De eerste Broadway previews zijn begonnen…. De eerste berichten zijn gemixed….maar dit is een fijn filmpje! En wie wacht er niet op een nieuwe Boublil en Schönberg?
http://www.broadway.com/Gen/Buzz_Video.aspx?ci=543721

Lees hier de recensie van Ben Brantley in de New York Times. Hij heeft zich niet echt vermaakt. Integendeel hij verveelde zich en het voelde aan alsof hij naar een museumstuk zat te kijken.

Many and exhausting are the physical activities that occupy the long hours of “The Pirate Queen,” the loud and restless musical that opened last night at the Hilton Theater.

Sword fights, frolicsome jigs, flag hoisting, rope pulling, stately processions, mincing minuets and hearty river dancing (with ship paddles, no less): such circulation-stimulating exercises occur regularly in this singing costume drama of love and patriotism on the high seas — sometimes, it seems, all at the same time.

Yet everything ultimately blurs into what feels like the aimless milling of a crowd on a carnival midway. The operating theory behind “The Pirate Queen” would appear to be taken from an appropriately ocean-themed bit of zoology: if, like a shark, it never stops moving, then it will stay alive. The optimism is misplaced.

“The Pirate Queen” is the latest work from the songwriters Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, who became the ultimate power poperetta team with the blockbusters “Les Misérables” and “Miss Saigon.” The timing of their most recent collaboration — inspired by the life and legend of Grace O’Malley, an Irish pirate leader in the age of Elizabeth I — is unfortunate on several levels.

For one thing, it really isn’t fair to open the poor “Pirate Queen” when a revival of “Les Misérables” is running just two blocks away. Granted, the current “Misérables” is smaller and tinnier than the original (which closed only in 2003). But it plies the same historical-epic formula as “The Pirate Queen” to far more coherent and compelling ends. There’s not a ballad or choral number in “The Pirate Queen” that doesn’t sound like a garbled echo of a more stirring tune from “Les Miz,” given the requisite touch of green via musical accents of pennywhistle, uilleann pipes and Gaelic harps. And why wasn’t it arranged for “The Pirate Queen,” which features various hoist-a-glass anthems to the Irish soul, to open on St. Patrick’s Day?

Timing is against this musical in a more significant sense as well. “The Pirate Queen” registers as a relic of a long-gone era, and I don’t mean the 1500s. The big-sound, big-cast show pioneered by Messrs. Boublil and Schönberg is now as much a throwback to the 1980s as big hair and big shoulders. The crushing tidal waves of music that emanate from the stage, eardrum-tingling as they are, seem to come from distant shores indeed.

It’s the decibel level that keeps you awake at “The Pirate Queen,” with its direction by Frank Galati and musical staging by Graciela Daniele, who worked together on “Ragtime.” Never mind that the production’s individual elements have all clearly been picked for their audience-rousing potential, including those halfhearted, stage-bruising Celtic dance sequences (choreographed by Carol Leavy Joyce) created to appeal to “Riverdance” fans. (The show’s Irish husband-and-wife producers, Moya Doherty and John McColgan, created the popular “Riverdance” spectacle.)

The plot, in addition to its swashbuckling picturesqueness, aims to deliver firm thumps to feminist and nationalist reflexes. Grace (Stephanie J. Block) is not only a young woman who proves she can take charge in a man’s world (rather like the feisty young heroines of animated Disney musicals of the last two decades). She also speaks up (or sings up) against the oppression of the Irish by the English, which occasions full-hearted, intricately harmonized, standard-issue anthems in the second act.

Against a backdrop of lush-colored skies that suggest a Wild West sequence from an MGM musical of the 1950s, Grace proves her mettle to her chieftain/sea captain father (Jeff McCarthy) by saving a ship in a thunderstorm and fighting off a hundred or so bloodthirsty Englishmen.

“I should be free,” she sings, “Free to be Grace/So I can feel the wind on my face!” The lyrics in this almost entirely sung-through show are by Mr. Boublil, Richard Maltby Jr. (who collaborated with Mr. Boublil and Mr. Schönberg on the book) and John Dempsey. They often have such sweaty, shoehorned rhymes, it is as if they had been invented on the spot.

