This deliberately theatrical/artificial-looking translation of the hit early 1980s Broadway revival is just just cinematic enough to avoid photographed-stage-play stasis. It's good fun, and god knows there are precious few good movies of G&S operettas. Kevin Kline's sheer bravado, Rex Smith's pop-starriness, and the reliable comic savvy of veterans (George Rose, Angela Lansbury) are preserved for the ages. Linda Ronstadt certainly proved herself capable of her vocally challenging part, although she lacks the comic instinct a real actress would have brought to the ingenue part. Overall, it's no masterpiece, but there were so many total botches of Broadway hits during the 70s and 80s that it's hard not to applaud this for being a not-particularly-inspired but utterly solid take that actually understands its source material.
Review of The Pirates of Penzance
