Brown Pirates

Last Sunday I repeated my trip to Providence to see Brown University's Gilbert and Sullivan production, Pirates of Penzance. This time I brought John along, as I knew he would appreciate it.

It was, of course, a very enjoyable day out. Like many people, I'm more familiar with Pirates than any of the other shows (even those I have sung in). I realise now that I was to a large extent the musical director of Pirates when Fenner Hall performed it in 2006. I thought of myself primarily as an accompanist, but now understanding what a music director's job is, I know I was doing most of it (after two musical directors left, I replaced them on piano, and the stage director and I shared the music direction).

Perhaps Pirates has actually become a little too familiar now. I wouldn't say I know every word, but there is a real familiarity to it. I've reached the point where, instead of anticipating the jokes and that making them better, it's making them worse (I've heard them too 'orphan').

The performance, however, was pleasing, though not as good as last semester's Gondoliers. Frederic was played by a woman, and I'm not sure that she really got across a character beyond a woman playing Frederic. It's understandable that it's hard to find a good tenor, but I got the feeling that a tenor could be a substantially less skillful singer than her, and do a better job simply by actually being a man. Perhaps Melissa did a better job when she was a female Frederic.

The pirates were suitably piratical without falling into the stereotypical Pirates of Penzance chorus (well, perhaps they were typical, but not to the point of caricature). Samuel was a very good singer, though I could to some extent see why a less accomplished singer was chosen as the Pirate King, due to his superior ability to create his character.

Ruth was portrayed as perhaps younger (hard to avoid in a student production) and certainly sexier representation than is conventional. I'd was in favour of such, simply because it's better to do something well than to unconvincingly attempt a representation of an old and unattractive 47-year-old.

The womens' chorus was in my opinion the greatest strength. I noticed two leads from the Gondoliers (Gianetta and Casilda) as well as some of the chorus. Their outfits were rather unflattering, but they sang and danced well. Mabel lacked volume, but had precision and clarity.

The major general is a tough role to live up to, and this one didn't. For whatever reason, he spent much of his song out of time, and all though he did a better job for the rest of the time, the beginning really spoiled it.

The police were their usual bumbling, entertaining selves. They weren't pirates in the first act: oh to have so many in the mens' chorus!

We found a gyro house at which to have dinner, before heading home after a very pleasant day out.