A JAZZY JUMBALAYA OF JOY
The current revival of The Pirates of Penzance at the Todd Haimes Theatre isn’t just a revival — it’s a reincarnation. Yes, rechristened, reimagined, and thoroughly rewired, this rollicking remix of Gilbert and Sullivan’s nautical nonsense has a new title, a new book, a new sound, and enough New Orleans spice to make the original feel like a dusty museum relic. Officially opened on April 24 for a limited run through July 27, this crowd-pleasing adaptation is more Mardi Gras than monocle. Book early — or prepare to walk the plank of regret.
Nicholas Barasch and the company
David Hyde Pierce
Let’s be honest: most Gilbert and Sullivan revivals tend to creak a bit. All patter, little punch. But not this one. This Pirates! (with a book by comic master Rupert Holmes who gave us The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Curtains) ditches the Victorian veneer and plants its flag firmly in the French Quarter, where jazz rules, corsets droop, and everyone — pirates, daughters, and generals alike — gets a chance to dance. The conceit is delightfully meta: Gilbert and Sullivan themselves (David Hyde Pierce and the accomplished understudy Nathan Lucrezio, covering for Preston Truman Boyd) introduce the show as a freshly minted musical premiere at the Theatre of the Renaissance, the first integrated playhouse in New Orleans. It’s a play-within-a-play, a show-within-a-show, and a joy-within-a-joy.
Ramin Karimloo and the company
When David Rockwell’s painted drop of a lavish red velvet curtain rises, the stage blossoms into wrought iron balconies and steamy side streets, and the production practically sizzles. A pirate ship docks onstage and out struts the Pirate King himself — the chiseled, charismatic Ramin Karimloo. Costume designer Linda Cho has the expertise for knowing exactly when to let an exquisite Pirate coat be long and a shirt be nonexistent.
The Company
The ensemble is a study in comic precision. The pirates, a band of gleeful goofballs, double as a hilariously hapless tap-dancing police force. The Major-General’s daughters are a glorious grab bag of ages, sizes, and global backgrounds — and every one of them knows their way around a punchline. Mabel (Samantha Williams), with a voice that shimmers like moonlight on the Mississippi, falls head over sensible heels for Frederic (Nicholas Barasch), a red-headed boyish cutie unsure whether he’s turning 21 or just finishing puberty. His nanny, Ruth — played with flawlessness by the gloriously unpredictable Jinkx Monsoon — famously misunderstood her instructions and apprenticed him to pirates instead of pilots. It’s the kind of operatic mix-up that can’t help but make you grin from stem to stern.
David Hyde Pierce and Preston Truman Boyd
Nicholas Barasch, Ramin Karimloo, David Hyde Pierce
David Hyde Pierce pulls double duty as both Gilbert and the Major-General, and he dispatches the latter’s tongue-twisting anthem “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” with such crisp comedic flair, he might as well be fencing with a thesaurus. It’s a first-act showstopper.
Samantha Williams and Nicholas Barasch
Jinkx Monsoon and company
Musically, the production is infused with the heartbeat of New Orleans. Jazz orchestrations by Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters lend a new pulse to the old melodies, and John O’Neill’s dance arrangements ensure every number swings. You’d never think to call Pirates! a dance musical — until Warren Carlyle’s choreography taps, spins, and shimmies its way into your heart. “Daughters With a Cat-Like Tread” becomes a full-fledged strutting anthem, and G&S purists may clutch their pearls to hear numbers from Iolanthe, HMS Pinafore, and The Mikado cheekily interpolated into the mix. “He Is an Englishman” is now wittily reworked as “We’re All From Someplace Else” and feels relevant and meaningful in today’s politics.
Samantha Williams and company
Nicholas Barasch, Ramin Karimloo and Jinkx Monsoon
The plot? A boy, a birthday, a lie about orphans — it’s barely a scaffold on which to hang this vaudevillian delight. What Holmes and director Scott Ellis have done is nothing short of a minor miracle: they’ve taken a 19th-century chestnut and roasted it to perfection for a 21st-century palate. Pirates! has never felt so alive and deliriously fun.
In short: this Pirates plunders the past and parties with the present. Gilbert and Sullivan, reborn in the Big Easy, have never been easier to love.
Preston Boyd and company
photos by Joan Marcus
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Roundabout Theatre Company
Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 W. 42 St
ends on July 27, 2025
for tickets, call 212.719.1300 or visit Roundabout
Gregory Fletcher is an author, a theater professor, a playwright, director, and stage manager. His craft book on playwriting is entitled Shorts and Briefs, and publishing credits include two YA novels (Other People’s Crazy, and Other People’s Drama), 2 novellas in the series Inclusive Bedtime Stories, 2 short stories in The Night Bazaar series, and several essays. Website, Facebook, Instagram.
