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STAGE: 'PIRATES OF PENZANCE' ON BROADWAY

STAGE: 'PIRATES OF PENZANCE' ON BROADWAY
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January 9, 1981, Section C, Page 3Buy Reprints
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LAST night Joseph Papp's production of ''The Pirates of Penzance'' sailed into the Uris, and, yes, it is every bit as wonderful on Broadway in January as it was in Central Park in July. It may even be more wonderful. The chorus leaps higher; the band plays brighter; the powerhouse stars are now so self-assured that you may think they own the town. And, don't worry, they haven't forgotten about the moon that rose over the park in Act II. Thanks to the lighting designer Jennifer Tipton, there's a lovely full moon indoors at the Uris, too. The best things in life don't have to be free.

Perhaps it seems irrational to be thrown into ecstasy by a centuryold Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. After all, ''Pirates'' isn't about anything except a crew of benign pirates, a bevy of marriageable maidens and a platoon of cowardly bobbies. W.S. Gilbert's Dickensian plot - which often revolves around mistaken word identities (''pirate'' for ''pilot,'' ''often'' for ''orphan'') - is the quintessence of silly, and his satirical jests limn Victorian manners that mean little to contemporary American audiences.

Yet, as Gilbert might say, it really doesn't matter. Once we make the acquaintance of Kevin Kline's Pirate King, George Rose's Major General, and the young lovers played by the rock stars Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith, we are helplessly transported to an enthralling fantasy land. How? Certainly a lot of the show's appeal has to do with the performers, the literate humor of Gilbert's libretto and the enchanting melodies of Arthur Sullivan's score. But the more one looks at it, the more one realizes that this production is far more than the sum of its parts.

This show's totally assured tone -funny yet not campy, sweet yet not soupy - is what brings its diverse elements together. By rethinking - but not rewriting - Gilbert and Sullivan's work in the highly charged terms of modern musical comedy, Mr. Papp and company have gained the best of both worlds. Indeed, they have united civilized British wit and American show-biz knowhow in a combustive Broadway musical for the first time since the Messrs. Lerner and Loewe met Shaw halfway in ''My Fair Lady.'' Surely George Rose's rendition of that tongue-twisting feat of musicalized elocution, ''I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General,'' is the most unlikely Broadway showstopper since ''The Rain in Spain.''

Mr. Papp has juiced up his mixture further by entrusting this production to talents that are generally new to Broadway and are willing to give the familiar razzmatazz a fresh look. If Wilford Leach, the director, has placed a ramp in front of the pit band as Gower Champion did in ''Hello, Dolly!,'' he has also found his own new comic uses for both the ramp and the band. If Graciela Daniele, the choreographer, includes a funny homage to Mr. Papp's other Broadway musical smash, ''A Chorus Line,'' in her finale, she's also filled the stage with Keystone Kop-inspired dance routines of her own intricately batty design. William Elliott, the show's exuberant conductor and orchestrator, has given his stringless arrangements a brassy Broadway sound, but his electronic, Fourth of July musical firecrackers set this ''Pirates'' apart from its peers.

As before, the cast is just the right mixture of veterans and wild cards. Leading the former is Mr. Rose, a mad toy soldier in white who twirls a mean red parasol while rhyming ''lot o' news'' with ''hypotenuse.'' By the time he's prowling about in a nightgown in that Act II moonlight, he's having so much devilish fun it's indecent. Estelle Parsons is a most worthy successor to Patricia Routledge as the piratical den mother, Ruth. A jolly figure in gray braids and spectacles, she brings the show both a fine contralto and an adorable dizziness.

The wild cards, of course, are the two rock stars. They have both gained a great deal of stage sense since the previous ''Pirates'' opening night. As the ingenue, Mabel, Miss Ronstadt is a curly-headed angel whose coloratura in ''Poor Wandering One'' somehow merges pure sex with virginal rapture. She's even beginning to relax and enjoy her comic moments, especially those that call for her to order the constabulary into deathly battle. Mr. Smith's Frederic is a perfectly lovesick ''slave of duty'' and the evening's essential straight man. While he's not a pure tenor of the D'Oyly Carte mold, he has a big legitimate voice that is amusingly spiced with flights of Elvis-esque rock crooning. If he's more commanding than before, he hasn't sacrificed any of the adolescent ardor that gives the show its innocent romantic center.