Grace goes on to marry a dissolute rake (Marcus Chait) to bring peace to the warring Irish clans while remaining true in her fashion to her first love, Tiernan (the Leonardo DiCaprio look-alike Hadley Fraser). Finally, she confronts Queen Elizabeth I herself to plead for the rights of her people. Grace trumps Elizabeth because, although she may be only a pirate queen, at least she’s not a virgin queen. A model for postfeminist femininity, Grace sings in the final scene:

I fought my wars on land and sea
To be a woman strong and free
I should have learned, at journey’s start,
No woman’s free who ignores her heart.

Grace’s journey of the heart takes place in breathless double time, and it’s often hard to tell how many years have elapsed between scenes. The special-event pageantry of Eugene Lee’s sets, Martin Pakledinaz’s costumes and Kenneth Posner’s lighting rarely clarifies the plot. And Mr. Galati’s staging tends to step on what should be breathtaking climaxes or curtain lines. (I was never sure in the death scenes when, or even if, characters had really died.)

Ms. Block works hard to give a truly felt, realistic performance, and she sings attractively in her quieter moments. (Under pressure, this Pirate Queen turns into a Celine Dion screecher.) But the production keeps undercutting her, both by haziness of focus and a slow drift toward campiness.

The show’s queen of camp is, as she should be, its Queen Elizabeth, played by Linda Balgord. (William Youmans, as her conniving courtier, gives her a run for her money with an interpretation that brings to mind Vincent Price at his snarkiest.)

Ms. Balgord, who played Norma Desmond in the national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard,” appears to be continuing that performance here, which is kind of enjoyable when you’re starved for distraction.

Mr. Pakledinaz has given her an increasingly deluxe and unwieldy series of queenly gowns, which wind up being high points of visual wit — or, for that matter, of any wit. It says a lot that the most compelling question posed by this fuzzy musical is, “What will Elizabeth wear next?”

Wat een ongelofelijke zure recencie :?

De berichten zijn de afgelopen weken niet best geweest uit de previews….Dit was te verwachten. Helaas voor de heren: weer niet gelukt….

Ik denk niet dat de show financieel een ``flop`` word, de namen Boublil & Schonberg trekt naar mijn mening genoeg mensen naar de show.

USA Today, NY Post zijn ook buitengewoon negatief. Deze show gaat het geen 6 maanden volhouden op deze manier…. Iedereen heeft het over DULL DULL DULL….

En Les Miz wordt met terugwerkende kracht een meesterwerk als je de show vergelijkt met de Pirate Queen.

Als ie het nog maar even volhoudt, want ik wil hem toch wel gaan zien.
Vorig jaar een van de laatste shows van Lestat kunnen zien, die was ook ongelooflijk saai (qua verhaal), maar het is wel weer leuk om te kunnen zeggen dat je 1 van de 39 voorstellingen hebt gezien 😉

Jammer van de slechte recensies maar die lagen wel in de lijn der verwachting. Hoge bomen vangen nu eemaal veel wind en de musicals van Boublil en Schönberg zijn nooit goed ontvangen.
Van de beelden en de muziek die ik nu ken, lijkt het mij een geweldige voorstelling om te zien, al is het denk ik wel een genre binnen de musical waar je van moet houden. De grootste fout die ze misschien gemaakt hebben is niet te kiezen voor een Europese première (Dublin of Londen) zoals eerst de bedoeling was, maar de oversteek naar Chicago en New York te maken.

Broadway.com heeft een video van de première Broadway.com

Is er eigenlijk een speciale benaming voor het genre musical van Boublil & Schonberg. Ik meen in het verleden ooit ergens gehoord te hebben dat hun shows vallen onder het genre``popopera`` of ``poperetta``???

