Review: THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE at Burlington County Footlighters

Ahoy orphans, the Burlington County Footlighters presents an exuberant reimagining of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1800’s swashbuckling operetta, The Pirates of Penzance directed and choreographed by the multi-talented Lizi Baldwin and populated by a colorful cast of pirates, police and maidens.  The story, which has been bringing joy to audiences for over 100 years, concerns Frederic (handsomely sung by handsome Jesse Panico) who, upon reaching the age of 21, is set to be released from his apprenticeship to a band of pirates, a path he was mistakenly put on by his nurse Ruth when she misconstrued her master’s instructions to train him as a “pilot.”  Having been orphans themselves, the pirates are a bit too tender-hearted and particularly sympathetic to orphans.  As Frederic points out to the Pirate King, “Every one we capture says he’s an orphan.  The last three ships we took proved to be manned entirely by orphans and so we had to let them go.  One would think that Great Britain’s mercantile navy was recruited solely from her orphan asylums.”  When Frederic meets and falls for Mabel, the comely daughter of Major-General Stanley, as Ruth pines for him, he suddenly learns that he was born on February 29, a leap year.  Duty bound to remain apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st year, he now feels he must honor his pledge to piracy for another 63 years! 

The score parodies and burlesques composers like Verdi and the title is an “in” joke.  Penzance was actually a calm seaside resort and not a haven for pirates and the title also is a dig at theatrical “piracy” since the creators had suffered unlicensed productions of their works.  This production uses the version presented on Broadway by producer Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival.

Burlington County Footlighters has one of my hands-down favorite theaters, the former Eleanor Phillips School which is intimate, appropriately tiered and full of ambience and character.  One of the highlights here is the staging, along with that fabulously fun Viking ship that opens the show.  No matter how many people are onstage (and the General has ten daughters), the principals always manage to stand out.  The whimsical and pointed choreography highlights everyone without ever seeming cluttered, my favorite being the maidens’ dance replete with parasols and white button-boots.  My favorite character in the show – and the most vivid – is the roguish Pirate King played by Abia Johnson who makes his impression and draws your eye every moment he is on.  Is it his fabulous eye shadow or his charismatic swagger and fencing which would make Kevin Kline (and swashbuckler Errol Flynn) proud?  He seems well-matched by the unfairly maligned Ruth (played robustly by Angela Lindner).  She has to bear lyrics directed at her like “You told me you were fair as gold…and now I see you’re plain and old” while she is one of the most spirited and interesting female characters in the show.  One thinks she is much too zesty and nontraditional for the impossibly noble Frederic and would be better served continuing her pirate antics at sea with the King.  It is heartening that she plays a pivotal role in the course of events in Act 2.

As the Major General Stanley, Tim Herman, who serves as the Director of Music for the Zion Lutheran Church in Riverside, recalls Lionel Jeffries who memorably played a similar silly and stiff-lipped Englishman Grandpa Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  His uproarious and rapid-fire number “I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” bring to mind the song “Posh,” which Grandpa Potts pompously warbles as he’s sinking.  Both these aristocrat fathers are delightfully nonsensical.  Ashlan Petrillo who plays the fair Mabel, strangely enough, bears a resemblance to Isabel Jay who played the role in the 1800’s and became the leading soprano for England’s D’Oyly Carte Opera Company.  Like the Pirate King, she stands out instantly and has the demureness and vocal chops to put across numbers like “Poor Wand’ring One.”  (Her witty delivery of these lyrics couldn’t help reminding me of the opera send-ups in The Three Stooges.)

Productions are very much team efforts and the ensemble is every bit as capable and strong as the principals, adding the necessary spice to the stew like great character actors.  The maidens, police men and pirates are composed of actors who can very much hold their own.  They include daughters Abigail Fried, Alaina Stampe, Alex Keith, Blair Scanlan, Heather Stott and Jamie Sheffer, Cat Baldwin as Edith, Christina Concillo making her BCF debut as Isabel, and Jordan Debes as Kate.  Pirates and policemen and ensemble members round out the cast, vividly portrayed by Alan Krier (understudy for Major General), Cassidy McQuoid, Des Whitaker, Finn Hutchinson (understudy for Frederic), Frank Zerns, Hamilton Scudder, Jaden Murray, Jamie Lynne Hill (understudy for Ruth), Jenny Scudder, Jim Fried, Kevin Pavon, Lexi Mignogna (understudy for Mabel), Nick Olszewski as Samuel, Nick Williams, Sam Reed and last but not least, Ray Rebilas.  Each imbue their presence onstage with vitality and wit that keeps the energy flowing and their surprise entrances engage the audience.

With its complex score, twisty lyrics and quirky characters, Pirates of Penzance is an actor’s show, as much as an audience-pleaser.  The BCF company, along with being vocally strong and skilled, captures the lightness and sense of the ridiculous that has kept this family-friendly show popular for centuries.  They also promise not to loot your valuables!