The Pirates of Penzance (TV Movie 1994) Musical | Comedy Frederic was sent in the care of his nursemaid, Ruth, to be apprenticed to a pilot. The light opera then went to Broadway, where it, too, attained popular and critical acclaim. Ronstadt’s success on stage led her to be offered a role in the 1983 feature film version of the show. A century later, in the summer of 1980, Joseph Papp produced an updated version of Pirates for his New York Shakespeare Festival, which starred Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith. In July of 1980, Ronstadt made her stage debut by appearing as Mabel in Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates Of Penzance in Central Park. Young Frederic has turned 21 and thus completed his apprenticeship to a band of kindhearted pirates. Papp's digressions from the original served Pirates well. It presents, with some inevitable, tiny technical shortcomings, a live 1980 performance in Central Park, not the 1983 movie of the same name that also starred Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline. This Pirates of Penzance is primarily a historical document, part of the Broadway Theater Archive television series. The show started as a limited engagement in New York City’s Central Park before moving to Broadway. A vision of the demure Victorian in her white dress, Ronstadt fills her part sweetly, and Rex Smith, for all his Elvis-like crooning, cuts just the right figure of earnest ingenuousness as the befuddled Frederic, torn between his fondness for the pirates who raised him and his duty to … Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for The Pirates of Penzance [Original Broadway Cast] - Original Broadway Cast on AllMusic - 1998 The Pirates of Penzance also features Angela Lansbury as Ruth (the sole major casting change from the Broadway production -- Estelle Parsons played the role on stage). On this day, August 21 st, in 1980, Linda Ronstadt opened in the play “Pirates of Penzance” on Broadway. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences and critics. The Pirates of Penzance Broadway, The Pirates of Penzance Original Cast List, Original Cast, Current Cast It then moved to Broadway in January of 1981, becoming the musical smash hit of the season. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for her movie performance as well as a Tony Award … But she misunderstood her instructions, being hard of hearing, and apprenticed him instead to the Pirate King. The Pirates of Penzance (Revival, Musical, Comedy, Operetta, Broadway) opened in New York City Jan 8, 1981 and played through Nov 28, 1982. The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. LAST night Joseph Papp's production of ''The Pirates of Penzance'' sailed into the Uris, and, yes, it is every bit as wonderful on Broadway in January as it was in Central Park in July. It may even be more wonderful.