The Pirates of Penzance

Thank goodness this version of Joseph Papp's "Pirates" has been unearthed and released to the public! For as lavish as the 1983 film version is, I always felt that it was lacking something....a live audience.

With the exception of Kevin Kline's performance, this live recording of the Central Park production is very charming and well worth the watch. Mr. Kline is wonderful as The Pirate King, but his performance in the 1983 version is far better. After 3 years of performing the role, he perfected it, and truly made it his own.

Reviews back in 1980 complained about Linda Ronstadt's performance as Mabel, noting her lack of acting training. I found her to be perfectly charming and quite adorable. She's a cross between Snow White and Lilian Gish...the perfect mix! She handles the vocal difficulty of the role with ease and clarity. Her upper voice is slightly improved by the time the big screen version was shot, but this early attempt is wonderful! And Mabel really doesn't have a lot of acting depth to her anyway....G & S wrote her as a parody of grand opera sopranos. Player her "straight", as Ronstadt does, and she's fabulous.

The late George Rose and the late Tony Azito are almost exact on both versions...which to me a sign of a great performer. I always heard the Rose did the entire movie version with no retakes, and I can now understand why...he's flawless. Azito could have given Ray Bolger a run for his money back in the day...the man was like rubber.! I would have loved to have seen him play the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz! Sadly both Rose and Azito were taken from us before their time. It's a great loss.

Patricia Routledge leaves Angela Lansbury in the dust in the battle for the better Ruth. Routledge actually had a character unlike Lansbury who simply played Jessica Fletcher as Ruth....serious miscasting there folks! If you are a fan of Patricia Routledge in "Keeping Up Appearances", this is a must see for you!

The video used for the DVD and VHS versions of this show is very rough. It's been digitally cleaned up a much as possible, but it is 23 years old! Only so much can be done! But it's worth the watch anyway!

I LOVED IT!!!!

I saw this production of "The Pirates of Penzance" in and around 1982 in San Francisco. The only member of the cast not accounted for was Kevin Kline, who I believe was off filming "Sofie's Choice" at the time. His role was assumed by James Belushi during Kline's absence, who did a superb job of portraying the Pirate King that year. I had a great time seeing this production, and seeing this preserved performance brings back warm and welcomed memories.

This version of Pirates is exceptionally well acted, but, as the foreword on the DVD states, the print is limited by the technology at the time. I've seen the DVD on both high-res (definition) and on regular NTSC monitors, and, believe it or not, it actually looks better on older TV's (for which the technology of the recording was made). The result being that on a high definition TV set the hot-spots and washed out colors look even more distorted than they actually are on the master. Even so, on a regular television the image quality bounces from good to not-so-good, depending on the camera being used. The center camera (number 2 camera?) wasn't properly white balanced, and the washed out brights show, giving a real unprofessional look to the TV production. In fact, during the performance, the operator tries to stop down the camera, but the only result is sloppy camera work, forever preserved on DVD. Whoever coordinated this thing clearly didn't do their homework.

The same goes for the audio. For some reason the high fidelity of today's top of the line audio systems, for all their bells and whistles to enhance music and general audio, just don't deliver a clear sound of the performance. For some strange reason (probably because contemporary audio components try to "create fidelity" in source material where there is none) the regular old TV speaker delivers a clearer sound. Note; it's not a higher quality sound, but sound where both lyrics and dialogue are easily understood. On a digital stereo or home theatre the cast sounds very muffled by all the tonal enhancements, making the songs sound unintelligible. If you must view it on your home theatre system, then do yourself a favor and grab a book of lyrics. Otherwise you'll be left high and dry when the songs roll around.

But, if you can get by all the video and audio shortcomings (a lot to ask for) you should have a good time watching one the most memorable productions of Gillbert and Sullivan's Light Opera (or operetta, whichever term you prefer). Linda Ronstadt as Mabel plays the innocent young waif, who falls for the young dashing Frederick, played by Rex Smith. The performances are perfectly melodramatic, with a couple of contemporary nuances to make them really stand out for modern audiences. Each set of characters delivers an excellent performance; the daughters, the police troop/pirate-band, and of course the leads.

There're two mis cued gags, but the fact that they weren't laughed at is more the fault of the audience than the actors: Ronstadt's vocal competition with the local birds, portrayed by a flautist, seemed to fly over the head of the audience. And Tony Azito (the Police Sargeant) failed to get a laugh on his "...most perplexing" line, again probably because the audience's mind was on something else, or they didn't understand the context of the reference.

