The Pirate Queen
Encyclopedia
The Pirate Queen is a musical written by Claude-Michel Schönberg
and Alain Boublil
, best known for their adaptation of Les Misérables
. John Dempsey
is the co-lyricist. The Pirate Queen marks the first time Boublil and Schönberg have created a musical with American collaborators. It is based on the life and adventures of the 16th century Irish
chieftain and pirate Gráinne O'Malley, who was one of the last Irish clan leaders to resist the English conquest of Gaelic Ireland.
After a Chicago
production, the musical ran on Broadway
from March to June 2007. The cast featured Stephanie J. Block
as the title character and Linda Balgord
, who was nominated for a Drama Desk Award
for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I. The show received harsh appraisals from the critics and had weak sales.
reported that Colm Wilkinson
was in talks to star in the project. However, when casting was announced, Wilkinson was not included.
Towards the end of the Chicago run, Miss Saigon
co-lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr.
was brought in to work with Boublil on revisions to the book and lyrics in preparation for the Broadway opening. Additionally, Graciela Daniele
worked on the musical staging.
in an out-of-town tryout on October 3, 2006, and ran through November 26, 2006.
The Broadway
previews began at the Foxwoods Theatre (then the Hilton Theatre) on March 6, 2007, with the opening on April 5. It closed on June 17, 2007 after 85 performances and 32 previews.. Frank Galati
directed, with musical staging by Graciela Daniele, Irish Dance choreography by Carol Leavy Joyce, and additional choreography by Mark Dendy. Musical direction and orchestrations were by Julian Kelly, with sets by Eugene Lee
, costumes by Martin Pakledinaz and lighting by Kenneth Posner
. Moya Doherty and John McColgan, creators of Riverdance
, produced, with Edgar Dobie and Ronan Smith, of Doherty and McColgan's Riverdream production company, Executive Producers.
Linda Balgord received a Drama Desk Award
nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I.
A studio recording of the original Broadway cast, produced by Masterworks Broadway, was released on July 3, 2007. The recording does not include the full score, but only highlights.
, reviewing in The New York Times
, wrote that the show compares unfavorably with the composers' Les Misérables and that it registers as a relic of a long-gone era, but praised the performances of Block and Balgord. The Variety
reviewer wrote: "all-plot, no-heart new show is persuasively sung by a valiant cast, yet it never forges an emotional connection with the audience."
The show received no Tony Award
nominations and faced steadily declining grosses and high weekly running costs. When the show closed, it was reported by The New York Times
that it had lost "at least $16 million."
Act II
† Indicates songs that are not on the Original Broadway Cast Recording.
Outer Critics Circle Awards
Drama League Award
(The birthplace of Gráinne O'Malley), by Ballinrobe Musical Society in February 2010. Under the direction of Peter Kennedy and music supervision of John Roe, the production received a hugely positive response by both audiences and critics. The Ballinrobe Musical Society is a member of the "Association of Irish Musical Societies" (AIMS)and won numerous awards for its superb presentation of "The Pirate Queen" including Best Overall Show and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Sandra Shalks as Queen Elizabeth. Schoenberg attended the performance on the opening night and Doherty and McColgan attended on the final night.
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Claude-Michel Schönberg is a French record producer, actor, singer, songwriter, and musical theatre composer, best known for his collaborations with the lyricist Alain Boublil.These include the musicals:...
and Alain Boublil
Alain Boublil
Alain Boublil is a musical theatre lyricist and librettist, best known for his collaborations with the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg for musicals on Broadway and London's West End...
, best known for their adaptation of Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
. John Dempsey
John Dempsey (lyricist)
John Dempsey is a theatrical lyricist and playwright who has worked in Britain and the United States. Much of his work in musical theater has been written with composer Dana P. Rowe. With Rowe, he wrote the book and lyrics for Zombie Prom , The Fix , and the stage adaptation of John Updike's The...
is the co-lyricist. The Pirate Queen marks the first time Boublil and Schönberg have created a musical with American collaborators. It is based on the life and adventures of the 16th century Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
chieftain and pirate Gráinne O'Malley, who was one of the last Irish clan leaders to resist the English conquest of Gaelic Ireland.
After a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
production, the musical ran on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
from March to June 2007. The cast featured Stephanie J. Block
Stephanie J. Block
Stephanie J. Block is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her work on the Broadway stage. She has additionally been nominated for a Drama Desk Award and a Drama League Award. She released her debut solo album through PS Classics in June 2009...
as the title character and Linda Balgord
Linda Balgord
Linda Balgord is an American Broadway actress and singer, most notable for playing Norma Desmond in the 1996 US tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical Sunset Boulevard, being the last actress to portray Grizabella in the original Broadway run of Cats and originating the role of Queen Elizabeth I...
