The Pirates Of
Louise Gold played Edith one of Major General
Stanley’s daughters, filmed at Shepperton Studios in 1982. Like several of the
cast members she also appeared in a production of that producers stage version of The Pirates Of
Penzance.
Unfortunately all the minor characters (and the
chorus) were dubbed. The principals, or at least Angela Lansbury, recorded
their parts for the film, but the chorus did not. The explanation for this,
from one of the pirates, is as follows:
“All the songs in the film of Pirates of
To clarify, it should perhaps be pointed out that
among those performers minor parts in the film, who didn’t do the West End
show, for whatever reasons (two of them were appearing in Windy City
for a start), there were several decent singers including: Zoot Money, Ken
Leigh-Rogers, Maurice Lane, and, Neil McCaul amongst others.
Cast
Pirate King – Kevin Kline
Ruth – Anglela Lansbury
Mabel Stanley – Linda Ronstadt
Major General Stanley – George Rose
Frederic – Rex Smith
Sergeant – Tony Azito
Samuel – David Hatton (sung by Stephen
Hanan)
Edith – Louise Gold (sung by Alexandra
Korey)
Kate – Teresa Codling (sung by Marcie Shaw)
Pinafore Captain – Rondo Bruni
Orchestra Conductor –
Chorus Daughters:
Nellie - Leni Harper
Emma - Clare McIntyre
Agatha - Louise Papillon
Isobel - Tilly Vosburgh
Grace - Nancy Wood
Chorus Pirates:
Hugh - Anthony Arndel
Strephon - John Asquith
Ffolkes - Tim Bentinck
Charming - Ross Davidson
Sheridan - Mike Grady
Moonshine - Simon Howe
Jolyon - Tony Millan
Alphonse - Zoot Money (sometimes known
as G.B. Zoot Money, also sometimes known as G B Money)
Pablo - Andrew Paul
Benjamin - Ken Leigh Rogers
Norman - Mike Walling
Felons & Tarantara Corps:
Frankie Cull, David Hampshire, Phillip
Harrison, Jerry Manly, Rhys Nelson, and, Kenny Warwick
Tarantara Corps:
Peppi Borza, Nicolas Chagrin,
Hassani Troupe/ Tumblers:
Mohamed Aazzi, Mohamed Serhani, Ali
Tahiri, Larbi Ben Mansour, Mohamed Larbi Hammani
Pinafore Company:
John Bett, Lennie Byrne, Jo Cameron
Brown, Zulema Dene, Marta Eitler, Carole Forbes, Jack
Honeyborne, Carol Macready, Brian Markham, Valerie Minifie,
Linda Spurrier, and, Ursula Stedman
Production Team
Director – Wilford Leach
Assistant Director - Barry Langley
Producer – Joseph Papp
Co-Producer - Timothy Burrill
Executive Producer – Edward R Pressman
Production Company – Universal
Associate Producers - Stephen Katz, and,
Andrew Tribe
Production Supervisor - Alexander De
Grunwald
Based on: the operetta by W.S. Gilbert
and A. S. Sullivan
Lyrics – William. S. Gilbert
Music – Arthur S. Sullivan
Music Adapted by – William Elliot
Music Production by - Peter Asher
Original Productions – 30 December 1879 at The
Royal Bijou Theatre, Paignton, with Miss Kate Neville as Isabel and Miss
Marian May as Edith, and then, 31 December 1879, at The 5th
Avenue Theatre, New York, with Miss Billie Barlow as Isabel and Miss
Jessie Bond as Edith
Director of Photography – Douglas Slocombe
Camera Operator - Chic Waterson
Editor – Anne Coates (sometimes known as
Anne V Coates)
Music Editor - John Strauss
Production Assistant - Jeannie Stone
Continuity - Maggie Unsworth
Fight Consultant – B. H. Barry
Choreographer – Graciela Daniele
Art Directors – Ernest Archer and Alan
Cassie
Casting by – Debbie McWilliams & Rosemarie
Fisher
Production Design – Elliot Scott
Construction Manager - Syd Nightingale
Property Master - Barry Wilkinson
Chief Electrician - John Harman
Set Decoration – Peter Howitt
Costume Design – Tom Rand
Wardrobe Supervisor - Diane Jones
Make Up Supervisor - Jill Carpenter
Hair Stylist – Ramon Gow
Sound Editor – Les Wiggins
Sound Recording – David Hildyard & Frank
Filipetti
Special Effects - Brian Johnson
Supervising Accountant - Brian Bailey
Still Photography - Bob Penn
Unit Publicist - Geoff Freeman
Filmed at – Shepperton Studios
Made in –
For a review/account
of the film, please click here.
The Chorus Pirates each invented their own names
for their characters.
Around this time 1982, several film versions of The
Pirates Of Penzance were made. This page is about to the one produced
by Joseph Papp, and directed by Wilford Leach, at Shepperton
Studios in the
The Pirates Of Penzance, produced by Goldcrest
Films, and directed by George Walker at Twickenham Studios,
in the
The Pirate Movie, produced by Joseph
Hamilton, and directed by Ken Annakin, in
Amusingly, given that at the end of the Operetta The
Pirates get let-off because they are noblemen, one pirate in this film really
is a nobleman, namely Timothy Charles Robert Noel Bentinck, who went on
to inherit the title of 12th Earl Of Portland, Tim also went
on to play David Archer in the BBC Radio 4 soap The Archer's .
