Disappointed but understanding, the genial pirates wish Frederic well and allow him to leave with his childhood nurse Ruth (Lydia Lesar) who has served on the ship ever since she accidentally made her ward Frederic an apprentice to a pirate (instead of an apprentice to a pilot as she had been instructed). Frederic’s first order of business is to find himself a wife – a position that Ruth, though more than twice his age, is very eager to acquire. Of course, Frederic would like to marry a beautiful woman, and as he has never seen another woman before, he can only rely on Ruth’s hesitating promise that she is fair and not plain. But when he is suddenly confronted with several truly beautiful young sisters frolicking on the beach, Frederic rejects an inconsolable Ruth and seeks to find a wife among these younger women. Unbeknownst to him, those scheming Pirates of Penzance are looking to make some instant brides of their own. And so the battle of wits and steel and billy clubs and parasols begins!

And thus begins the inaugural production of Megill & Company as well as the first show of the 2002 – 2003 Season at the newly refurbished and extremely comfortable Sunshine Brooks Theatre. Both are off to a magnificent start!

Heather Megill, who recently reaped such an enormous booty of Billies in the First Annual San Diego Playbill Youth “Billie” Awards for herself and for all the talented actors she brought together, launches her new theatre company with this youth production of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic. Definitely a challenging play for any theatre to do, requiring actors of exceptional vocal and acting ability. But once again she has brought together a topnotch cast.

Tad Dickerson has an excellent singing voice and makes for an appropriately intelligent, serious, but naïve young pirate Frederic who always prides himself on doing the proper thing that duty calls for. Out of all the sisters on the beach, he falls for Mabel (Anne Moyer), the most forward of the daughters who loves to show off her wide-ranging operatic voice (much to the chagrin and envy of her sisters). And what an incredible voice she has to show off! Easily one of the richest and most beautiful you’re ever going to hear whether she’s singing ballads like Poor Wandering One, jumping from one brief note to another in rapid-fire staccato fashion, or holding a note until those listeners hanging on her every note literally fall over in anticipation. 

Also displaying a stunning operatic voice, not to mention outstanding acting ability, is Lydia Lesar as the unrequited lover Ruth. Her face seems to have a thousand different types of frowns to express her various emotions (mostly consisting of variations on sad, disappointed, heartbroken, regretful, jealous, irritated, vexed, and not very happy). Lydia is especially amusing when reacting to the debate between Frederic and the pirates who both seem to want Ruth to stay with the other, and when she is brushing off the affections of the Major-General (Stephen LaFata), father of the many aforementioned daughters. Speaking of which, Stephen (Billie winner as Ichabod Crane in Heather Megill’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) is a master of expressions himself, hilariously goggling and virtually drooling (or perhaps actually drooling) over plain, unhappy Ruth whom he is clearly immediately and completely smitten with. The nimble-tongued Stephen also nails the most popular number in the show, I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General, in which he introduces himself to the pirates who are after his daughters by describing his innumerable talents in song (sometimes pausing thoughtfully to find just the right rhyme for some of the more difficult and unusual words like "Heliogabalus").

Guy Marino made for a supremely confident, at times sensitive, but always brightly-costumed Pirate King. Billie-winner Benjamin Hart is the lively, fearless leader of a bunch of English bobbies who are enlisted to fight the pirates. (Okay, well maybe Benjamin and his troops aren't exactly “fearless,” but at least they still show up in spite of their fears.) Benjamin’s classic expressions as he “hides” behind a broken piece of marble that he is holding in his lap under his chin are a riot. That scene only became possible after Benjamin accidentally, but serendipitously, broke the prop during rehearsals and had to improvise. Meanwhile, elder daughter Edith (Lauren Gira) shares a hilarious scene as she has to drag one of her younger sisters (Renetta Lehman) away from the handsome Frederic, and Renetta is clearly not too eager to be dragged!

Lauren Gira, whose remarkable voice was last heard as the Mother of the Ugly Duckling in Encore Youth Theatre’s Honk! (and was a big factor in their winning an Outstanding Ensemble award), here leads the group of daughters who all demonstrate beautiful voices and impressive comedy as they struggle between the desire to be proper ladies and the desire for a man. The ragamuffin pirates were properly unkempt, crude, and swaggering, yet easily brought to tears by orphan tales. And the dancing, singing, humming, nervous, but resolute police force proved to be arrestingly entertaining.

Rob Hopper
San Diego Playbill