In één van de recensies werd The Pirate Queen al een ‘Floperetta’ genoemd…

[quote author=“eastwick”]In één van de recensies werd The Pirate Queen al een ‘Floperetta’ genoemd…

haha

Ook positieve geluiden over ‘The Pirate Queen’... Matthew Murray voor TalkingBroadway.com

Much like the first glimpse of your home port following a ‘round-the-world cruise, the new musical at the Hilton, The Pirate Queen, is a sight for weary eyes. Sailing into view near the end of a mostly waterlogged season for Broadway musicals, this is the first new tuner of the season that looks, feels, and behaves like a bona-fide hit.

So what if, at times, it seems like the breeziest barnstormer of 1989? A return trip to the more electric past is a welcome vacation from the dreary present evinced by the likes of Grey Gardens, Spring Awakening, and Mary Poppins. Even when The Pirate Queen feels hokey (which it does sometimes), superannuated (which it does frequently), and overblown (which it does constantly), its stalwart confidence captures the electric and cinematic spirit of musical theatre at its freshest.

No, it’s not Les Misérables. But as evidenced by the pallid revival at the Broadhurst, Les Misérables is no longer Les Misérables either. That show’s writers, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, teaming up with their Miss Saigon cohort Richard Maltby, Jr., and John Dempsey, aren’t trying to resuscitate the British pop opera they twice rode to astounding success, but rethink it for the Wicked generation. Given that Boublil and Schönberg’s last new musical, Martin Guerre, was a self-immolating abomination that rightfully closed on its pre-Broadway tour, such reconsideration was likely wise.

It briefly looked as if The Pirate Queen might meet a similar fate. Its initial Chicago mounting last fall was met with poor reviews and word of mouth, and just recently stories continued to swirl about the show’s taking on water, with producers Moya Doherty and John McColgan (of Riverdance notoriety) calling for last-minute rewrites and redesigns, and musical stager Graciela Daniele reportedly assisting the billed Frank Galati with directing chores.

As I missed the Chicago production, I can’t say for sure that all the changes have been improvements. But their cumulative result, judging by what’s now onstage, is dazzling. Not every moment scores, but with sumptuous scenic design by Eugene Lee, beguilingly gorgeous costumes by Martin Pakledinaz, and terrific storm’s-a-brewin’ lighting by Kenneth Posner, the story of quasi-legendary 16th-century Irish heroine Grace O’Malley explodes to life in one of the most satisfying and fully realized musical productions in several Broadway seasons.

The weight of myth is ever-present throughout the tale, which follows Grace (Stephanie J. Block) as she struggles to find personal happiness while preserving Irish liberty from English rule. The daughter of Clan O’Malley leader Dubhdara (Jeff McCarthy), she’s in love with a fellow sailor named Tiernan (Hadley Fraser) but bound to the heir of Clan O’Flaherty, Donal (Marcus Chait), on whom lie hopes for a united Ireland and freedom from the British. This means Grace must prove herself in a world dominated by men before proving herself again in the world dominated by a woman (Queen Elizabeth I, played by Linda Balgord).

Were the show merely about the endless tilting between the two, it could easily grate; indeed, the scenes focusing on Elizabeth’s power-hungry envoy, Sir Richard Bingham (William Youmans), are the most trying. But the show, which librettists Boublil, Schönberg, and Maltby based on Morgan Llywelyn’s novel Grania - She King of the Irish Seas, evokes some surprisingly compelling drama from the relationship between the two women, who live in very different circumstances but share more than they realize. Their secret second-act summit (based on actual events) doesn’t provide much of a climax for a hard-driving evening, but nonetheless makes for a quietly delectable culmination of uncertain historic events that had memorably human consequences.

The battles, the bombast, and especially the belting (which Block, an erstwhile Elphaba in Wicked, has down to an ear-piercing science) make you appreciate it all the more; like Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, The Pirate Queen is not a less-is-more type of show. This has some benefits - with 37 cast members, the dances by Daniele and Irish step choreographer Carol Leavy Joyce, especially a lavish wedding celebration, fill the stage as far too few today do - but causes the show to wear on you more quickly than others that better understand how to pace themselves.

