amazing.  And although many of them expressed fear and anxiety when it came to getting things right, I feel like us, as the audience, had no clue that they did.  I know I certainly didn’t see any fear or anxiety.

Something I really do love about Gilbert and Sullivan, as I stated before, is that there’s a happy ending.  Despite whatever catastrophe or twist befalls the characters, they always end on an up note.  I don’t want to give too much away about The Pirates of Penzance, because the catastrophe is hilarious and shouldn’t be given away, but it does have that very Gilbert and Sullivan happy ending.  This show definitely did not disappoint on this one, and the actors did a great job delivering all of the ups and downs, and extreme ups, that they did.

The actors really nailed this one.  For a cast of twelve, they worked magic.  As was pointed out in the opening night toast, Gilbert and Sullivan shows are typically done with casts of at least twenty, usually more.  What these actors did was absolutely jaw dropping…watching the same actors switch from role to role to role.  Seriously!  Some of these actors were playing three or more roles, and they did all of it with what seemed to be ease.  I doubt it was, but they all definitely sold it.

Pirates are a topic that have been popular for a very long time.  I think it’s pretty funny that The Pirates of Penzance was written in 1879, and there’s still a ton of pirate media out there.  We’ve gotten stuff like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and TV shows like Our Flag Means Death.  I love that Quintessence brought The Pirates of Penzance into this modern age where pirates are still so popular.  We were watching a pretty typical and traditional version of this show, but they definitely capitalized on the popularity of pirates in this day and age.  It was so much fun, especially since the band of pirates wasn’t especially good at what they did.  The comedy throughout the whole show was a laugh I really needed.

Quintessence definitely took an old show and made it relevant.  Bringing pirates into this day and age isn’t necessarily difficult, but there are a lot of tricks you have to pull out to make it relatable to audiences…whether we’re talking about movies, shows, or operettas.  And I definitely feel like they did this with The Pirates of Penzance.  Watching all of the characters was so much fun.  Seeing the ups and downs and getting the laughs and sighs was all an absolute delight.  I don’t think that everyone could do a show like this, but Quintessence totally found the actors that can.  Getting to watch this show was an absolute treat, and I would recommend it to everyone who needs everything from a smile to full out laughter.  This show completely delivered.

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