Apparently this Pirates of Penzance film got
referred to in a 1996 film called Clayton’s Friends.
All the principal players (namely: Kevin Kline,
Linda Ronstadt, George Rose, Rex Smith and Tony Azito),
with the exception of Angela Lansbury, had previous appeared in Papp’s
Broadway production of The Pirates Of Penzance in the same roles.
Louise Gold, Timothy Bentinck,
Peppi Borza, David Hampshire, and Simon Howe went on to
appear in Papp’s London production of The Pirates of Penzance at Theatre
Royal Drury Lane. They also appeared as members of The Pirates Of
Penzance cast in The Pirates Of Penzance
(Gala Preview) and in the 1982
Royal Variety Performance
Meanwhile,
Rhys Nelson, Chris Power, and
In the stage version of The Pirates of Penzance Louise
Gold played the role of Isabel, although she also understudied Edith (the
role she played in the film). The Only one of the three girls whom Louise
Gold has not played is Kate, interestingly in the second ever production of
The Pirates Of Penzance, at The 5th Avenue Theatre
in
The Dark Crystal is another example of a
film where quite a number of characters were dubbed, including, Louise Gold’s,
Skekayuk.
Valerie Minifie had previously
appeared in Joseph
And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Reading Production).
Linda Ronstadt had previously been a
Guest Star in one of the last editions of The Muppet
Show, which of course Louise Gold puppeteered on.
Chief Electrican John Harman had previously
been The Gaffer on The Great Muppet Caper and The Dark Crystal,
coincidentally the latter is only other film that Louise Gold has
performed in where she did not do her character’s voice.
Debbie McWilliams was also involved in the
casting of Labyrinth.
Louise Gold, Neil McCaul, and,
G. B. Zoot Money subsequently appeared in the film Billy The Kid And The
Green Baize Vampire.
Louise Gold and G.B. Zoot Money subsequently sang on (different sides of the
single) Billy
The Kid And The Green Baize Vampire (Soundtrack single).
Louise Gold and Neil McCaul
have since appeared in several musicals, such as Angry
Housewives, and most notably in The Lost Musicals productions: Red Hot & Blue, Panama
Hattie, and, 110 In The Shade.
Louise Gold returned to Shepperton
Studios about 13 years later to work on another film with a strong pirate
theme, Muppet Treasure
Some 16 years later Louise Gold appeared in
another G & S film, Topsy Turvy, this
time, at least she did get to do her own singing.
Louise Gold
has gone on to appear on stage in another G&S operetta, The Gondoliers, in 2003.
Neil McCaul
went on to appear on television in A Week
In The West End.
Zoot Money may have gone on to
appear in Dear Ralph.
Louise Gold returned to Shepperton Studios some ten years later
in her puppeteer guise for The
Muppet Christmas Carol, on which Art Director Alan Cassie was Supervising Art Director, and on which Brian Bailey also worked.
Louise Gold,
Alan Cassie, and, Brian
Bailey also went on to work on another Pirate film at Shepperton Studios namely Muppet
Treasure Island.
Ross Davidson went on to
appear on television in Roland Rat The Series.
Alan Cassie went on to
build sets for the television series The
Secret Life Of Toys, which Louise
Gold puppeteered on.
Mike Grady went on to
appear in Up The Garden Path.
Links about The
Pirates Of
Internet Movie Database entry: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0086112
BFI Database Entry: http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/125109
Movie Stills, http://dramafan.tripod.com/kevinkline/popbwpic.html
on
a site about Kevin Kline ( http://dramafan.tripod.com/kevinkline/index.html ) in particular: http://dramafan.tripod.com/kevinkline/popbw5.html
of
Pirates with the girls
The G&S Discography: http://www.cris.com/~oakapple/gasdisc/pirpapp.htm
The Pirates of Penzance entry
Timothy Bentinck's website, see section on his work: http://www.bentinck.net/frame1.htm
At A Glance Film Reviews : http://www.rinkworks.com/movies/m/the.pirates.of.penzance.1983.shtml review of
Pirates Of Penzance
Linda Ronstadt’s Homepage, an Unofficial fan site: http://www.crosswinds.net/~ronstadt/pirates.htm section dealing
with and detailing The Pirates of Penzance.
Rex Smith’s fanpage, http://www.rexsmith.com/front.html some articles
about him which include mentioning The Pirates Of Penzance
A Parent’s guide to using this film for educational
purposes: http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/pirates-of-penzance.html
Rotten Tomatoes Film reviews: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1016365/reviews.php page about The
Pirates of Penzance
P Movies: http://members.tripod.com/donignacio/movpiratesofpenzance.html
Review
of The Pirates of Penzance by
Rambles net: http://rambles.net/pirates_penzance.html Review of The
Pirates of Penzance by Laurie Thayer
E! Online Movie Facts entry: http://www.eonline.com/Facts/Movies/0,60,13369,00.html
Moonstruck review of The Pirates of Penzance: http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/albm66.html
Juggling in The Movies entry: http://www.juggling.org/movies/title/Pirates_of_Penzance.html
Variety: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1016365/reviews.php?critic=all&sortby=default&page=1&rid=180627 review of The
Pirates of Penzance
Cast album.org database’s entry for the video of this
film: http://www.castalbums.org/recordings/8485
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