Photo by Mark Frohna
Returning to Skylight Music Theatre for the ninth time is one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most beloved comedic operettas, The Pirates of Penzance, with this particular staging having a pro-woman focus to close out company’s season celebrating women. New York City-based American theater and opera director Shawna Lucey will make her Skylight debut as stage director of Pirates of Penzance.
“When Viswa Subbaraman, Skylight Music Theatre’s artistic director, called me about directing Pirates of Penzance as a kind of feminist or pro-woman piece, I laughed and thought, ‘I don’t know about all that now,’” says Lucey. “But then the more I dug into the text, the more I was able to find that the women in the piece are very strong. There’s a second title to the piece, The Slave of Duty, and in my staging you’ll see that the men are slaves to their duty. The women are the ones who can bend the rules for themselves so that they can reach happiness.”
Set in 19th-century England, the musical follows the adventures of Frederic, who was mistakenly indentured as a child to a band of pirates until the age of 21. He leaves the pirate life once he comes of age and falls in love but, unfortunately, because Frederic was born on leap year, he technically won’t be completed with his pirate service for another 63 years! Lucey shares that the music is extremely accessible, with comedic dialogues in between numbers, and that audiences can expect “swashbuckling fight scenes” and “spectacular dance numbers.”
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“I have to say this is one of the best casts I have ever worked with. Every single one of the actors is so incredibly talented,” says Lucey. “We have such great support from the Skylight to make the best show possible. Skylight knows you Milwaukee audiences are hungry for some Gilbert and Sullivan, specifically Pirates of Penzance, so everybody is working 300% to make this the Pirates of Penzance that Milwaukee never forgets.”
Show runs May 20-June 12 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Cabot Theatre, 158 N. Broadway For tickets and more information, call 414-291-7800 or visit skylightmusictheatre.org.
Theatre Happening:
Sunset Playhouse’s SideNotes Cabaret Series presents Our Favorite Things: A Tribute to Julie Andrews, featuring Taryn Whipple and Don Lobacz in a retrospective of Andrews’ career with musical numbers from My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Camelot and more. Show runs May 19-22 at 800 Elm Grove Road, Elm Grove. For tickets, call 262-782-4430 or visit sunsetplayhouse.com.
