THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE
A live performance from the open-air Delacorte Theater in New York's Central Park filmed during the summer of 1980 (specific date unknown). DVD commercially available via the Kultur 2002 region 1 release reviewed here, Quantum (2004, regions 1 and 2) and Broadway Classics (2011, region 2).
COMMENT In 1954, producer / director Joseph Papp (1921-1991) founded the New York Shakespeare Festival with the aim of making the Bard’s work more accessible to the public. After three years of using various city locations, in 1957 Papp was granted access to Central Park – the New York summer tradition of Shakespeare in the Park continues to this day. Since 1962, produc- tions have been staged in the park’s open-air Delacorte Theater. Tickets are free. Actors to have appeared for Papp include George C. Scott, Meryl Streep, James Earl Jones, Martin Sheen, John Lithgow and Richard Dreyfuss.
Despite its name, the Festival is not devoted exclusively to Shakespeare: in 1977, for example, audiences saw productions of Agamemnon and The Three- penny Opera and, in 1980, to commemorate the work’s centenary, Papp put on a revisionist Pirates of Penzance. The show’s 45 scheduled performances were so well received that Papp transferred it to Broadway, where it notched up over 800 more. Successful runs in Los Angeles, London and Melbourne followed then, in 1983, a film version was shot at Shepperton Studios, Middle- sex, UK, using most of the Broadway cast.
Compared with traditional productions, Joseph Papp's 1980 Pirates featured a more swashbuckling Pirate King / Frederic and broader, musical comedy-style humour. Its score, revised for a synthesizer-based orchestra, necessarily under- went quite radical change. Two numbers – the Matter Patter trio and Sorry Her
Lot – were interpolated from Ruddigore and Pinafore respectively. The original 1880 New York ending with a reprise of the Major-General's song was restored. Nonetheless, in respectful hands, the essence of the piece survived. Linda Ronstadt starred as Mabel, Rex Smith as Frederic, Kevin Kline as the Pirate King, Patricia Routledge as Ruth, George Rose as the Major-General and Tony Azito (1948-1995) as the Sergeant of Police. (On film, Ruth was played by Angela Lansbury; principal cast otherwise unchanged.)1, 2
DVD recordings are available of the 1983 film (separately reviewed) and the original 1980 Central Park production, considered here.
Smith, Kline and Routledge as Frederic, the Pirate King and Ruthh rrespectively
The Delacorte Theater has a semicircular stage in front of tiered seats with no pit – so where to put the orchestra? Simple: by dropping them into the stage (see image above) you make a virtue of necessity. Eschewing the usual heard but not seen set-up, this orchestra becomes not merely an integral but wholly visible part of the show; almost another character.
As for artistic merit, there's positive online comment aplenty – "unbeatable", "joyous", "exquisite", "a unique, ground-breaking ... brilliant theatrical event ..." You get the idea. Unfortunately, it's offset by an equally vociferous negative clamour concerning the shabby, down-market standard of the source recording: "poor", "tinny", "lousy", "grainy", "dark", "VHS quality", "volume fades in and out", (from) "a badly copied ... timeworn work print" and so on. And what viewing reveals is that both points of view are valid.
This production has a certain historic significance – at the very least, it's the egg from which the film was hatched – so for that reason alone is worth preserving. But it's also an exuberant, full throttle G&S fest featuring a spirited and richly talented troupe intent, no thought of history in mind, only on delivering to the best of their collective ability five star entertainment. Yes, it's a great shame (a surprise too) that no better source could be found for the DVD transfer. Even so, the close camera work survives pretty much intact, with loss of sharpness more clearly evident in the wide and longer shots. Audio is good though short of stellar. This old, slightly jaded recording can't hide what it is - but it tells a coherent tale as well as circumstance and the passage of time allow. So take it or leave it as you see fit. I advise the first.
George Rose (centre) as Major-General Stanley
RUNNING TIME [No overture] Act One: 59:12, Act Two: 1:00:33, DVD total: 2:02:19
Linda Ronstadt (Mabel) A Policeman's Lot ...
SUBTITLES None
RATING Pristine, no, but rewarding still – 16
* * * * *
Sources
1 wikipedia 2 www. gasdisc.oakapplepress.com