Pirates! The Penzance Musical

New York, NY

Theater

To accompany playwright Rupert Holmes’ vibrant reimagining of The Pirates of Penzance, we teamed up with longtime collaborator and director Scott Ellis to create an exciting backdrop for Pirates! The Penzance Musical, which made its debut on Broadway at the Todd Haines theatre.

Client: Roundabout Theatre Company

Project Category: Theater

Select Press: Spectrum News NY1

Set of 'Pirates of Penzance'. — Set in 1880’s New Orleans, the sets capture the show's multicultural mash-up feel by collaging together local architectural styles, cultural periods and pirate imagery. As audience members take their seats, a red painted show drop and a painted drapery header with swag and fringe recalls the Theatre de la Renaissance, which opened in 1890 in New Orleans.

Actors dance in stage performance of Pirates of Penzance.

When the curtain rises for the first act, the audience is transported to a town square in New Orleans, composed of French Quarter architectural motifs and shotgun houses assembled onto three-dimensional structures with a variety of perspectives. Railings, balconies, moldings, and shutters, enabling actors to enter in and out of them, and use certain components for props. A painted backdrop evokes the open sky above the water with an abstract collage of maps and sailing vessels.

Later on, the show features the Pirate King arriving on a large bas-relief ship, which slides on, expanding to its full length to reveal a giant mainsail. Beach scenes feature houses, rocks, tents, and a rickety beachfront fence.

For the second act, which takes place on a New Orleans estate, fringe, painted muslin, and contra fabric evoke an environment of lush Spanish moss. In the background, a multi-layered painted portal depicts the ruins of a graveyard, with an iron gate leading to a mansion in the distance. Statuary, ornamental canons, stone benches, and crumbling walls complete the scene.

Actors dancing on stage in production of Pirate of Penzance.