As you may know this particular production was so popular that a film was made, using most of the original cast. That is save for Patricia Rutledge of "Keeping up Appearances" and "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" fame, who was replaced by Angela Lansbury (God knows why... most likely because Lansbury was probably a name the American public could identify with, and hence haul in more movie goers for more box office dollars). The film, from what little I saw of it, did little to enhance or give credit to the stage performance. The stage production was popular for a reason. The film bombed for similar reasons.

Part of the reason for that is because plays, particularly ones like "The Pirates of Penzance," really need an audience that can appreciate good theatre. That, and the era of the musical was dead back in the 70's and 80's (one or two exceptions). "The Pirates of Penzance," and specifically this production, was a smash hit on the theatre circuit. It was a thing that really couldn't be reproduced in a cinematic venue.

Fortunately the good folks at Kutlur Video have put together what is probably the only surviving TV broadcast version of this light opera, onto VHS and DVD. If light opera isn't your thing, then you may want to scope out the "teen-sexploitation" comedy version, starring Kristy McNichol, entitled "The Pirate Movie." That version lacks both music and charm of, what was then, THE NUMBER ONE stage production to see. "The Pirate Movie" is okay, but is more or less an attempt to cash in on teenage dollars (and cheaply, I might add).

Unfortunately the DVD of this legendary production of "The Pirates of Pezance" is priced around thirty smackers. A bit pricey for a reprint of a twenty-year-old 3/4" broadcast master, but, if you're like me and saw the original 1980's production, the performances more than worth the money.

This is the theater cast that prompted the movie, also starring Linda Ronstadt, Kevin Kline and Rex Smith. I always felt the movie was rather cheesy, even by '80s standards. Kline shines as the Pirate King. He mugs well with the audience, and has some wonderful business, often involving the pit orchestra. (The stage was built partly around the pit, which makes for some wonderful interaction.) Smith and Ronstadt both have pop/rock roots, and it shows. Smith at least has some theatrical bona fides, having debuted in "Grease." Still, musical theater is nothing if not camp, and Smith and Ronstadt are both sufficiently campy in this production. (I note, with some glee, that they had to key most of Ronstadt's arias a third or more.) We bought this version because it was the only one available (all the others had been "returned to vendor!") and were pleasantly surprised. I'd seen the movie and had to quell my gag reflex through most of it. This works much better as the theatrical version from whence it sprang 120 years ago. Still fresh; still funny. See it!

Let's straighten out a few points in previous comments first. This is the video of the original stage production, which started at the Delacourte (outdoor) theatre in New York's Central Park (it was free!) and then moved to Broadway (indoors) with a slightly different cast and then was made into a proper film - again with minor cast changes.

Patricia Routledge originated the role of Ruth but was replaced on Broadway by Estelle Parsons. In the film, the role of Ruth was taken by Angela Lansbury. This was the only principal role recast in any incarnation of the Park/Video, original Broadway, or film version. I don't know why Routledge and Parsons were replaced.

The smaller character of Samuel was also re-cast on Broadway (Stephen Hanan took over). Oddly, when the film was made, the original Broadway cast recorded in a New York studio singing the soundtrack, but finances prevented those playing the smaller roles from actually going to England to do the filming. English actors played Kate, Edith, Isabel and Samuel, lip synching to the original Broadway cast.

This 1980 video isn't quite as technically bad as some claim. The percussionist is practically a major character and a love duet between Frederic and Mabel turns into a trio with the conductor in the middle. But all in all it is certainly watchable. It is unfortunate that a jet passes over the park just when the singers launch into the a capella "Hail Poetry", but the sound is not all that bad. I had to jack up the volume on my home theatre a bit to compensate.

Having seen the original cast live on Broadway, I was happy to finally see Routledge in the role of Ruth. She does a bit of ad libbing here and there but is very good. PIRATES was her last New York musical after appearing in a string of flops including a disastrous 1976 musical called 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE where she played all the first ladies. After PIRATES she returned to England and...well, the rest is television history. The Samuel in this video is much more operatic than his Broadway replacement Hanan. The incredible George Rose is in top form here while the later film version is better for the other principals, who had three years to perfect their roles.

This video also gives us the complete Act One. The film version fades out before Ruth's final plea to Frederic. Other differences (vocally and visually) between the Park (this video) and Broadway/Film are minimal. If you are a G&S purist, this Wilford Leach version is not for you. But it has become the standard interpretation of PIRATES in stage productions everywhere.

I like the bit about the model of the modern major general.