A Delightful Abridged "Pirates of Penzance" at Arts Garden

Pirates of Penzance, like all of Gilbert & Sullivan’s operettas, is a very silly story. When the story opens, Frederic, accidentally apprenticed to pirates as a child, is finally turning twenty-one. While in his apprenticeship, he was bound by his sense of duty to be a full-fledged pirate, but once released, his sense of duty means that he must be their enemy (beginning at 12:00 on the dot). Frederic quickly falls in love with a young maiden and is eager to leave his illegal ways behind, but the pirates find a complication – Frederic was born on February 29^th in a leap year, meaning that his 21^st birthday is still decades away! Will his fiancée wait for him until he’s 84? Will the local constables arrest the pirate band (Frederic included)? Will the Major-General ever assuage his conscience after telling the pirates a lie? Will any of the characters learn the folly of their black-and-white thinking??? (To that last one: absolutely not.)

This play was my first introduction to Arts Garden, a theater company that’s focused on making theater, especially older works, accessible to performers, creators, and audiences. Pirates of Penzance was presented for free, with some outdoor performances, some indoor performances, and one livestream. This production was abridged by Kat Felicis Ioco, Kati Hoehl, Shannon Johnson; some less-essential songs were cut (such as the song about Ruth’s looks) and many others were trimmed down. I’m not overly familiar with the show, but I could recognize for example that some of the more esoteric verses of “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” were cut, to no one’s detriment. In all I was very satisfied with the abridgment; the plot was easy to follow and the story moved along at a tidy pace.

Under Kati Hoehl’s direction, the pacing was lively and the show was constantly funny. Hoehl’s staging played up the humor of moments like Frederic attempting to embrace Mabel in “Poor Wandering One” and the pirates loudly “sneaking” to commit a robbery. Kat Felicis Ioco music directed and edited the backing tracks for this version. I was impressed by the coordination of the vocalists with the recorded music, because many of the songs had little to no prelude. I was also impressed by the balance of the singers; it’s easy for a soprano to overpower lower voices, but that was never an issue here, even with gender-blind casting. Jason Moyer was the technical director; the set was simple but charming, with some rocks and a stump setting the scene for most of the play. The costumes by Kari Grundmeier, Kati Hoehl, and Shannon Johnson included a nice blend of pirate accoutrements, and coordinated looks for the Major General’s daughters. I liked the subtle differences in the military looks, and the Major-General’s oversized nightshirt and cap were a delightful choice. Kat Felicis Ioco and Jason Moyer designed the sound; for the indoor performance, the actors could have probably performed without microphones, but the mics aided vocal balance and presumably made a big difference for the livestream.

As Frederic, Shelby Anderson had a nice tenor tone that felt masculine but natural. Anderson was hilarious throughout, whether deadpanning a ridiculous line to the audience or attempting to woo a maiden. As Mabel, Grace Walker demonstrated a lovely soprano resonance, with an especially nice bit of aria in the finale. Walker’s Mabel was sweet and open-hearted, and just a little oblivious in “Poor Wandering One,” making for a very funny interacting between her and Anderson.

Kari Grundmeier played Ruth, the maid who mistakenly apprenticed Frederic to a pirate in the first place (she misheard the word “pilot”). Grundmeier played Ruth’s devious streak with a light hand, and she made a great team with Jacob O’Connor (the pirate king) as they subtly coerced Frederic back into piracy in “When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold.” O’Connor’s delivery of those wordy lines was excellent; overall he gave off a charming sense of nobility as the somewhat principled pirate king. Jamie Allman’s Major-General was a pompous show-off in his first appearance, where Allman sang the linguistically complicated "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” with ease. Allman's later emotional struggle over telling a single lie was a fun contrast to the earlier scene.

The actors playing the pirates made a spirited group, at times swashbuckling and at other times overly tender-hearted, especially pirate lieutenant Samuel (Kelly Lynn Graf). “With Cat-Like Tread Upon Our Prey We Steal” was one especially fun number; the whirlwind of emotions and revelations in the finale was also very entertaining. Sarah Irish, Lisa Stauter, and Molly O’Connor played Mabel’s sisters and were particularly good at enunciating the fast-paced lyrics, no matter the speed. The three sounded great together in all their songs. A group of constables led by a Sergeant (Amy Stauter) rounded out the cast. They entered their first scene with confidence, and it was hilarious to watch them gradually lose their nerve as one character after another cheerfully described the mission as deadly. The constables’ unison responses only added to the humor.

All in all, I thought this was a very successful version of Pirates of Penzance, at a length that felt positively refreshing. I haven't laughed this much at a play in a while! I certainly look forward to seeing what Arts Garden does next.