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rhuH and I went to see The Pirates of Penzance last night. This is a one-weekend limited-run at the ART's Club Oberon in Harvard Square; the production is by a Chicago group called The Hypocrites. We had a blast, and highly recommend it, although only if you already know Pirates.
The performance uses all parts of the black-box-theatre room, and audience members are encouraged to sit or stand anywhere we want, with the proviso that if the actors point to you, you gotta move, because they need the spot where you are. This gives you a sense of immersion in the show, which was fun.
The company comprises ten actors, accompanying themselves on guitars, banjos, wash pans, saws, toy pianos, etc. In that way, it was a bit reminiscent of the John Doyle productions of Sondheim. Each actor plays several parts (and in that way, among many others, it recalled The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) by the Reduced Shakespeare Company). These performers are running around, singing, dancing, accompanying themselves, changing costumes, telling audience members to move.... it's amazing what they do, and that they do it so well. The actor playing Frederick was not quite up to all the challenges at times, but he was the exception. All of the other performers were very good, and in particular the actress playing Ruth (inter alia) was knock-your-socks-off amazing.
The musical arrangements were fresh. Not only did they rescore for the available instruments, but they modernized the idiom of several songs. (In this regard, I was reminded of The Kings Singers and their stunning piano-ballad version of "Ah, Leave Me Not to Pine".) Sometimes, that worked brilliantly; stand-out musical moments included "How Beautifully Blue the Sky" (Yes, really!); "Go, Ye Heroes" (WOW!); and "Sighing Softly to the River" (hauntingly beautiful accompanied only by Edith on musical saw).
On the negative side, some of the musical arrangements were harmonically oversimplified. I'll assume this was to accommodate the abilities of the performers, but it felt careless in places.
They took some liberties with the dialog, but no more than we've gotten used to with G and S. Some worked, some didn't, some might have worked with a different audience. Overall, the production's attitude seemed to be "we can do some updating of the more obscure jokes; we can add a little shtick; we can make things even more absurd; but we basically trust that Gilbert knew what he was doing." But I think the abridgments and the self-awareness of the production depend on the audience already knowing the baseline Pirates fairly well.
This never quite slid into parody, although it was firmly in the camp camp. I laughed very hard, and was thoroughly entertained. I don't know if tickets are still available for the rest of this run, but if you get a chance to see this, and if you're already a G and S fan, I recommend it.
The performance uses all parts of the black-box-theatre room, and audience members are encouraged to sit or stand anywhere we want, with the proviso that if the actors point to you, you gotta move, because they need the spot where you are. This gives you a sense of immersion in the show, which was fun.
The company comprises ten actors, accompanying themselves on guitars, banjos, wash pans, saws, toy pianos, etc. In that way, it was a bit reminiscent of the John Doyle productions of Sondheim. Each actor plays several parts (and in that way, among many others, it recalled The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) by the Reduced Shakespeare Company). These performers are running around, singing, dancing, accompanying themselves, changing costumes, telling audience members to move.... it's amazing what they do, and that they do it so well. The actor playing Frederick was not quite up to all the challenges at times, but he was the exception. All of the other performers were very good, and in particular the actress playing Ruth (inter alia) was knock-your-socks-off amazing.
The musical arrangements were fresh. Not only did they rescore for the available instruments, but they modernized the idiom of several songs. (In this regard, I was reminded of The Kings Singers and their stunning piano-ballad version of "Ah, Leave Me Not to Pine".) Sometimes, that worked brilliantly; stand-out musical moments included "How Beautifully Blue the Sky" (Yes, really!); "Go, Ye Heroes" (WOW!); and "Sighing Softly to the River" (hauntingly beautiful accompanied only by Edith on musical saw).
On the negative side, some of the musical arrangements were harmonically oversimplified. I'll assume this was to accommodate the abilities of the performers, but it felt careless in places.
They took some liberties with the dialog, but no more than we've gotten used to with G and S. Some worked, some didn't, some might have worked with a different audience. Overall, the production's attitude seemed to be "we can do some updating of the more obscure jokes; we can add a little shtick; we can make things even more absurd; but we basically trust that Gilbert knew what he was doing." But I think the abridgments and the self-awareness of the production depend on the audience already knowing the baseline Pirates fairly well.
This never quite slid into parody, although it was firmly in the camp camp. I laughed very hard, and was thoroughly entertained. I don't know if tickets are still available for the rest of this run, but if you get a chance to see this, and if you're already a G and S fan, I recommend it.
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(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-22 01:39 pm (UTC)I'm glad your first theatrical experience back was a good one.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-22 03:38 pm (UTC)