The Pirates of Penzance (1985 TV Movie) User Reviews

Adorable!

[Tesse · 9/10 · 14 October 1999]

One of Gilbert and Sullivan's finest, this production of The Pirates of Penzance shows off the wonderful hilarity of the book and music. Frederic (the very funny Jeff Hyslop), an honourable boy accidently indentured to a pirate instead of a pilot, has fulfilled his term of servantude, and now wishes to "exterminate" his former friends. He falls in love with the silly Mabel (Caralyn Tomlin), but when his old band of pirates come to kidnap Mabel's sisters, her father tells a lie to save them. As Frederic raises a police force to attack the pirates, he learns a shocking secret that will force him to rejoin his enemies and give up Mabel forever! But through some silly plot contrivances, everything ends happily.

This video recording of the live Stratford Shakespeare Festival production is ideal: all of the dance numbers are filmed from far enough away to show off the whole body, the acting is wonderfully and appropriatly silly, and all of the actors are excellently cast (I did feel bad for Pat Galloway; her Ruth was constantly being overshadowed by Hyslop and the incomprable Brent Carver, and she did do a very good job). The added lines and verses make the zaniness even more delightful, and the choreography works wonderfully. All in all, this would be a perfect recording of the stage play if the sound weren't so off: I had difficulty understanding some of the lines, and it was not due to poor enunciation. The sound system of the theatre must not have been up to snuff that night. Otherwise, a very enjoyable movie that is not inappropriate for children, and that parents can appreciate as well.

Has some strong points but ultimately disappointing

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 21 August 2012]

Of Gilbert and Sullivan's many greats operettas, The Pirates of Penzance is my personal favourite. It has everything to love about G&S, a fun if occasionally ridiculous story, witty dialogue and lyrics and beautiful, catchy melodies. While it is better than the 1982 D'Oyly Carte production, this 1985 Stratford is a disappointment. Not terrible by all means, but of the Stratford G&S productions I've seen it was this one that was the weakest(I was mixed on Iolanthe and loved The Gondoliers and especially The Mikado).

Good things: The immaculate design of the costumes and sets. Lively orchestral playing, though sensitive for the likes of Ah Leave Me Not to Pine, and conducting. The ladies are very angelic-sounding. The sisters/daughters have great charming personalities, Karen Woods in particular makes much of little as Edith. The Pirates are rousing especially in Cat Like Thread and the Policeman are sonorous and don't fall into the trap of being under-pitch like the D'Oyly Carte production. When a Foeman Bares His Steel is hilarious. The chorale section in I'm Telling a Terrible Story is just exquisite, then again I may be biased as that is one of my favourite individual sections of the score. The dancing is fabulous, full of spirit and energy. Most of the singing is good. The best is Douglas Chamberlain, who attacks the role of the Modern-Major General Stanley with impeccable gusto. The lovely-looking Caralyn Tomlin sings beautifully, with only the sloppy singing of the obbligato passage in Poor Wand'ring One disappointing, and very much charms as Mabel. Pat Galloway has a rough-sounding voice but makes up for it by her sympathetic acting which is the right approach for Ruth. Brent Carver's Pirate King exudes charisma and passion, and he does have a good voice as well as great dancing skills. The Policeman Sergeant was great fun. Ah Leave Me Not to Pine was too slow for me in tempo, but endearingly performed.

Bad things: Most of the stage business was overdone and pointless. There was one touch that I did love, and that was the Policeman's entrance. However, having the daughters strip to their undergarments was out-of-sync with the period the production is set(Victorian) and doesn't make that point in the operetta anywhere near as funny. The 15 minute ballet was well danced, but added nothing other than to perhaps let Jeff Hyslop play to his strengths. The police finding the daughters in liaisons with the pirates makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, it is clear in the libretto that the daughters don't want to have anything to do with the pirates let alone marry them. If anything this production at times did feel more like Brian McDonald than Gilbert and Sullivan. The dialogue and lyrics are nowhere near as funny here either, they lack the wit and play-on-feel of what I'm used to. The Pirate King quoting Shakespeare just felt out of place. And this is the first production I've seen of Pirates, mainly because of the additions, that makes the awe-inspiring and funny I'm the Making of a Modern-Major General irritating. The weak link of the cast is the Fredric of Jeff Hyslop, as an actor he lacks conviction and I find his singing too nasal. In fact, the only real thing he's good at here is the dancing. The additional music is awful and juxtaposes too much in style with the original score. I like Gilbert and Sullivan to be energetic like the 1983 film and the 1994 Australia production, but here it seemed too goofy, too unsubtle and too flamboyant and never really stops. The sound quality is poor, too distant and muffled.

All in all, a disappointing Pirates of Penzance. By all means I do like productions that do something different and not completely letter from letter, but when the staging adds nothing to the performance or doesn't have the spirit of the original source itself it doesn't work for me. Has its good points such as the production and musical values and most of the singing, but the pointless additions, Hyslop and an overall lack of fun let things down for me.

6/10 Bethany Cox

Poor Pirates.

[awj11 · 4/10 · 12 December 2006]

Although an interesting interpretation, the Stratford production of "Pirates of Penzance" failed to do the original material justice. Like most post-Papp productions, this one attempted to turn the operetta into a more traditional musical. What this amounted to was ultimately extended dancing and almost every number ending in a tableau. Much of the dialog was extended but added little. The dancing was decent, but few of the actors' voices were really exquisite.

Norman Campbell seems to be the major problem of the production. The actors look as though they'd been directed to milk their parts for laughs, and some of the genuinely funny parts of the libretto seemed considerably less humorous after the many other effective, but cheap laughs. Campbell also falls into the category of directors who don't believe an audience can sit through an overture and feels the need to place dancers on stage throughout the overture, sometimes even talking over the orchestra.

Of note, however, was Pat Galloway as Ruth, whose sometimes rough voice suited the character fabulously.

The quality of this specific taping was pretty dismal. Although the production was partly to blame, the camera operators didn't quite seem sure of what they were doing.

In conclusion, it's a mediocre production, but worth a look if you're interested in other version of the operetta.