A Rollicking Band of Pirates, They
Forget Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. The true blockbuster of the summer is Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society's Pirates of Penzance, playing at the Bagley Wright Theatre at Seattle Center.
As with any Gilbert and Sullivan play, Pirates' plot does not stand up to rigorous analysis, and the G&S Society seems to know this. They treat the ridiculous twists and turns with wit and whimsy, creating a world in which everything seems possible. We were captivated.
What happens, basically, in Pirates is this: Frederic, who was mistakenly apprenticed to a gang of pirates when he was a boy, is nearing his 21st birthday, and thus the end of his apprenticeship. He meets a group of beautiful young ladies, and falls in love with one of them (Mabel). His nursemaid, Ruth, is distraught, as she wanted him to fall in love with her. The ladies are attacked by pirates, at which point the Major General shows up to protect his daughters. The MG claims to be an orphan, the pirates let the ladies go, and Act I ends.
As Act II begins, the MG is remorseful about lying to the pirates, and Frederic is planning to attack them (as he is no longer a member of the band, he feels duty-bound to destroy them). But it turns out that Frederic was born on leap year, and has only had 5 birthdays; he is therefore bound to the pirates until sometime in 1940. He reluctantly
rejoins them. The pirates fight the police and seize the MG's daughters. The police chief calls on the pirates to cease, in Queen Victoria's name, and they do. Ruth reveals that the pirates are all noblemen, and the MG invites them to marry his daughters. All ends in happiness.
Dave Ross (who is a long-time talk show host on KIRO) was, for us, the highlight of the evening. He was brilliant as Major General Stanley. Many baritones have trouble with "I am the very model of a modern Major General," but Ross got all the words in, and then some. He was even able to insert a Seattle-specific verse, which the audience
loved.
The pirates were more loveable than anything, what with their penchant for not harming orphans and their love for their queen. Andrew Parks' Pirate King was at times gruff and at times tender, and consistently
well-sung and -acted.
Nancy Gentemann Hebert sang a well-rounded Ruth. Her transition from a pathetic nursemaid in love with her charge to a woman in love with her pirating life was well portrayed. And we don't want to give away the ending, but in the final scene, we'd be watching Ruth if we were you.
Also commendable were the group of ladies. Jenny Shotwell and Carla Hilderbrand stood out as Edith and Kate, respectively. As Mabel, Cristina Villareale steals the show, which is appropriate. Seattlest suspects that Gilbert and Sullivan wrote the part of Mabel to make fun of dramatic operatic divas, and Villareale plays that up.
Scott Rittenhouse was good as Frederic. His voice, while well-trained, is small, and it was sometimes hard to hear him over the orchestra and the other singers. He played a good foil to Villareale's Mabel, and their tender duet in the middle of the second Act was especially well done.
Pirates runs July 14-29 at the Bagley Wright Theatre. The entire production was spot-on, from costumes to staging to singing to acting – you will really enjoy yourself. Buy tickets by calling the ticket office at 206-341-9612.
