THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE A live performance by Opera Australia Date: August 2006 Venue: Sydney Opera House DVD Source: Commercially available, released by Kultur, 2007 (NTSC, region 1) and ABC, 2007 (PAL, region 4) COMMENT Missing overture aside, we get not only the complete opera but, by way of Ruddigore's Matter patter (aka My Eyes Are Fully Open), a gratuitous Act Two bonus. (Ears pealed, too, for the "bit of Wagner at the start" 1, the "Les Mis moment" 2, late-on nods to both Pinafore and Iolanthe and more.) The Ruddigore lift is not unique to this production or even very new Joseph Papp's 1980 Pirates featured the same filch, as did a German production of Yeomen as far back as 1889! 3 This OA insertion would seem to have been made principally to show off Warlow and Co.'s verbal dexterity (which is indeed impressive), for it surely does nothing to help along the plot. The action takes place on a small stage, mostly minimally dressed (with see above Toy Theatre-themed 4 scenery wheeled on and off by the cast), but plenty of close camera work, atmospheric lighting (all of Act Two takes place at night) and an extravagantly costumed company make this an out and out visual delight. Not that flamboyant threads and a series of striking tableaux are all that this Pirates has going for it. Yes, it's "modern" and unashamedly populist but also (other side of the same coin) a rollicking, infectiously joyous romp, imaginatively staged with high production values, tastefully recorded and surely hard not to like very much.
And yet, since no-one can hope to please all of the people all of the time, perhaps it's not surprising that Anthony Warlow's Pirate King has drawn criticism from some quarters for its close and obviously deliberate resemblance to Jack Sparrow, the Pirates of the Caribbean character made famous around the world by Johnny Depp. Here, speaking in August 2010 to Entertainment journo Giles Hardie, Warlow freely acknowledges his debt: Anthony Warlow (The Pirate King) I was lucky enough to have carte blanche with my characterisation of the Pirate King, so I suggested in my wisdom that we could perhaps make the Pirate King a little bit like Johnny Depp / Jack Sparrow, so from here [touches chest] to here [top of head] is basically Johnny... and, strangely enough, it actually started to really feel great. There are passages of the dialogue that just fit so beautifully with that voice. Not always... because it is actually a bass baritone role... but there are elements of Johnny that just work so beautifully with it. It's cathartic and audiences absolutely adore it... This production is a Boy's Own storybook of Pirates... [After Mr Hardie says of other Pirates productions "I can never quite get Kevin Kline out of my head..."] I love Kevin Kline's production. There are a couple of little moments that I've pinched from him... 5 In an interview clip on the ABC DVD release, Warlow also cites two other influences: Robert Newton Long John Silver in Disney's Treasure Island (1950) and Hans Conried, who voiced Captain Hook in the same studio's 1953 animation Peter Pan. 6 Of course, no character comes out of nowhere Depp
has identified Rolling Stone Keith Richards and Looney Tunes animation Pepé Le Pew (a French skunk!) as inspirations for Sparrow 7 and he, too, must surely have been influenced by Kline s bravura 1980s Papp's Pirates turn. Warlow s homage leaves no room for doubt, it s true, but the most telling phrase he uses above is this one: audiences absolutely adored it and in seeking to render his work more accessible to a public and particularly a young public more familiar with Pirates of the Caribbean than G&S, he must be applauded, both for his clear-sighted decision-making and (more) his irresistible, full-on playing. Gilbert with ginger? Sullivan with swagger? Hurrah! (1) David Hobson (Frederic) (2) Suzanne Johnston (Ruth)
Taryn Fiebig (Mabel) SUBTITLES / EXTRAS Since, through the choral parts especially, subtitles are much the best way of following the libretto, that the American Kultur release has none is regrettable. The Australian ABC release is fully subtitled. Similarly, the Kultur release includes zero extras; ABC's, in contrast, offers more than 80 bonus minutes of interviews and rehearsal footage featuring extended monologues to camera from principals Warlow, Hobson, Fiebeg and Bolton Wood plus briefer contributions from conductor Andrew Greene, director Stuart Maunder, choreographer Elizabeth Hill, set designer Robert Roberts and more. Which of these two releases you should opt for, then, is a no-brainer provided your DVD player will accept region 4 discs. Richard Alexander (Sergeant of Police, lower centre, with truncheon)
John Bolton Wood (Major-General Stanley) RUNNING TIME Pirates: 1:52:25; extras (on ABC release only): 1:20:26 RATING A brash, bouncing Boy's Own beaut - 18 * * * * * Sources 1 ABC DVD bonus materials: Jane Parkin 2 ABC DVD bonus materials: Johanna Allen 3 The Complete Annotated G&S, introduced and edited by Ian Bradley, OUP, 2001, page 756 4 ABC DVD bonus materials: Robert Roberts 5 www.brisbanetimes.com.au, Warlow's King of the Pirate pun, 25 August 2010 6 ABC DVD bonus materials: Anthony Warlow 7 www.uk.movies.ign.com, A Conversation with Johnny Depp, 11 July 2003 with thanks