Gilbert & Sullivan: The Pirates of Penzance
Producer Joseph Papp's Broadway spin on Gilbert & Sullivan'sThe Pirates of Penzancecannily employs pop firepower in its casting, adding an inviting Yankee accent to roles normally associated with (and sometimes embalmed in) plummy English locution. Erstwhile country-rocker Linda Ronstadt, who by this point had already proven she could tackle pre-rock pop standards, stretches successfully as its heroine. Rex Smith, then dismissed as a pop-rock heartthrob, proves he could be a "legitimate" musical leading man, a niche he's since inhabited comfortably. And Kevin Kline returns to his stage training as the hearty King of the Pirates.  Onstage, Papp celebrated the slapstick possibilities of the deliberately silly plot, which weaves reliably tart observations about class consciousness and gender politics into a pirate band's invasion of a Cornish coastal town.  A faithful big-screen adaptation added Angela Lansbury for marquee clout, but even without that grande dame of the Great White Way, this original stage cast is a corker, the music glorious and the performances spirited.--Sam Sutherland