review: the pirate queen...by gordin & christiano

Boubil and Shonberg, the musical partners that brought us Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, have fashioned a new epic musical, The Pirate Queen. The musical is based on the true story of Grace O’Malley, a colorful seafaring pirate woman, who defended Ireland during the mid-sixteenth century from England’s invasions at the time of Queen Elizabeth I. The two men have joined forces with producers Moya Doherty and John McColgan, the husband and wife team that created the international hit Riverdance, popular around the world during the 1990s. Everything about this massive musical, from the rumored $16-20 million budget to the 26 musical numbers performed by the enormous cast, feels like a bloated paint by the number formula to create a mega-musical from this historic tale.

Directed by Frank Galati with musical staging by Graciela Daniele, the musical suffers under the heavy burden of its own ambitions and a plodding plot, and although the entire cast performs courageously with total commitment and sings with convincing force, little about the evening is ever compelling. What is ultimately the most engaging part of the show is the explosive dancing that unfortunately happens infrequently.

The book for the musical is based on a novel, Grania – She King of the Irish Seas, by Morgan Llywelyn and from the title alone you would think there might be many opportunities for campy moments, like in the film Pirates of the Caribbean. This is not the case, however, and the story becomes bogged down with too much exposition. The few campy moments that do show up are not at sea, but back in England at the court of Queen Elizabeth I. There are doses of romance mixed with the sea battles and even some intrigue back in England, but all the while we are waiting for more dancing.

At almost two hours and 50 minutes, the show feels like a Harlequin romance with the first act being especially slow. Grace (Stephanie J. Block) disguises herself as a boy so she can sneak on ship with her pirate father Dubhdara (Jeff McCarthy) and prove herself as a worthy sailor. When a storm arises, she is instrumental in saving the ship from going under and wins support from her father and the crew. Grace then agrees to an arranged marriage with Donal (Marcus Chait), the son of a rival clan, despite her love for a childhood friend Tiernan (Hadley Fraser). When Grace’s father is killed during battle, she becomes his successor.

Back in England, Elizabeth I (Linda Balgord) is enraged at her loses on the Irish Sea and engages an unscrupulous Sir Richard Bingham (William Youmans) to help her defeat the pirates. The musical builds to a showdown between Grace and the Queen, but the audience feels cheated as much of their confrontation takes place behind a scrim. The two women share admiration for each other and their rebellious spirits in a duet, “She Who Has All,” that is nicely staged with light pouring in from a window high above them.

The score for the musical, which has made obvious attempts to recreate the success of Les Miserables, is stirring indeed but much of the easy listening tunes sound familiar or repetitive and have little to do with Irish folk music. There are clearly melodic reprises of songs that sound like variations on “Master of the House,” and “Bring Him Home.”

In the leading role, Stephanie Block sings beautifully and makes a spirited turn as Grace, but she is one small piece in a gigantic puzzle whose pieces don’t seem to fit. In fact, none of the cast can be faulted but they are suffering with the burden of keeping a sinking ship afloat.

There is a strange dichotomy at work here. When you look at the elements individually, they are not necessarily bad. But when put together, nothing really jells and The Pirate Queen is a tedious bore. I am sure the creators wanted to tap into the teenage market from Wicked, a mega-hit that is still packing them in, but the formula has suffered from too many chefs, too much exposition and not enough real emotion.

The Pirate Queen opened on Broadway April 4 at Hilton Theatre, 312 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. Tickets are available by calling 212-239-6200 or at the box office.

Gordin & Christiano are theater critics. Barry Gordin is an internationally renowned photographer. They can be reached at bg6@verizon.net