David Jennings as The Pirate King, Nick Lehan, Jeffrey Shankle and David James. Photo by Chris Christiansen.
Whatever director Mark Minnick touches turns to gold. His production of The Pirates of Penzance now playing at Toby’s Dinner Theatre is no exception.
The Pirates of Penzance, an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan officially premiered at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879. Dusted off in 1980 by producer Joseph Papp, a fun, accessible and easy to swallow version of the classic was created for the New York Shakespeare Festival.
Overall, with its extremely talented cast and Mark Minnick’s staging that is as good as gold, Toby’s production of The Pirates of Penzance is a treasure to behold!
Perhaps the “Mel Brooks” of the Victorian-era, Gilbert and Sullivan collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, and of course The Pirates of Penzance.
This hilarious farce follows a young, orphan pirate apprentice named Frederic who disavows the pirates’ way of life and falls in love with Mabel, Major General Stanley’s most beautiful daughter. The Pirate King soon discovers General Stanley has lied about being an orphan in order to keep the pirates from stealing all of his belongings and daughters. Due to a technicality, Frederic might have to choose his duty to the pirates over his love for Mabel.
If Johnny Depp ever decides to not reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the popular “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series, I can easily see actor David Jennings take over the part. As the Pirate King, David Jennings embodies the role with his overwhelming commanding stage presence that is pure pirate and pure king. Add to that his dashing good looks, singing voice, and comedic skills, and he is all together, pure fun!
As Major-General Stanley, Robert John Biedermann 125 completely looks the part with his real white beard and military uniform, complete with a red sash around his waste and a hat with a large red plume. He gets to perform one of the most famous patter songs in musical theatre history called, “I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major-General.” He succeeds for the most part in enunciating each of the words, but in the excitement he sometimes swallows some of the words while struggling for another breath. The joyous-sounding ensemble is also a part of the song, helping to make this famous patter song even more thrilling as the tempo gets faster and faster.
Nick Lehan’s innocent and handsome appearance and soothing singing voice serve the production well in his role as Frederic. Lehan comes across as very sincere in his love for Mabel. Without that key feature it would have been very hard for the audience to care about him succeeding in getting to marry Mabel.
As Mabel, Laura Whittenberger is exquisite. Like Lehan, nothing is synthetic. She really made me believe that she is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. Her well-trained classical soprano voice makes all the runs, vocal trills, and high notes seem easy and therefore, all the more impressive. Songs like “Poor Wandering One!” with the girls and duets with Frederic like “Stay, Frederic, Stay!” are all performed with great vocal clarity and conviction.
The fantastic supporting cast includes Jane C. Boyle as Ruth, David James as The Sergeant of Police, and Jeffrey S. Shankle as Samuel.
In such classic works as The Pirates of Penzance, Toby’s live orchestra is all the more important. Here, musical director Ross Scott Rawlings also serves as the orchestrator. The six piece orchestra features two keyboards, drums, trumpet, trombone, and reeds/woodwinds. Instead of synthesized strings created on the keyboards, I would have much preferred live, real strings such as a violin and cello.
Overall, with its extremely talented cast and Mark Minnick’s staging that is as good as gold, Toby’s production of The Pirates of Penzance is a treasure to behold!
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes, with one intermission.
The Pirates of Penzance plays through August 31, 2014 at Toby’s the Dinner Theatre of Columbia— 5900 Symphony Woods Road in Columbia, MD. For tickets please call (301) 596-6161, or purchase them online.
