Everything you need to know about ‘Pirates! The Penzance Musical’ on Broadway

David Hyde Pierce, Jinkx Monsoon, Ramin Karimloo, and more set sail in spring 2025, headlining a jazzy take on Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance.

Joe DziemianowiczDecember 9, 2024, 05:00

It is the very model of a modern musical makeover. Launching in April 2025 on Broadway, Pirates! The Penzance Musical — starring Ramin Karimloo, Jinkx Monsoon, and David Hyde Pierce — sets sail with a fresh vision (and a tweaked title) for Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance.

Two-time Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes’s adaptation of this comic opera about love, duty, and nautical hijinks shifts the original setting from England to New Orleans. Jazzy rhythms and French Quarter eccentricities, plus direction by Scott Ellis and choreography by Warren Carlyle, lend a dynamic vibe that the exclamation point in the revival’s title hints at.

So be sure to book your passage to Pirates! The Penzance Musical. Before you do, read more about the show coming to Roundabout Theatre Company's Todd Haimes Theatre this spring, plus its classic source material.

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What is Pirates! The Penzance Musical about?

Pirates! The Penzance Musical follows the same plot as The Pirates of Penzance, first staged in 1879. The show is a comedic tale of hunky young Frederic, who is mistakenly apprenticed to a band of big-hearted buccaneers until his 21st birthday.

Frederic falls in love with Mabel, a major-general’s daughter. Complications ensue because he’s pledged to the pirates until he’s 21, and he’s a leap-year baby. So he’s bound for 63 more years — and he’s a man of his word. The show’s alternative title is The Slave of Duty.

Where is Pirates! The Penzance Musical playing?

Pirates! The Penzance Musical plays at the Todd Haimes Theatre at 227 W. 42nd St.

Originally called the Selwyn Theatre, the venue opened in 1918 and has been renovated and rebuilt multiple times over the decades. In 2024, it was named for Todd Haimes, the late artistic director of Roundabout Theatre Company, which owns and operates the theatre.

How long is Pirates! The Penzance Musical?

Pirates! The Penzance Musical’s running time has yet to be determined. The Pirates of Penzance usually runs around 2 hours, plus an intermission. The typical run time of a Broadway musical is between 90 minutes and 3 hours, often including a 15-minute intermission.

What days is Pirates! The Penzance Musical playing?

Pirates! The Penzance Musical will play Tuesday through Sunday, with two performances on Wednesdays and Saturdays and no performances on Mondays. The show is scheduled to run from April 4 to June 22, 2025.

When did Pirates! The Penzance Musical premiere?

Pirates! The Penzance Musical will premiere on Broadway on April 4, 2025. The original The Pirates of Penzance operetta, however, premiered in England in Paignton on December 30, 1879, in New York on December 31, 1879, and in London on April 3, 1880.

The show has been revived 25 times on Broadway, most recently in 1981 starring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, George Rose, and Estelle Parsons.

Who wrote Pirates! The Penzance Musical?

Composer Arthur Sullivan and librettist W. S. Gilbert created The Pirates of Penzance. The British artists collaborated on 14 operettas, including the well-known works H.M.S. Pinafore and The Mikado.

Rupert Holmes adapted The Pirates of Penzance into Pirates! The Penzance Musical. The British-American composer, songwriter, and writer won a Tony Award in 1986 for his score and book for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Holmes also wrote the pop hit “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" and the book for the Kander and Ebb musical Curtains.

Pirates! The Penzance Musical characters

Principal characters in the show include young lovers, a charismatic pirate king, and a besotted nursemaid. Supporting characters include the ingenue’s father, other pirates, and police officers.

Frederic: A young pirate apprentice, bound by duty until his 21st birthday, who falls in love with Mabel.
Mabel: A spirited young woman who is the daughter of Major-General Stanley and determined to marry Frederic.
The Pirate King: The swaggering and charismatic leader of the pirates.
Major-General Stanley: Mabel’s pompous father.
Ruth: A pirate maid who’s keen on Frederic, despite his disinterest in her.
Sergeant of Police: The head of a group of bumbling policemen intent on capturing the pirates.

Who is in the cast of Pirates! The Penzance Musical?

The principal cast of Pirates! The Penzance Musical on Broadway includes Ramin Karimloo (The Phantom of the Opera, Funny Girl) as The Pirate King, Jinkx Monsoon (RuPaul's Drag Race, Chicago, Little Shop of Horrors as Ruth, David Hyde Pierce (Frasier, Curtains) as Major-General Stanley and W. S. Gilbert, Nicholas Barasch (Hadestown national tour, Riverdale) as Frederic, Samantha Williams (Titanic, Caroline, or Change) as Mabel, and Preston Truman Boyd (Kiss Me, Kate, The Play That Goes Wrong) as The Sergeant of Police and Sullivan.