, who was nominated for a Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I. The show received harsh appraisals from the critics and had weak sales.
History
In 2005, the show was scheduled to premiere in Chicago, and PlaybillPlaybill
Playbill is a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most Playbills are printed for particular shows to be distributed at the door...
reported that Colm Wilkinson
Colm Wilkinson
Colm Wilkinson is an Irish tenor, best known for originating the role of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables and for playing the title role in The Phantom of the Opera .Due to his association with these musicals, he reprised the role of...
was in talks to star in the project. However, when casting was announced, Wilkinson was not included.
Towards the end of the Chicago run, Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
co-lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Eldridge Maltby, Jr. is an American theatre director and producer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He is also well known as a constructor of cryptic crossword puzzles. He has done this for Harper's Magazine, sometimes in collaboration with E. R...
was brought in to work with Boublil on revisions to the book and lyrics in preparation for the Broadway opening. Additionally, Graciela Daniele
Graciela Daniele
Graciela Daniele is an Argentine-American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director.-Biography:Born at Buenos Aires, Daniele began her dance training at the age of seven at Teatro Colón, Argentina's equivalent of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre...
worked on the musical staging.
Production
The Pirate Queen debuted at Chicago's Cadillac Palace TheatreCadillac Palace Theatre
The Cadillac Palace Theatre is operated by Broadway In Chicago, a Nederlander Presentation. It is located at 151 West Randolph Street in the Chicago Loop area downtown.-History:...
in an out-of-town tryout on October 3, 2006, and ran through November 26, 2006.
The Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
previews began at the Foxwoods Theatre (then the Hilton Theatre) on March 6, 2007, with the opening on April 5. It closed on June 17, 2007 after 85 performances and 32 previews.. Frank Galati
Frank Galati
Frank Galati is an American director, writer and actor. He is a member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, an associate director at Goodman Theatre, and a professor of performance at Northwestern University. In 2004, Galati was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame...
directed, with musical staging by Graciela Daniele, Irish Dance choreography by Carol Leavy Joyce, and additional choreography by Mark Dendy. Musical direction and orchestrations were by Julian Kelly, with sets by Eugene Lee
Eugene Lee (designer)
Eugene Lee was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, 1939. He attended Beloit Memorial High School. He has been resident designer at Trinity Rep since 1967. He has BFA degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon University, an MFA from Yale Drama School and three honorary Ph.Ds. Mr...
, costumes by Martin Pakledinaz and lighting by Kenneth Posner
Kenneth Posner
Kenneth Posner is an American theatrical lighting designer, working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in American regional theatre. His most notable designs include the musicals Wicked and Hairspray, two highly regarded musicals of the early 21st century...
. Moya Doherty and John McColgan, creators of Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
, produced, with Edgar Dobie and Ronan Smith, of Doherty and McColgan's Riverdream production company, Executive Producers.
Linda Balgord received a Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I.
A studio recording of the original Broadway cast, produced by Masterworks Broadway, was released on July 3, 2007. The recording does not include the full score, but only highlights.
Characters and cast
| Stephanie J. Block Stephanie J. Block Stephanie J. Block is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her work on the Broadway stage. She has additionally been nominated for a Drama Desk Award and a Drama League Award. She released her debut solo album through PS Classics in June 2009... |
Grania (Grace O'Malley) |
| Linda Balgord Linda Balgord Linda Balgord is an American Broadway actress and singer, most notable for playing Norma Desmond in the 1996 US tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical Sunset Boulevard, being the last actress to portray Grizabella in the original Broadway run of Cats and originating the role of Queen Elizabeth I... |
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty... |
| Hadley Fraser Hadley Fraser Hadley Fraser is an English stage actor. He made his critically acclaimed West End debut as Marius in Les Misérables. He also originated the role of Tiernan in the Broadway show The Pirate Queen.-Biography:... |
Tiernan |
| Marcus Chait | Donal |
| Jeff McCarthy Jeff McCarthy -Television:He made guest star appearances on television shows such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Ed, Designing Women, Cheers, Freddy's Nightmares, Matlock, and In the Heat of the Night. McCarthy was the voice of the Chuck Jones' creation, Michigan J. Frog, for the WB television network... |
Dubhdara |
| William Youmans William Youmans William Youmans is an American Broadway, film and television actor and singer, best known for originating the role of Doctor Dillamond in Wicked.-Broadway:... |
Bingham |
| Áine Uí Cheallaigh | Evleen |
| Brooke Elliott Brooke Elliott Brooke Elliott is an American actress and singer. She is perhaps best known for her role as Jane Bingum on Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva.- Life and career :... |
Majella |
| Steven Barath | Eoin (on alternate performances) |
| Christopher Grey Misa | Eoin (on alternate performances) |
Critical response
Ben BrantleyBen Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
, reviewing in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, wrote that the show compares unfavorably with the composers' Les Misérables and that it registers as a relic of a long-gone era, but praised the performances of Block and Balgord. The Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reviewer wrote: "all-plot, no-heart new show is persuasively sung by a valiant cast, yet it never forges an emotional connection with the audience."
