The show-making machine that churned out the megahits Les Misérables and Miss Saigon is at it again. Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg have unleashed another Euro-pop-flavored monster designed to appeal to preteen girls and undiscriminating adults. But The Pirate Queen lacks the emotional punch of their previous tuners.
This expensive yawner has a patchwork feel to it, with its many disparate elements failing to mesh into a satisfying whole. This is probably due to the too-many-cooks list of credits on the title page of the program. Frank Galati is listed as director, Graciela Daniele is responsible for musical staging, and Carol Leavy Joyce is given credit for Irish dance choreography. There are three book writers (Boublil, Schönberg, and Richard Maltby, Jr.), as well as a trio of lyricists (Boublil, Maltby, and John Dempsey).
Schönberg's monochromatic music is a bland mix of Gaelic folk melody and bubblegum ballad; sitting through it is like being trapped at the Dublin airport while endless Irish Muzak blasts on the sound system. But the main problem is the book, a simplistic saga ascribing trends in 16th-century British history to conflicts between two ill-tempered divas. The titular heroine is Grace O'Malley (Stephanie J. Block), the real-life daughter of a seafaring Irish chieftain. Despite her gender, she rises to the rank of pirate captain and challenges English oppression by raiding their ships. In the opposite corner is Queen Elizabeth I of England (Linda Balgord), another woman holding power in a man's world. The authors are trying for a feminist tract, with Grace and Elizabeth cast as valiant leaders who would get along just fine if not for the thickheaded males surrounding them. Another flaw: We aren't shown the hardships endured by the Irish at the hands of the English until the musical is almost over, so there's no emotional investment in Grace's struggle.
The villains are so broadly drawn that they're not remotely threatening. The British are represented by foppish Sir Richard Bingham (William Youmans), who's about as menacing as Billy De Wolfe. Grace's main troubles are caused by her overbearing husband, Donal O'Flaherty (Marcus Chait), an oaf so chauvinistic and cowardly that it's ridiculous.
Block imbues Grace with spirit and vigor. She sings powerfully and performs the necessary swashbuckling athletically, but the show is stolen by Balgord's Virgin Queen. Warbling in an almost operatic soprano, Balgord delicately balances Elizabeth's need to maintain her royal decorum with her feminine yearnings. This is particularly illustrated in "She Who Has All," an otherwise ordinary duet for the two leads in which Balgord passionately expresses the queen's envy of Grace's freedom to love whomever she chooses. Balgord also gets to wear Martin Pakledinaz's spectacular costumes; at least half the musical's budget must be riding on her back.
There are occasional flashes of life in Carol Leavy Joyce's high-stepping Irish choreography, but how it fits in with Graciela Daniele's contribution is unclear. Frank Galati's staging is uncluttered but unexciting, an adjective that also fits this landlocked Pirate Queen.
Presented by Riverdream under the direction of Moya Doherty and John McColgan
at the Hilton Theatre, 213 W. 42nd St., NYC.
April 5-June 17. Tue.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Wed. and Sat., 2 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.
(212) 307-4100 or www.ticketmaster.com.
Casting by Tara Rubin Casting.