Pirates! The Penzance Musical songs

Gilbert and Sullivan’s songs pack wit, humor, and catchy melodies. In the NOLA-set Pirates! The Penzance Musical, pirate anthems, wistful arias, tongue-twisting tour de forces take on jazzy and bluesy tones. Below are the songs featured in previous productions of The Pirates of Penzance. This article will be updated with the any changes to the tracklist once Pirates! The Penzance Musical performances begin.

Act 1

“Pour, O Pour, the Pirate Sherry”
“When Frederic Was a Little Lad”
“Oh, Better Far to Live and Die … I Am a Pirate King”
“Oh, False One, You Have Deceived Me!”
“Climbing Over Rocky Mountain”
“Stop, Ladies, Pray!”
“Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast”
“Poor Wand’ring One”
“What Ought We to Do?”
“How Beautifully Blue the Sky”
“Stay, We Must Not Lose Our Senses”
“Hold, Monsters!”
“I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General”
“Oh, Men of Dark and Dismal Fate”

Act 2

“Oh, Dry the Glistening Tear”
“Then Frederic, Let Your Escort Lion-Hearted”
“When the Foeman Bares His Steel”
“Now For the Pirates' Lair!”
“When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold”
“Away, Away! My Heart’s on Fire”
“All Is Prepar’d”
“Stay, Fred’ric, Stay”
“No, I’ll Be Brave”
“When a Felon’s Not Engaged in His Employment”
“A Rollicking Band of Pirates We”
“With Cat-Like Tread, Upon Our Prey We Steal”
“Hush, Hush, not a Word”
“Sighing Softly to the River”

What awards has Pirates! The Penzance Musical won?

Pirates! The Penzance Musical premieres in April 2025, so it hasn’t received any awards yet. The show will be up for gold in the 2024-25 season’s New York honors, including Tony Awards.

In 1981, The Pirates of Penzance was nominated for seven Tony Awards and won for Best Revival, Best Leading Actor Kevin Kline, and Best Director Wilford Leach. It was also nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards and won five, including Outstanding Musical.

Major productions of Pirates! The Penzance Musical

Pirates! The Penzance Musical premieres on Broadway in spring 2025. If this adaptation is a success, it could lead to other presentations across the country and even the world. The Pirates of Penzance, however, has been presented on Broadway 26 times, beginning with its 1879 premiere.

In 1980, The Public Theater presented director Wilford Leach’s version of The Pirates of Penzance starring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, and Rex Smith at the Delacorte Theatre. The 1981 Broadway transfer of the show became the longest-running Gilbert and Sullivan production in history.

The 1982 London mounting of The Pirates of Penzance was nominated for Olivier Awards for Best Revival and Best Actor Tim Curry (as The Pirate King).

Onscreen adaptations of Pirates! The Penzance Musical

Pirates! The Penzance Musical hasn’t received a screen adaptation, but The Pirates of Penzance has a 1983 film adaptation featuring most of the Broadway principals except for Estelle Parsons, whose role was played by Angela Lansbury. The movie brought the operetta back into wider popular culture.

Fun facts about Pirates! The Penzance Musical

The Pirates of Penzance is a treasure chest of juicy tidbits – from the real role of piracy inn its history to Gilbert and Sullivan’s tuneful influence on pop culture and more.

After Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore debuted in 1878 in England, American companies presented unauthorized productions in the U.S. Such piracy on the high C’s led Penzance to premiere in the U.K. and U.S. at almost the same time for copyright reasons.
While the show is played for laughs, the real seaside English town of Penzance actually had a stormy history with pirates up until the 1800s.
Rupert Holmes was presented a living legend award in 2019 by the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players for his devotion to sustaining the duo’s legacy.
The tongue-twisting patter song “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” has popped up in various series including Frasier, which featured Pierce in a four-time Emmy Award-winning role.
Lin-Manuel Miranda also looked to the same song to write “Right Hand Man” from Hamilton — George Washington notes that he is “the model of a modern major general.” Imitation is a sincere form of flattery, not piracy.

Get tickets to Pirates! The Penzance Musical

Pirates! The Penzance Musical breathes fresh life into a cherished story of romance and rollicking adventures that’s hasn't docked on Broadway for over 40 years. All aboard!