“Pirates! The Penzance Musical.” An Exclusive Interview with Ramin Karimloo – The “glorious” Pirate King.

Dedicated to the 145^th anniversary of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera “The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty.”

The creative duo of librettist William S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan was very famous in the musical theatre of the late 19th century. Known for their exceptional wit and a wonderful sense of parody that even modern audiences can appreciate. The authors worked on their comic operas with the producer Richard D’Oyly Carte at the Savoy Theatre in London. Their works are often called the Savoy Operas.

The use of witty wordplay, complex rhyme, satirical images of characters, and absurd elements became their signature style. It is safe to say that in the history of musical theatre, their work had a significant influence on the development of musical comedy.

Gilbert came up with a special term – “Topsy-Turvy-”  to describe his creative credo: to turn any relevant economic situation inside out, to bring it to an absurd extreme in order to generate the maximum response in the spectators’ minds. The authors seemed to hold a mirror up to the face of society and laugh at its vices, “distortions,” and outdated, generally accepted foundations. Gilbert developed Shakespeare’s traditions of wordplay, bringing to perfection the skill of writing song lyrics and librettos for musical theatre works.  He was succeeded by P.G. Wodehouse, Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, Cole Porter, Noel Coward, and Stephen Sondheim. It isn’t easy to imagine the appearance of such musicals as, for example, Avenue Q and Urinetown, if it were not for the Savoy Operas.

As of today, one can single out two approaches to the revival of Gilbert and Sullivan’s legacy, which consists of fourteen comic operas. The first is a reproduction of the original shows, and the second is an adaptation according to the traditions of contemporary musical comedy.

This comic opera has had many productions; the last traditional revival occurred in 1981. There is also a film adaptation of the Broadway version of “The Pirates of Penzance” from 1983, featuring an all-star cast.

Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Broadway, 2025/ Poster, Photo Credit by Joan Marcus/ Courtesy of Polk and Co

The current Broadway revival is dedicated to the anniversary date, 145 years since the show first opened. The new musical revival, presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company, was adapted by Rupert Holmes and directed by Scott Ellis. “Pirates! The Penzance Musical,” although not tied to Great Britain – Penzance in the title – was transferred to New Orleans. The producers tried to bring something new to their adaptation and to preserve the charm of the original at the same time. Some things worked, some didn’t. Perhaps, Sullivan’s music score “suffered” the most: the music received the new modern sound, and the orchestrations were “tweaked” quite a bit, too. Unfortunately, the obsessive abundance of American motifs and changes in tempo in individual musical numbers hurt the overall perception of the musical material. One could notice the changes made to the lyrics in several songs, which led to a change or the birth of new meanings.

    The actors involved in the production perfectly captured the formality and rigidity of Victorian society, ridiculing such a virtue as unwavering fidelity to a given promise [Frederic]. Although everything is overly melodramatic, it is clear to the modern spectator which representatives of society are being ridiculed.

The performers of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas usually sang in the legit style and used some elements of speech-level singing. The main task vocally was to characterize the hero. In contemporary musical theatre, the belting vocal technique as well as speech-level singing prevail. Combining several vocal styles and using different techniques is not an easy task, but the cast did a stellar job!

Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Broadway, 2025/ (L)- Nicholas Barasch as Frederic, (C)- Ramin Karimloo as Pirate King, (R)- Jinkx Monsoon as Ruth/ Photo Credit by Joan Marcus

The leading actors – Ramin Karimloo as the Pirate King and Jinkx Monsoon as Ruth – also used markers of the physical style of the operetta characters of the time. This was especially noticeable with Jinkx Monsoon: her poses, facial expressions, and gestures served as unmistakable indicators of the feelings she was portraying. From her first appearance on stage, with the song “When Frederic Was a Little Lad,” it was clear what her character would be like.

Both Ramin and Jinkx managed to fully combine the musical specificity of Sullivan’s score with their actions and behavior on stage. Their duet was incomparable; they truly “fed off of each other’s energy.”

To better reveal Ruth’s character and Jinkx herself as the amazing performer that she is, the song “Alone, and Yet Alive” was added in the second act, even though it comes from another comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan – The Mikado. Jinkx performed it beautifully, but the expediency of such a step in the context of the unfolding action remains questionable.

