The Pirates of Penzance

I am 17, and love classical music. I love Pirates of Penzance, sadly this production while good at times, could have been so much better. The best thing of this production was definitely Keith Michell's General, who put real expression and gusto into his performance, and it was a pleasure to watch him. Janis Kelly does a respectable job as Mabel, if slightly flat at times, but Gillian Knight's Ruth was a bit too deep in voice for my liking. I have a recording of Monica Sinclair singing the role, and she was much more ideal. Peter Allen looked the part of the Pirate King, and brought some wit into the role, however his singing voice was too weedy and very un-G&S; Alexander Oliver acquits himself better but lacked charisma. The production does have some lovely costumes and one or two nice sets, but the direction was very sluggish and did very little for a rather amateurish production. The woman's and pirates chorus are wonderful, but sadly the policeman were very flat in pitch so were not as impressive. The music and dialogue is very, very good, and the story while silly is fun. Unfortunately the dialogue is certainly unrehearsed, and one or two of the numbers like "Paradox" went at a rather peculiar speed, I personally would have done "Paradox" steadier than it was. Overall, the production was okay, saved by Michell, the music and some excellent chorus singing on the whole, but marred by plodding direction and casting peculiarities. 5/10 Bethany Cox.