The Pirates of Penzance… again

Music by Arthur Sullivan
Libretto by W. S. Gilbert
The Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, March 2020

It finally happened - GSOC’s 2020 production of Pirates, cancelled at the very start of the pandemic, made its way to the stage five years later. Revisiting not only this score again, but this particular production/staging, was an interesting retroflection exercise. I could recall staging these numbers in the past, though with a vastly different cast, but enough was new to keep things fresh.

The most interesting, chaotic change this time around was breaking the immersion of the world to update the policemen. Rather than the traditional Keystone Cops motif, Shane messaged me - he wanted donut cops (think Reno 911). This presented an important challenge: how do we make these contemporary figures work in a traditionally staged and costumed production? How do we make sure the audience sees these figures and think “yeah, that makes sense”?

In my experience, most shows have an underlying, emotional buttress that spans the entire piece. In Pirates, like many other accessible comedies, that emotion is delight. So long as the storytelling, the emotional ups and downs that the characters go through, however the scenes and songs function, they need to keep delight as a pervasive touchstone. So, we’d have ourselves some delightful donut cops.

While restaging this piece, most of Act 1 was untouched/unchanged, with minor differences that we developed organically in the rehearsal room with a different cast. Even starting with the same book, the show wouldn't flourish if you treat each singer as a nonentity to fulfill the staging as written. When putting together the blocking and treatment for a show, your preparatory work must serve only as a guide and first draft. For a show to really become special, you must be open to what works and what doesn’t with your singers, in that rehearsal room, in that moment in time. More often than not, the moments you find organically together will be richer than what you planned.

Once we hit Act 2, the major changes began. We had established enough moments of gaiety, cartoonish humor, 4th-wall breaks, and slapstick to let the audience know they’re in for a wild ride. That buy-in was invaluable, and made the acceptance of these bizarre figures just another link in the absurdly comical chain. While in the audience, I heard someone laughing a row in front of me and saying, “This is so stupid.” And I couldn’t have been more delighted - because they had a smile on their face the whole time. It’s a fine line between genius and madness.

I updated all of the Police ensemble choreography to reflect these new characters, including physicality that felt more at home today than in 1879. And it was a blast. It's always a joy working with GSOC. The support staff and creative teams are great. It's important to work with large casts every now and then, and who wouldn't want to direct a show with a full pit orchestra? I think this was my fifth production of Pirates - not bad at all.