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A CurtainUp Review
The Pirate Queen
| The Pirate Queen Docks At Broadway's Hilton
By Elyse Sommer
Despite the bad weather the Hilton was packed with fans of Riverdance fans and the easy-listening epics of Boublil and Schonberg. Clearly the fallout from the early reviewers' almost uniform pans has not resulted in the shipwreck predicted and this $20million potboiler is likely to stay afloat —not years, like Les Miserables or Miss Saigon, but at least through Spring or even the summer tourist season. Larry Bommer astutely summed up the show's strengths and weaknesses when it debuted in Chicago. And while musical veteran Richard Maltby Jr. has since helped Boubil and Schonberg to tweak and sharpen their epic, and the musical staging has probably been sharpened by Graciela Daniele's boarding the ship, what was true then is true now, so I don't have much to add to the original review . The show's plot is still too cursory to do justice to the story of Grace (Grania) O'Malley, more a Harlequin historical romance with music and dancing than the operatic musical it aims to be. The songs soar but fade from memory as quickly as the ample smoke enveloping the stage (that smoke even turned into a raging fire thanks to Kenneth Posner's expert lighting design). Eugene Lee's scenic design is as spectacular at the Hilton as it was at the Cadillac Palace and Martin Pakledinaz's costumes, especially the ones for Queen Elizabeth, as eye poppingly gorgeous. If for no other reason, than a chance to wear all that incredible finery, were I a musical diva, I'd definitely prefer being Elizabeth than Grania. That said, Stephanie J. Black is an attractive, agile heroine and her voice is lovely. Balgord is less athletic (those gowns demand stateliness rather than agility) but amusing as the virgin queen, as is her villainous adviser and would-be suitor William Youmans. Unlike my Chicago colleague I thought the staging of the women's diplomatic powwow behind the map-decorated scrim screen was great fun and made up for hearing what they said. On the other hand I agree that the real star turns came from the generous doses of Irish Step dancing. As my companion who never saw Riverdance put it " It's as if you're getting two shows for one ticket." Not a bad thing when you consider the price of those tickets. I left the Hilton wondering what the wonderful little Irish Rep Theater in Chelsea would do with Morgan Llwelyn's novel Grania - She King of the Irish Sea. To be sure, a production helmed by its artistic director Charlotte Moore wouldn't come close to offering Broadway style pyrotechnics, but you'd surely care more about this interesting woman than her counterpart in the mega musical. BROADWAY PRODUCTION NOTES THE PIRATE QUEEN Hilton Theater, West 42nd St. www.thepiratequeen.com. Music by Claude-Michel Schõnberg Book and Lyrics by Alain Boublil, Richard Maltby, Jr. and John Dempsey Based upon the novel, Grania - She King of the Irish Sea by Morgan Llywelyn Directed by Frank Galati Irish Dance Choreographer: Carol Leavy Joyce Associate Choreographer: Rachel Bress Musical Staging by Graciela Daniele Associate Director: Tara Young Additional choreography by Mark Dendy Musical Director: Julian Kelly Cast: Stephanie J. Block ( Grace O'Malley), Hadley Fraser (Tiernan), Linda Balgord (Queen Elizabeth I), Marcus Chait (Donal), Jeff McCarthy (Dubhdara) and William Youmans (Bingham) The cast of 39 also includes Nick Adams, Richard Todd Adams, Caitlin Allen, Sean Beglan, Timothy W. Bish, Jerad Bortz, Troy Edward Bowles, Grady McLeod Bowman, Rachel Bress, Don Brewer, Kimilee Bryant, Alexis Ann Carra, Aine Ui Cheallaigh, Noelle Curran, Bobbie-Ann Dunn, Brooke Elliott, Christopher Garbrecht, Eric Hatch, Cristin J. Hubbard, David Koch, Timothy Kochka, Jamie LaVerdiere, Joseph Mahowald, Tokiko Masuda, Padraic Moyles, Brian O'Brien, Kyle James O'Connor, Michael James Scott, Greg Stone, Katie E. Tomlinson, Daniel Torres, Jennifer Waiser and Briana Yacavone. Sets: Eugene Lee Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz Lighting: Kenneth Posner Sound, Jonathan Deans Hair Design:, Paul Huntley Makeup: Angeline Avallone Fight Director: J. Stephen White Special effects: Greg Meeh Aerial Sequence Design: Paul Rubin Vocal arrangements: Julian Kelly Associate Musical Director: Brian Connor Aerial Sequence Design: Paul Rubin Fight direction by J. Steven White Running Time: Approx. 2 1/2 hours with intermission Hilton Theatre, 213 W. 42nd St., 212-307-4100 www.thepiratequeen.com/ From: 3/06/07; opening 4/05/07—Last performance 6/17/07 Tues to Sat at 8:00pm; Wed and Sat at 2:00pm; Sun at 3:00pm Tickets:$51.25 - $111.25 Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at April 15th matinee |
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Chicago review By Lawrence Bommer
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Grace O'Malley defended her country, and her culture, against occupation by a foreign power in a way that was unknown for a woman in that time and had, by any standard, the most romantic of lives.g— Boublil and Schonberg
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For better and worse, fans of Les Miz and Miss Saigon will find even more happy hunting grounds in Schonberg's latest 150-minute mega-musical. Like the former, it's fueled by sympathy for the underdog, here the oppressed 16th century Irish, their clan ethic epitomized by Grania O'Malley. This true-life Gaelic freedom-fighter and female pirate chief defied her sex and her enemies, confronting Queen Elizabeth herself and forging a truce between the hostile islands.
