A new kind of pirate is docking on Broadway. Roundabout Theatre Company will bring a new version of the Gilbert & Sullivan classic, The Pirates of Penzance, back to Broadway in 2025. Pirates! The Penzance Musical is a reimagined version of the 1879 operetta.
The Pirates of Penzance was last seen on Broadway in 1981- a production that won three Tony Awards. The classic story epitomizes the Victorian-era operetta and explores themes of duty, love, and honor, coupled with parody of class structures and authority. As a cornerstone of light opera, The Pirates of Penzance has solidified its place as a timeless work that bridges the gap between classical and contemporary musical theater.
What makes this Pirates! different? In this version, the pirate ship docks in New Orleans in this jazzy-bluesy vision of the crowd-pleasing classic, in an outrageously clever romp sizzling with Caribbean rhythms and French Quarter flair. With the tongue-twisting Major-General, the rabble-rousing Pirate King, newly-imagined young lovers, daring daughters, footloose pirates and fleet-footed police, there's a shipload of musical comedy delights on board to dazzle first-timers and G&S aficionados alike.
The classic tale is brought to life by director Scott Ellis and Warren Carlyle choreographs with a hilarious new adaptation by Rupert Holmes. It is led by Ramin Karimloo, Jinkx Monsoon, David Hyde Pierce, Nicholas Barasch, Preston Truman Boyd and Samantha Williams.
Despite such mismatches between the original and the remake, “Pirates!” is still a feather in the tricorn of the Roundabout Theater Company, which produced and nurtured it. Operettas don’t last 146 years just because they’re good. (I love Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Ruddigore” too, but have never seen it except at camp.) Longevity like that requires faith not only in the past but also in the future.
Pirates! The Penzance Musical comes with a stacked cast and a nearly 150-year history of Broadway adaptations. With such an iconic piece of theatre, any change is bound to stir the pot. But perhaps what makes this version such a smash is that at its core, it’s exactly what Gilbert and Sullivan created the original to be: a fun, silly, nonsensical laugh with the lightest plot and a great big happy ending to wrap it all up.
1879 | Regional (UK) |
World Premiere Regional (UK) |
1879 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
1880 | New York |
Unknown New York |
1880 | West End |
London Production West End |
1884 | West End |
London Revival West End |
1900 | Broadway |
Unknown Broadway |
1912 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1918 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1926 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1927 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1931 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1933 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1934 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1934 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1935 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1936 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1936 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1939 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1940 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1942 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1944 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1946 | Broadway |
Unknown Broadway |
1948 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1949 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1951 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1952 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1955 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1961 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
1976 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
1977 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
1979 | Off-Broadway |
LOOM Revival Off-Broadway |
1981 | Broadway |
Broadway Transfer Broadway |
1981 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
1982 | West End |
London Production West End |
1985 | Off-Off-Broadway |
Off-Off-Broadway Revival Off-Off-Broadway |
2006 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
2006 | East Haddam, CT (Regional) |
Goodspeed Production East Haddam, CT (Regional) |
2007 | Milburn, NJ (Regional) |
Paper Mill Production Milburn, NJ (Regional) |
2017 | West End |
English National Opera Revival West End |
2024 | West End |
West End |
2025 | Broadway |
Roundabout Theatre Company Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Adaptation | Rupert Holmes |
2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Warren Carlyle |
2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical | Nicholas Barasch |
2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Fight Choreography | Rick Sordelet |
2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Fight Choreography | Christian Kelly-Sordelet |
2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Joseph Joubert |
2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Daryl Waters |
2025 | Drama League Awards | DISINTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE | Jinkx Monsoon |
2025 | Drama League Awards | DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE | Ramin Karimloo |
2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Warren Carlyle |
2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Joseph Joubert |
2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Daryl Waters |
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