We were able to get an interview with Ramin Karimloo, who had the fortune of repeatedly playing the part of the Pirate King in various productions of The Pirates of Penzance.

Ramin Karimloo, Headshot/ Photo Courtesy of Polk and Co

Lisa Monde: The other week, I went to see Pirates! The Penzance Musical on Broadway, and I was completely blown away. I didn’t know what to expect initially. I saw you perform in The Phantom of the Opera back in 2008 on the West End, and now I’m happy to see you perform on Broadway once again in the role of none other than the Pirate King!

I loved the new revival, which is modernized and updated. How do you feel about this new take on The Pirates of Penzance?

Ramin Karimloo: It’s great, the audience loves it. More and more people want to make sure to catch the show before it closes. Many shows have been closing on Broadway and haven’t stayed long at all. I love seeing our show do well. It was a limited run, but people want to see it again. The energy coming from the audience, their joy, is infectious. We have a brilliant team of the Roundabout Theatre Company working with us and a fantastic cast!

LM: You’ve paid a beautiful tribute to the show that is celebrating its 145^th anniversary this year. I’d say it’s a historical revival.

RK: You know, this was my first West End job – back in 2002, and that was Joe Papp’s version of the show. I’ve always been a big fan of that production. Out of all the roles that I’ve played, the Pirate King has always been the role that I wanted to return to. I’ve been spoiled with having an opportunity to be in both versions of this show.

LM: And I believe you played the Policeman as well in the very first production that you did of the show?

RK: I was understudying the Pirate King, I was also the Pirate/Policeman as part of the ensemble, and then I took over the part of the Pirate King.

LM: You must know this show better than anyone else!

RK: During rehearsals for Pirates! The Penzance Musical, I thought I did, but instinctively what was ingrained in me during my first time playing this show, where I learned so much from Gary Wilmot the original Pirate King of that production – he was an old-school artist, with an exquisite work ethic, he was so resilient, he had such a wealth of knowledge. He was one of a kind, just like David Hyde Pierce – you as an actor become better just by being in the scene with them.  The memories of that time were so vivid in my mind! During rehearsals, many things that I did as the Pirate King previously would come to me, but it just wasn’t working for this production. So, it took me a while to strip that away. This is a completely new version, also not what Kevin Kline did in the film – you can only borrow so much, because as actors we borrow all the time… Here we have a different script, a different energy, and this Pirate King is a different animal altogether. It was nice to find him again for the first time.

LM: You played this role several times, and not that long ago, you reprised the Pirate King in 2022 at the American Airlines Theatre, is that right?

RK: It was this version. It was still called The Pirates of Penzance, the script was different than what we have today, but that was like a workshop version of Pirates! The Penzance Musical. It was the first outing for this production to see how the new orchestrations work with the audience, but even then, the Pirate King was different.

LM: How would you say your Pirate King has changed, if you had to compare the previous versions and this new show?

Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Broadway, 2025/ (L)-Nicholas Barash as Frederic, (R)- Ramin Karimloo as the Pirate King and David Hyde Pierce as Major-General Stanley, Ensemble/ Photo Credit by Joan Marcus

RK: This one is much more physical comedy and athleticism. He is very active, he wants to rally his pirate band, wants to be wanted, to have a purpose, but also, I was twenty two when I played him first, not anymore… (laughs) The energy is different – the story kind of swings, sometimes Frederic carries it, sometimes the Major General, and Ruth, and then Pirate King – we are passing that ball of storytelling in this version. At the end of the day, it’s still The Pirates of Penzance, but they are different.

LM: Like you said, the character changes with you. It’s a blessing if you like the role – to be able to return to playing it again and again?

RK: Yes. It’s funny with musicals… in plays, actors can play Macbeth a few times or Hamlet because those are the roles people don’t let go of, they go back to them. So why can’t we do that in musicals? Even though this is my second time as the Pirate King. I wouldn’t close the door on this role still.

LM: There are different approaches to musical revivals – one is doing classical revivals, which are as close as possible to the original, and the other approach is what we see in Pirates! The Penzance Musical – it is a modernized version, with an updated score, new orchestrations, new sound, and new singing techniques. We hear less of the legit sound and more contemporary musical theatre sound, which is also new for the musical comedy of Gilbert and Sullivan… Additional songs came in from other comic operas, like Mikado. Which approach do you prefer – do you lean more into “let’s do a classical production,” or do you enjoy doing modernized versions of the classics?

