There are two types of plays: those that shine a light on reality and, if they’re wise enough, satisfy us with their insights; and those that shine in the opposite direction, and, if they’re inventive enough, offer us a distraction from terrible truth. freeFall Theatre’s The Pirates of Penzance belongs clearly in the latter camp: It turns the already-silly Gilbert and Sullivan operetta into an outer-space romp that’s so spectacularly meaningless, you’ll forget for two hours your dysfunctional family and tragic finances, your sadistic boss and the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump.
As directed and adapted by the endlessly resourceful Eric Davis, and re-composed by the shamelessly talented Michael Raabe, this parody — infused with Star Wars and Star Trek, Queen and ABBA — is escapist fluff on steroids, and that’s not entirely a compliment. Personally, I prefer a little substance to my entertainments; Pirates offers none. What it does provide is untiring theatrical and musical ingenuity, along with top acting and singing. Depending on your needs, it’s either stunning or superfluous.
Adapter Davis, while locating the play on a spaceship with futuristic buccaneers, otherwise pretty much hews to the plot of the 1879 original. Our hero Frederic (the vastly gifted Nick Lerew) is a young man who was apprenticed to pirates because his nursemaid happened to misunderstand the word “pilot.” The years of his indenture are about to end, though, and his love life is about to pick up, now that he’s noticed the beautiful Mabel (terrific singer Kaylin Seckel) and come to understand that the only other woman he’s ever known, Ruth (Sara DelBeato), isn’t nearly as glamorous as he naively believed. But when Mabel’s sisters (Kelly Pekar and Hannah Benitez) are captured by the swashbucklers, their immediate fate depends on the pleas of their father (the hilarious Glenn Gover), and the stage is set for subplot upon subplot of endangered damsels, melodramatic combats, daring escapes, and even a visit from a Very Important Lady. And of course, all this occurs while a dozen songs by Arthur Sullivan — most of them turned into rockers by Raabe — are intoned by the freeFall cast’s crackerjack vocalists (there are also some thrilling harmonies). We even get a relatively faithful version (by Gover) of the one immortal song from Pirates: “I’m the Very Model of a Modern Major General.”
The Pirates of Penzance
3.5 stars
freeFall Theatre, 6099 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, through Sept. 4. Wed.-Thurs, 7 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 & 8 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m. $33-$48, 727-498-5205, freefalltheatre.com
The outer space theme is handled capably. Screens against the back wall of the stage show us stars and planets hurtling by, and in front of them we eventually meet a very funny Darth Vader figure along with characters clearly based on R2-D2 and C-3PO. We see a laser-sabre fight that would have made sense to Luke Skywalker, and hear the opening melody of the theme from TV’s Star Trek. Matt Davis’s set has the look of a two-leveled spacecraft interior, and Amy J. Cianci’s costumes range from the traditional (for the Pirate King) to the cosmic (the Major General’s daughters). Do we learn anything new by seeing Pirates updated to the Space Age? Not at all — but that’s how this whole production works, with fun unmitigated by consequence. Why, I imagine Davis asking, should everything mean something? What are we, paranoid schizophrenics?
Lerew dominates the acting. This wonderful performer, who only a few weeks ago was splendid as an English-challenged native Italian in The Light in the Piazza, is no less superb here as a decent, sincere young man whose openness to the world has never been occluded by the company of pirates. Gentle and compassionate, Lerew’s Frederic exudes virtue of a sort not often seen on the contemporary stage, and it’s a tribute to this actor’s skill that his uprightness doesn’t appear a caricature. As a sort of opposite, Gover’s Major General Stanley has apparently witnessed everything, experienced everything, and walked out of it just a little shell-shocked: He’s sympathetic but troubled. The other standout in a strong cast is Hayden Milanes as The Pirate King. He’s dashing and intrepid and as ready to pardon a prisoner who claims to be an orphan as to declare revenge when he discovers that the prisoner was lying. But the fact is, there’s no weak link in the freeFall cast: Everyone is top quality, from the smallest to largest role.
Is quality enough when the play itself is so silly? Well, there’s a time for reality, and a time for anything but. Somewhere in our metropolis is a soul so battered by facts, he/she needs nothing but a carnival to cleanse the heart and distract the mind. To that struggling spirit I enthusiastically recommend this confection. Call it inspired insignificance, a flight and a forgetting. If, on the other hand, you want not less matter but more… well, for all its sound and fury, there’s not much going on here. You’d better look elsewhere.
This article appears in Aug 11-18, 2016.
