Discover what is being said about this revival of Gilbert & Sullivan’s opera, running in London until the 21st February 2025.
Broadway World: **** “Sarah Tipple’s revival of The Pirates of Penzance is a triumph. It’s an effective production that expertly balances tradition and innovation as it blends absurd humour with modern sensibilities; a paean to Gilbert and Sullivan’s enduring wit.”
The Guardian: *** “It is William Morgan, though, who gives the star performance: he’s genuinely funny as Frederic, the naive apprentice pirate who returns in Act 2 as a dashing man of the world before finding himself duty-bound to return to piracy, and sings it all in a soaring tenor that cuts through everything elegantly.”
All That Dazzles: **** “Fantastically funny and performed with a fabulous blend of vocal talent and comic chops, The Pirates of Penzance proves once again just why it is such a well-work classic, and why it is always worth revisiting historical work to share how brilliant much of it can be. Without any overt political additions or shoe-horned references to modern life, Leigh and Tipple make the wisest choice for this particular revival – they simply allow an already-stellar show to simply breathe.”
The Reviews Hub: ** “The piece itself hasn’t aged well. There’s an uncomfortable amount of jokey ageism and sexism around the figure of the middle-aged Ruth, forlornly in love with Frederic, for whom she’s once been nursemaid. And too many of the jokes are laboured. It would take comic genius to bring to live creaky puns of the pilot/pirate and orphan/often variety.”
The Stage: *** “Colourful performances enliven the pirate caper.”
The Standard: **** “If William Morgan gets the ardour required for the lovelorn role of Frederic, he occasionally teeters towards can belto. By contrast, Isabelle Peters gives Mabel, the object of his affections, the vocal allure of a true bel canto specialist. She is still a member of ENO’s Harewood Artist; on the evidence of this showing, she’s no longer just up-and-coming, she has well and truly arrived.”
Theatre Cat: “But to come to the point, it’s a glorious evening, ta-ran-ta-ra. Richard Stuart, who last played the role here twenty years ago, launches into his modern-major-general number through a thicket of whiskers, rattling along like an Olympic hurdler on fast-forward. James Cresswell, fresh from the Met and Paris, unforgettably leads the police: his men wincing beautifully behind him while the ladies’ chorus trills their hope for death as well as glory.”
The Telegraph: **** “Gilbert and Sullivan’s words and music have seldom sounded more enjoyably in sync than in this delightful return to Leigh’s 2015 production.”
London Unattached: “This production of The Pirates of Penzance is a joy, a pantomime of an opera that will keep the audience smiling and on the edge of their seats. The cast as a whole is superb with the Chorus enthusiastically delivering some of the finest G&S with conviction. I left with only one regret; that the future of the ENO in London is still compromised.”
To book tickets visit: https://www.eno.org/whats-on/the-pirates-of-penzance/