RK: As an actor, you sign up to try new things. We listen to what the director’s vision is; we are there to serve. Once I find my character, the voice and the movements follow.

LM: In this version, you had different given circumstances – for example, the location was changed to New Orleans. That seems like a fun twist, doesn’t it?  

RK: Yes, I loved that, since historically these pirates did exist! Also, I get a kick out of listening to the characters of Gilbert and Sullivan, played by Preston Truman Boyd and David Hyde Pierce, start the show. It sets it up nicely.

Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Broadway, 2025/ (L)- David Hyde Pierce as Gilbert, (R)- Preston Truman Boyd as Sullivan/ Photo Credit by Joan Marcus

LM: What is it like working with Jinkx Monsoon in the role of Ruth?

RK: She is a great artist; her presence elevates the piece. We have so much fun in our scenes together. Jinkx is such a hard worker! I have a lot of respect for people who earn what they get.

LM: Tell me more about the rehearsal process. I saw some videos, and it seemed like you were all just having a lot of fun. You can tell that your cast has a great dynamic; you’re like a family.

RK: It was never stressful; we were laughing all the time. Fight calls were tough, learning how to play on those washboards was not easy – we learned so many things together from scratch. We all shared the same aches and pains, and trepidations, and it united us. Warren [Carlyle] and Scott [Ellis] worked with us smoothly; the choreographer and director complemented each other in what they were doing. The way they passed the baton of who does what was terrific.

LM: Have you discovered certain things during rehearsals that were not in the script, but they worked so well that you kept them?

RK: A lot of the physicality. Everything was trial-and-error. With that flip off the diving board – I never had to do a back flip before! I was so happy I landed on my own two feet! I love that in our production we’re not chasing the laughs, Scott told us: “Do not chase the laughs, there are stakes!” In good comedies, you still need to be real, play the reality of it. Watching David Hyde Pierce is the best master class in playing comedy correctly. The writing is there, the sets serve the story so well, the lighting… It is such a great ensemble piece overall. All the elements perfectly fall together.

LM: This production is a major input into the development of the contemporary musical comedy – do you think this approach to revivals will grow strong? Will we see more shows like that?

RK: I hope so. I’d rather do more musical comedies. I also love challenges, new roles, roles that I may not know how I’m going to do, but I know I will discover them in the process. You learn with each new character, and you learn by working with different directors. It’s funny, I feel more “green” now, even with all of the experience that I’ve accumulated, because I’m even more open to learning. I don’t want to do a show that people expect to see me in.

Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Broadway, 2025/ (C)- Jinkx Monsoon as Ruth and Ensemble/ Photo Credit by Joan Marcus

It would be fair to state that the song “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” is the show’s calling card. Its wide popularity, thanks to frequent citations and use in advertising, makes it part of modern popular culture. David Hyde Pierce as Major-General Stanley did not disappoint the spectators, performing his part brilliantly and receiving a standing ovation. Honestly, all the ensemble numbers with the participation of this performer became some of the most spectacular and memorable.

The dance in this production [choreographed by Warren Carlyle] sometimes served as part of the narrative, but more often looked like a divertissement insert, which is typical for musical comedy. Several ensemble dance numbers were impressive, like the one featuring washboards and bells. The creators of this revival were successful in “marrying” the Savoy Opera and contemporary musical.

The show opens with the authors, Gilbert, and Sullivan, inviting the audience to evaluate their work. Their creations have been accepted and have stood the test of time. Hopefully, their other wonderful works will not be forgotten completely, and the spectators will be able to enjoy the revivals of The Mikado, Ruddigore or the Witch’s Curse, The Gondoliers, The Sorcerer, and Princess Ida. And it doesn’t matter whether those revivals become copies of the original versions or reflect the “contemporary vision” of the modern directors: the main thing is that the viewers will be able to immerse themselves in the wonderful world of Sullivan’s music and appreciate the incredibly high level of Gilbert’s skill as an author of poetic texts and literary librettos. And, of course, once again, we will be surprised that even today, almost a century and a half later, in the life of modern society, many “acute” problems that were highlighted by the creative duo are still relevant.