Like Miss Saigon, The Pirate Queen deals in misplaced love—but with a happy ending: Grania and her childhood chum Tiernan rise above her terrible marriage to a cowardly West Irish clan lord and live on as booty-craving corsairs exploiting the Irish Sea. Unlike Miss Saigon,Queen has a strong feminist undercurrent, celebrating two strong women who, unlike Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots, neither feared each other's power nor denigrated each other's achievements.
Rumored at a $20 million budget, Frank Galati's regional staging, which premiered Oct. 29, one-ups the street barricades and helicopter of previous blockbusters with a pirate ship whose masts frame the stage and whose sails allow for daring gymnastics feats. Arguably, the best pyrotechnics are the eruptions of Irish step-dancing that test the limits of contagious enthusiasm, (The Riverdream producers are, not surprisingly, the creators of "Riverdance.") Performed at a wedding and even a funeral, the rapid-fire hoofing to Schonberg's pseudo-Gaelic score, choreographed by Carol Levy Joyce, alternates with Renaissance galliards at the court of Elizabeth and boom-box rousers for the fight scenes, as shaped by J. Steven White and Mark Dendy.
Resembling Maureen O'Hara at her loveliest, Stephanie J. Block's plucky Grania rises to such power ballads as "The Choice is Yours," while valiant Hadley Fraser brings a soaring, leather-lunged tenor to Tiernan's equally daunting "I'll Be There." As the obligatory noble patriarch, Jeff McCarthy waxes wise as Grania's father. William Youmans all but twirls his moustache as unscrupulous Sir Bingham. An equally vile Marcus Chait is Grania's wretched, womanizing louse of a husband. Finally, playing Grania's great rival, Chicago favorite Linda Balgord's Elizabeth indulges in a killer vibrato. Her warbles imitate period motets but her imperious confidence is as contemporary as Oprah. Gorgeously costumed and louder than life, the athletic cast of 42 supply both scale and detail.
But anyone who doesn't already crave Boublil and Schonberg's easy-listening musicals (and I'm one) will find familiar shortfalls. The rapid-fire plot is too swift to let us care for the characters, yet short-changes the legend's most important event, the real-life encounter between Grania and Elizabeth. (Why can't we hear what they said when Pirate Queen speculates so freely about the rest of Grania's career?) Overloaded with unearned emotion, the songs come out of nowhere and often go there, hobbled with clumsy lyrics and forced scansion. You end up dazzled, exhausted, impressed and exalted —but rarely moved.
| THE PIRATE QUEEN Composer: Claude-Michel Schonberg Lyricist: Alan Boublil and John Dempsey Directed by Frank Galati Cast: Stephanie J. Block (Grania), Hadley Fraser (Tiernan), Jeff McCarthy (Dubhdara), Linda Balgord (Queen Elizabeth I), William Youmans (Bingham), Marcus Chait (Donal) Sets: Eugene Lee Lighting: Kenneth Posner Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz Sound: Jonathan Deans Running time: 2 hours 45 minutes with an intermission Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph, Chicago; (312) 902-1400 From October 3 to November 26, 2006; opening October 29. Tues, Thurs 7:30pm; Wed. 2 pm and 7:30 pm, Fri 8 pm, Sat at 2pm and 8 pm; Sun at 2pm Reviewed by Lawrence Bommer based on October 20th performance |
Easy-on-the budget super gift for yourself and your musical loving friends. Tons of gorgeous pictures.
Leonard Maltin's 2007 Movie Guide
At This Theater
Leonard Maltin's 2005 Movie Guide
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