Mr. Kline is in a class by himself. He has all the ingredients for conventional leading-man stardom - a big voice, dashing good looks, infinite charm -and yet he's also blessed with the grace and timing of a silent-movie clown. As the Pirate King, he can show off all his gifts. He flies from the stage to the ramp in a single bound; he coddles any woman who isn't nailed down; he engages in sword fights with half the chorus as well as any inanimate objects that cross his path. And then there are those perfect pratfalls: Mr. Kline tumbles from lofty perches only to bounce up in a flash, deadpan and demented, for still more comic punishment. One must wonder how long ''Pirates'' - or anything - will be able to keep this performer in captivity.

So strong is the production's conception, however, that it is not wholly dependent on its stars. Working on a slightly revised version of the bandstand of a set he used in the park, Mr. Leach keeps the action tumbling from all sides until finally Miss Daniele's dancers threaten to incite the audience to riot in the climactic kick-line march, ''With Cat-Like Tread.'' The visual gags and swirling movement stop only when Miss Ronstadt sings her gratuitous, interpolated ballad from ''Pinafore'' (''Sorry Her Lot'') in Act II. You can use that opportunity to catch your breath.

Because the Uris is bigger than all outdoors and not nearly as pretty, ''Penzance'' had to be slightly retooled for its move to its new home. The changes are smart. While this barn of a house will never seem intimate, Mr. Leach and Miss Daniele pitch the show as far forward as possible, spilling even past the ramp and into the first few rows of the theater when necessary. The huge proscenium frame has been reduced in size, and more comic business has been added to fill the remaining space. Yet the director and choreographer always rein in the physical jokes just before they might bounce out of control.

The chorus work is also springier than it was. Tony Azito's riotous, quadruple-jointed police sergeant (even his jaw seems to fly in all directions) is now perfectly emulated by his madcap fellow officers. The Major General's twirling, hyperventilating daughters are now sparked by the expert belting of Alexandra Korey in ''Climbing Over Rocky Mountain.'' The amplification, while not perfect, is passable by Broadway's current, deflated standards. Odd lyrics are lost and Miss Ronstadt's upper register still carries a bothersome layer of electronic shrillness.

But it really doesn't matter. As of today, New York's affection for ''The Pirates of Penzance'' is unlikely to remain merely a summertime crush. This is the beginning of a full-blown love affair that just may last for years. Start of a Love Affair THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Directed by Wilford Leach; music adapted by William Elliott; conducted by Mr. Elliott; choreography by Graciela Daniele; scenery by Bob Shaw and Mr. Leach, supervised by Paul Eads; lighting by Jennifer Tipton; costumes by Patricia McGourty; sound by Don Ketteler; hair and makeup by J. Roy Helland. Presented by Joseph Papp; a New York Shakespeare Festival production. At the Uris Theater, Broadway at west 51st Street. Pirate King ...............................Kevin Kline Samuel ..................................Stephen Hanan Frederic ....................................Rex Smith Ruth ..................................Estelle Parsons Maj. Gen. Stanley's Daughters Robin Boudreau, Maria Guida, Nancy Heikin and Bonnie Simmons Edith .................................Alexandra Korey Kate ......................................Marcia Shaw Isabel ....................................Wendy Wolfe Mabel ..................................Linda Ronstadt Maj. Gen. Stanley .........................George Rose Pirates and Police Dean Badolato, Mark Beudert, Brian Bullard, Scott Burkholder, Walter Caldwell, Tim Flavin, Ray Gill, George Kmeck, Daniel Marcus, G. Eugene Moose, Joseph Neal, Walter Niehenke, Joe Pichette, Ellis Skeeter Williams and Michael Edwin Willson.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section C, Page 3 of the National edition with the headline: STAGE: 'PIRATES OF PENZANCE' ON BROADWAY. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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