Review Preview: Pirates!

Theaters like to heard us critics to an "Official Press Opening," often mixing us with a "ringer" audience of family, friends, trustees and other vocally enthusiastic patrons.

It doesn't work nearly as well as some theaters think. Most critics will eat the reception buffet and kill the show without a second thought.

But its always helpful to see a show after the press opening, when the friends have gone home and the crowd thins out to an average fill.

Paper Mill moved its press opening this week from Sunday to Wednesday to avoid conflictng with the Tonys. But Wednesdays are a crusher for me (I edit the At Home section that day in addition to my other stuff) so instead I went Friday night.

To my surprise, Paper Mill had a very nice crowd (probably close to 90 percent) and they roared at the curtain call. Even a cynical critic could not deny this show is a crowd pleaser.

And this critic through it was pretty good, too. A draft of my review follows.

Theater review
If you want to go:
What: “Pirates”
When: through July 8
Where: Paper Mill Playhouse, Brookside Drive, Millburn
How much: $19 to $68
Info: (973) 376-4343; www.papermill.org

By WILLIAM WESTHOVEN
Staff Writer
Gilbert and Sullivan may be rolling in their graves, but more shows like “Pirates!” could keep Paper Mill Playhouse from joining them.
It’s hard to imagine anyone else objecting to the liberties taken by this vibrant staged concert version of “The Pirates of Penzance.” It brought a large Friday night crowd to its feet last week.
The idea came to director Gordon Greenberg came in 2005 while he was at Paper Mill directing “The Baker’s Wife.” The first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie was a hot ticket at the time, and Greenberg imagined giving the beloved Gilbert and Sullivan operetta the same frisky, tropical treatment.
Lyricist Nell Benjamin (“Legally Blonde”) and John McDaniel were recruited by Greenberg for the revision. Two years later, as the cinema “Pirates” franchise sails into the sunset, Greenberg’s “Pirates!” have traveled from a premiere at coproducing Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut and harbored in Millburn.
The staged-concert format dispenses with traditional sets and staging. Just the same, there’s plenty of action and plenty to look at. The first treat you’ll notice is the 14-piece orchestra onstage, in two corrals separated by a wide staircase to an elevated back stage. The corrals are bricked in, creating the illusion of a pier, which later becomes the home of blustery Major-General Stanley (Ed Dixon).
He is, of course, “A Modern Major General,” as the fabled song goes. Dixon nails it with comedy to spare, hyperventilating and wagging his double chin the whole way.
The major-general has more trouble corralling his flighty, but beautiful daughters, who barely put up token resistance when pursued by the Pirate King (Andrew Vaerla, grinning and strutting like Johnny Depp on payday) and his scurvy crew.
Mabel (Farah Alvin has the strongest and most operatic voice in the cast), the more studious daughter, is wooed by handsome Frederick (Barrett Foa), who was hoping to be released from his obligation to the pirates on his 21st birthday, only to learn that his leap year birth date has bound him till Social Security. A cruel fate for a boy whose father wanted him to apprentice as a “pilot,” but his hearing-challenged nurse Ruth (Liz McCartney) didn’t get her orders right.
This familiar Gilbert and Sullivan ground is roto-tilled with a fresh Caribbean setting, a time warp from the 19th to the 18th century (at the height of British Imperial rule) and a few zingers in the book, with shots at politicians, male chauvinists and spicy references to, um, romantic relations. Most of it is very funny, as the comedy and action combine to raise “Pirates! nearly to the level of farce.
Fortunately, most of the operetta’s irresistible melodies and witty lyrical play is left intact and marvelously performed. The leads are more Broadway-trained then opera-trained, but their personalities bring the songs to life and find subtleties that lesser actors often do not.
Foa’s blonde hair and radiant smile will make the ladies swoon, while McCartney’s plump, bawdy Ruth is everything a pirate should want in a woman. Varela plays the Pirate King for laughs and succeeds—he’s dashing enough to give a girl the vapors, but about as threatening as Popeye during a spinach recall.
Gerry McIntyre is another “Pirates!” treasure, as the reluctant sergeant of the local militia hired to battle the pirates. He’ll remind some of Geoffrey Holder (remember him from the 7-Up “uncola” commercials?) as he leads the militia through reggae and calypso arrangements of “Tarantara” and “A Policeman’s Lot.”
Warren Carlye’s choreography is simple but lively, Greenberg and fight captain Michael Rossmy keeps things moving as well.
There are sillier shows than this one, but silly has never sounded as good as it does here. And, after a difficult couple of months, it’s nice to see Paper Mill end its season with a theater full of happy campers.