The Union Theatre could not possibly have known quite how successful their all-male Pirates of Penzance was going to be when they first performed it last summer. After the critics raved, it sold out almost immediately, and earlier this year won the Whatsonstage Award for Best Off-West End Production. From there, it has transferred to a six-week season at Wilton's Music Hall and will close this period out with a two-week run at Kingston's Rose Theatre in June.
The production itself barely suffers from the switch to a bigger venue (the Union holds 50, Wilton's around 250). MD Chris Mundy's beautiful solo piano presentation of the score still works perfectly as an accompaniment to the unmiked vocals, while choreographer Lizzie Gee has successfully redone much of her work to suit and fill the very different, but rather attractive space of Wilton's.
As Frederic, Russell Whitehead is a theatregoer's dream. His smooth, powerful vocal and sweet characterization of his duty-stricken pirate is absolutely spot-on. Samuel J Holmes, too, gives a wonderfully full Ruth, hitting low and high notes with alacrity, while also creating moments of true pathos for a stock G&S character often dismissed as annoying or whiny. Holmes is truly funny, thoughtful with his choices and a fine singer.
Although Alan Richardson as Mabel manages to hit all of his high notes with ease (no mean feat when performing songs that go up to a high B) and successfully shows off a sweeter, more innocent side to the coquettish Mabel, his tenor voice seriously struggles with volume the higher he goes. This is something that would not have mattered at the tiny Union but in a bigger space like Wilton's means much of the audience had trouble hearing Mabel's protestations of faithfulness and love.
Meanwhile, Ricky Rojas as the Pirate King impresses in the acting stakes - his Spanish accent was accurate enough that many audience members did not twig he was anything but - and Fred Broom bellows and snorts admirably as the Major-General. All the aforementioned are supported by the strong ensemble and the quartet of daughters, of whom Stewart Charlesworth's hilarious, snooty Edith stands out the most.
Wilton's is used cleverly by the ensemble, who hang off ropes, sidle past startled audience members and work well as a team to build aural intensity even when dotted throughout the theatre space. This is a thoroughly charming production that has the ability to convert G&S virgins to the metier. Let's hope that this summer is not the end for G&S at the Union.