An excess of nonspecific, empty staging, whether by Daniele or Galati, doesn’t help; nor do throat-clenching numbers like the crushingly determined “Woman” for Grace or Tiernan’s “I’ll Be There” (which, despite its mawkish power-ballad provenance, Fraser makes a spectacular showstopper). A satiric series of harpsichord-tinged scenes for the Elizabethan court and a battle-of-the-sexes “Master of the House” rip-off called “Boys’ll Be Boys” for Donal’s bachelor shindig are more desperate than diversionary.

It’s in numbers like the searching Grace-Elizabeth duet “She Who Has All” and the more anthemic offerings that the score finds its truest sound. When Schönberg’s music shines, as it does most brightly in the theatrically charged “A Day Beyond Belclare” and “Sail to the Stars” late in Act I, it’s some of his very best work, with sweeping and intimate passages equally at home in the show’s late-1500s setting and on 2007 Broadway. (Musical director Julian Kelly’s smart orchestrations blend uilleann pipes and a Gaelic harp with keyboards, a fiddle, and a banjo.) Boublil, Maltby, and Dempsey’s lyrics feel more facile and surface-level than the music, but don’t find less depth than others of their ilk.

The performers, however, by and large do. With the exception of the magnetic Fraser, a powerhouse presence and singer from the U.K. making his American debut, the casting is at best functional. Block possesses neither the natural likeability nor the inner fire to convince as Grace, and her one-level acting and singing are insufficient to carry the evening. McCarthy is too young, vital, and ineffectual for the aging yet commanding Dubhdara; and Chait’s corn-fed American golden-boy act is wrong for the tribally chauvinistic Donal. Balgord would need to remove several shades of lacquer from her bewildering, shrilly mannered performance for it to legitimately qualify as camp.

But compared to the season’s other desultory lowlights, her work and the rest of the show are stunningly honest and heartfelt. It might be emotional truth on a grand, gaudy, and perhaps ungainly scale, but only recently have directors and producers tried to convince us that reality must be writ small. If The Pirate Queen only hearkens back 15-20 years, in its stripping away of so much artifice, even in the largest way imaginable, it’s taking us just far enough.

Gisteren bleek de show uitverkocht (wie weet….)

Eind April wordt de show opgenomen: cast album staat gepland voor eind Juni.

Variety ook niet goed (Les Mis werd indertijd SLECHT ontvangen door de dagbladen, maar gered door de weeklys: dat lijkt hier niet te gebeuren…..)

When a pop culture throwback appears earnestly unaware of how firmly its style and conception are rooted in another era, is it retro or just outmoded? The lumbering epic “The Pirate Queen” comes down on the latter side. As “Les Miserables” creators Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg showed with their last excursion into romantically embroidered 16th century historical tapestry, the commercially ill-fated “Martin Guerre,” the French composing team’s bombastic 1980s megamusical formula now sits stodgily onstage. Their all-plot, no-heart new show is persuasively sung by a valiant cast, yet it never forges an emotional connection with the audience.
Show doctors were enlisted after the tepid critical reception to Frank Galati’s production during its tryout run in Chicago last fall. Richard Maltby Jr. was tasked with strengthening the book and lyrics, Graciela Daniele with beefing up the musical staging, reportedly pushing the already hefty pricetag north of $16 million. Oddly, though, it’s less the creative team than producers Moya Doherty and John McColgan who are responsible for the show’s distinguishing element.The husband-and-wife partners were behind “Riverdance,” which pounded almost as many international stages through the 1990s as Boublil and Schonberg’s monster hits did during the previous decade. But despite that phenomenon being perhaps the world’s most over-exposed commercialization of traditional Irish culture, the too-infrequent explosions of step-dancing—during a wedding, a funeral and a christening—are the only times “The Pirate Queen” really comes alive. Whoever thought they’d be waiting impatiently for the next Celtic kickline?

Their torsos rigid while their scissoring legs slice the air, alternating between flying leaps and tight formations as their feet hammer the boards, the dancers (many of them “Riverdance” alumni) display a driving energy that points up the absence of similar visceral thrills elsewhere.

