The Pirates of Penzance at the Theatre Royal Brighton Review
The Pirates of Penzance
Theatre Royal, Brighton
26-30 May 2015
Reviewed by Meresa Bergin
I was delighted to be asked to review The Pirates of Penzance at the Theatre Royal in Brighton. I had never heard of it but my father-in-law told me it was a wonderfully funny musical so I was eager to see it for myself.
When we arrived at the theatre the staff were as welcoming as ever and told us where our seats were, I noticed one of the ushers show an elderly gentleman to his seat and point the numbers of the seats out which I thought was excellent service. We were 4 rows from the front on the end which is ideal if you need the toilet!
The room went dark and the pianist opened the show from the side of the stage which was lovely but as we were at the other end of the hall we could not see him which was a shame. Then the curtains came up as the cast burst onto the stage and we get to meet Fredrick for the first time.
The Pirates of Penzance tells the tale of Fredrick whose nanny Ruth gives him as an apprentice to a pirate at a young age after thinking she was giving him to a pilot as they sounded the same! Now it has come to his 21st birthday he is free to leave a job he strongly dislikes and meets the beautiful Mabel and her sisters but is then shocked to find as he was born on a leap year he has in fact only had 5 birthdays so is still bound to his master!
This musical is like nothing else I have seen. It has notes of Carry On films and a dash of Priscilla Queen of the Desert about it, the cast are amazingly talented, more so those who were the beautiful women as well as the pirates and showed impressive vocal range! We loved how involved the cast were with the audience, coming up the sides of the hall and hiding from the pirates was hilariously. The cast are all men which was amusing, but I loved the chemistry between Fredrick and Mabel, it didn’t seem to matter to males were playing the roles, it was beautiful “Stay Fred’ric stay” was so touching.
We loved all the songs but our favourites were the ones with the chorus of girls as they were both funny and showed what talented performers the cast were.
If you are looking for a musical which is witty, clever and beautiful this is the one for you! I liked how it had just the right amount of a play feel about it alongside the musical parts as I can sometimes find musicals which just involve singing to be hard to follow and a little dull.
I do hope this show returns to the Theatre Royal next year so we can see it again, I haven’t laughed so much and left the theatre in such a good mood for a long time!
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £12.90 to £38.90 (plus £2.85 transaction fee).
The Pirates of Penzance is at the Theatre Royal in Brighton until 30 May 2015. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 0844 871 7650.
Theatre Royal. New Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1SD | 0844 871 7650