The show received no Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominations and faced steadily declining grosses and high weekly running costs. When the show closed, it was reported by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
that it had lost "at least $16 million."
Musical numbers
Act I- "Prologue" - Orchestra
- "The Pirate Queen" - Dubhdara and Company
- "Woman" - Grace
- "The Storm"† - Company
- "My Grace" - Dubhdara and Grace
- "Here on this Night" - Grace, Tiernan and Crew
- "The First Battle"† - Company
- "The Waking of the Queen" - Elizabeth and Ladies-in-Waiting
- "Rah-Rah, Tip-Top" - Bingham, Elizabeth and Lords
- "The Choice is Mine" - Grace and Company
- "The Bride's Song"† - Grace, Evleen and Women
- "Boys'll Be Boys" - Donal, Mates and Barmaids
- "The Wedding" - Company
- "I'll Be There" - Tiernan
- "Boys'll Be Boys" (Reprise)† - Donal, Grace and O'Flaherty
- "Trouble at Rockfleet"† - Grace, Tiernan, Donal and Bingham
- "A Day Beyond Belclare" - Grace, Tiernan, Donal and Company
- "Go Serve Your Queen"† - Elizabeth and Bingham
- "Dubhdara's Farewell"† - Dubhdara and Grace
- "Sail to the Stars" - Grace, Tiernan and Company
Act II
- "Entr'Acte" - Orchestra
- "It's a Boy"† - Grace, Majella and Sailors
- "Enemy at Port Side" - Grace, Evleen, Majella and Sailors
- "I Dismiss You" - Grace, Donal and Sailors
- "If I Said I Love You" - Tiernan and Grace
- "The Role of the Queen" - Elizabeth and Bingham
- "The Christening" - Evleen, Grace, Tiernan and Company
- "Let a Father Stand by His Son" - Donal, Grace, Bingham and Company
- "Surrender" - Bingham, Tiernan, Elizabeth and Company
- "She Who Has All" - Elizabeth and Grace
- "Lament"† - Grace, Majella, Eoin and Company
- "The Sea of Life" - Grace and Company
- "Terra Marique Potens"† - Elizabeth, Grace, Bingham
- "Woman to Woman" - Elizabeth and Grace
- "Behind the Screen"† - Company
- "Grace's Exit"† - Elizabeth, Grace, Bingham and Company
- "Finale" - Grace, Tiernan and Company
† Indicates songs that are not on the Original Broadway Cast Recording.
Awards and nominations
Drama Desk Awards- Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Balgord) (nominee)
Outer Critics Circle Awards
- Outstanding Choreography (Leavy Joyce, Daniele) (nominees)
- Outstanding Costume Design (Pakledinaz) (nominee)
Drama League Award
Drama League Award
The Drama League Awards, created in 1935, honor distinguished productions and performances both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, in addition to recognizing exemplary career achievements in theatre, musical theatre, and directing...
- Distinguished Performance Award (Block) (nominee)
First Amateur Production
The first amateur production of "The Pirate Queen" was presented in Co. Mayo, IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
(The birthplace of Gráinne O'Malley), by Ballinrobe Musical Society in February 2010. Under the direction of Peter Kennedy and music supervision of John Roe, the production received a hugely positive response by both audiences and critics. The Ballinrobe Musical Society is a member of the "Association of Irish Musical Societies" (AIMS)and won numerous awards for its superb presentation of "The Pirate Queen" including Best Overall Show and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Sandra Shalks as Queen Elizabeth. Schoenberg attended the performance on the opening night and Doherty and McColgan attended on the final night.
Historical Grosses
| Week | Gross | Seats Sold |
>- | $615,585 | 10,735 | >- | $590,498 | 10,210 | >- | $627,400 | 10,243 | >- | $663,265 | 11,613 | >- | $704,025 | 10,821 | >- | $757,333 | 12,007 | >- | $693,237 | 11,182 | >- | $656,079 | 10,582 | >- | $628,680 | 10,453 | >- | $648,484 | 10,576 | >- | $598,689 | 9,246 | >- | $516,724 | 8,893 | >- | $442,065 | 7,848 | >- | $454,325 | 7,308 | >- | $458,150 | 7,759 | 53.9% |
|---|