The title of Morgan Llywelyn’s source novel, “Grania—She King of the Irish Seas,” promises high camp with eye patches, earrings, peg-legs and maybe even a parrot. Alas, no, it’s all far more serious. The musical traces the life of Irish seafaring warrior Grace “Grania” O’Malley (Stephanie J. Block), who died in 1603. Bulging with cumbersome exposition, it covers the proto-feminist path of not just one woman in a man’s domain but also of a second, Queen Elizabeth I (Linda Balgord). The show has plenty of romance, adventure, battles, royal court intrigue and the erosion of a proud traditional culture, yet somehow it remains mostly inert.

Act one is especially belabored. Grace defies her widowed pirate chieftain father, Dubhdara (Jeff McCarthy), by disguising herself as a boy to slip aboard his ship, proving herself a formidable sailor when she saves the vessel during a storm. Betraying a love that blossomed from childhood with crewmate Tiernan (Hadley Fraser), Grace agrees to a strategic marriage to Donal (Marcus Chait), the scion of a rival clan, easily identified by the size of his codpiece as a philandering scoundrel. Fatally wounded in battle, Dubhdara bucks tradition and angers Donal by naming Grace his successor.

Across the Irish Sea, Elizabeth is rankled by Grace and crew’s continuing humiliation of her fleet. She dispatches conniving Sir Richard Bingham (William Youmans, in a villainous turn with all the subtlety of Snidely Whiplash) to seize control.

All this unfolds over a monotonous first hour, alleviated by the dance segs and some pleasing vocal work on a largely unmemorable score laced with Uilleann pipes, harp, flute and Irish fiddles. There are about 15 I-pledge, I-vow, I-swear songs too many, but Fraser’s powerfully emotional tenor sets apart “I’ll Be There.” Also vocally accomplished, Block makes a feisty, attractive lead, but all the characters remain bland cutouts suffocated by plot.

The show builds toward a Krystal vs. Alexis-type showdown between Grace and the imperious Elizabeth (played by Balgord with icy stiffness and a cutting semi-operatic soprano). Fueled by their rivalry and the mutual admiration of two rebellious women who have stepped outside their prescribed roles, this section does provide some belated emotional involvement. The clean staging of the women’s duet, “She Who Has All,” with light streaming in on them from single windows high above, is striking. But the writers cheat by playing the decisive meeting largely as a closed-door conversation behind a screen and the woman-to-woman truce feels simplistic.

Schonberg’s score generally strives too hard for stirring moments, inducing so many blustery crescendos from the start that it has no place to build. Galati’s staging under-uses the aerial opportunities of the ship’s masts and rigging while rarely milking much excitement from the swordplay.

Eugene Lee’s sets are elaborate but visually uninteresting, with too many vividly hued skyscape backdrops. Martin Pakledinaz’s detailed costumes are more successful, with the fan-collared, heavily upholstered Elizabethan garb providing plenty of scope for ornate excess.

The sad realization of watching “The Pirate Queen” is not that it’s especially bad, but that despite its dense action and wealth of conflict (both of the heart and the sword), it’s dull. It’s a relief in this context to be jarred out of boredom by the crotch-thrusting, hip-grinding vulgarity and innuendo-drenched lyrics (“I may well have to beach her/Take her inland to teach her”) of Chait’s act-one song, “Boys’ll Be Boys”—a raucous pub number filled with lusty lads and brassy tarts, which corresponds precisely to “Master of the House” in “Les Miz.” Elsewhere, this is a plodding Harlequin historical romance. For all its inflamed passions, it never ignites.

Ik heb net gelezen dat er wordt geschat dat de show 3 tot 4 jaar voor compleet uitverkochte zalen, van 1800 man, moet spelen om het break even point van de investering te bereiken.

Het lijkt mij dus dat “The Pirate Queen”, hoe dan ook, op een financiele flop zal uitlopen.

Vrijdag 4 mei, New York, Broadway, 20.00 uur zit ik in de zaal op rij 13….

Ben super benieuwd naar de show. De stukjes die ik gezien heb vind ik super. Volg de show nu een tijdje. Op de site kun je leuke filmpjes bekijken en ook interviews en making of stuff… Erg leuk!

Later volgt een verslag!