Rating: 
Summary: Suckered.
Review: I just glanced at the cover and was mislead into thinking this was the great Kline/Rhonstadt movie version and I bought it. Well, live and learn. This washed out broadway thing should be consigned to the dustbin. I look forward to buying the movie version when it is released--but not until it's released on Blue Ray HD DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely delightful!
Review: I loved it! It reminded me of the days back in high school when my sister was Ruth in their production. The video is terrible but I loved it. It was charming and funny and everything a Gilbert & Sullivan production should be. The audience response was wonderful to hear. I feel that you can never enjoy G&S more than when it's live. It was thrilling to recognize Patricia Routledge. I fell in love with Frederic and adored Kevin Kline as the Pirate King. It was remarkable how lively and animated the performance was. If you are a true lover of Gilbert & Sullivan, you will love this. If you are a stickler for video and sound quality, you will HATE it.
Rating: 
Summary: What were they thinking??
Review: I ordered this DVD in haste, failing to notice that it is NOT the movie version I loved so well. My first clue should have been that it listed Patricia Routledge instead of Angela Lansbury in the cast. Overall the performance was fine, but the quality of the recording is abominable. Why is this Shakespeare in the Park production being marketed instead of the Hollywood version? The colors are washed out, and at times the sound is indistinct. I can only assume that the movie version of the same production is not available on DVD yet; otherwise, why would they market this grossly inferior production. George Rose, Tony Azito, Rex Smith, and Kevin Kline are outstanding in their performances, as they are in the movie. Routledge is "so-so". Linda Ronstadt is terrible. Her voice is flawed with warbling and mumbling that makes the libretto almost impossible to distinguish. The only song she performs which I understood was a puzzling rendition of "Heavy the Sorrow" from "HMS Pinafore". What is THAT doing in "Pirates"?? I can only assume that she possessed it in her high school repertoire and had begged the producers to let her sing it. Yes, I was rather disappointed with this.
Rating: 
Summary: One of two imperfect videos - buy both!
Review: I previously rated the VHS version of this Joe Papp production (which I fortunately have on Laserdisc). It's one of my favorites, but the VHS version was recorded later for cable broadcast and it suffers from it. Although it has excellent picture and sound (at least on my Laserdisc), it frustratingly falls short of the original cast CD. To fit its time slot, some verses or even whole numbers were omitted, while more visual business was added - some of it over-the-top silly.This DVD is from a taping of a live performance in Central Park. It suffers from wind noise in the microphones, bugs flying around, and all sorts of other hazards of a live taping. Not that it's bad, but simply don't expect the same audio and video quality of the slick later soundstage production. Having said all that, I wouldn't give up either of them! This version was made some 3 years years before the other and it shows on the actors who all are obviously younger. Better yet, it has all the verses and all the numbers that are on the CD - even the ones "borrowed" from other G&S works. The same sense of fun prevails. Patricia Routledge actually fits the part of Ruth better than Angela Lansbury did in the later production (both are *far* better than Estelle Parsons who's on the CD!) One minor disappointment is that the camera never pays enough attention to Tony Azito, who pretty much stole every scene he was in in the later production. Possibly just as well - wearing stage makeup and without the moustache he sported in the later version, he looks a little goofy here. So take your choice... A great, but incomplete production on VHS or this technically inferior, yet intact production on DVD. I'm just glad to have both. UPDATE:
Since this is a favorite in my family, I've now watched it several additional times with various family members. Imperfect as it may be, it's easily become my favorite of the two. The infectious sense of fun, the audience interaction, Routledge's superior performance - all set it apart. Will I still buy the soundstage production if it's released on DVD? Yes, if only for The better presentation of "When the Foeman Bares His Steel". But if I could have only one, I'm afraid this would be it.
Rating:
Summary: What a ROTTEN WASTE of money!
Review: I really should have read through these reviews before I purchased this item. I thought I was getting the movie version and was SORELY mistaken and upset. Bad, bad, bad. I turned it off within the first 10 minutes it was so bad. Don't buy this one. Get the much better production on VHS. This version looks like my little cousin's school play as recorded by his mommy. Yeah, it's really that bad.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent play, terrible recording
Review: I wish I would have read through the reviews BEFORE I bought this. When I was young, my family had a movie version of this with the same actors, so when I saw "The Priates of Penzance" with Keven Kline, Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith, I thought "great" and just bought it. WRONG! It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so obvious that it came from an analog source. Have you ever watched a video tape so many times that it jumps and hiccups and the picture gets all fuzzy and the sound gets all muffled? Well, they didn't even TRY to remaster it - they just copied it to disc. If you're going to buy this version, GET VHS - save yourself the couple of extra dollars - it's not worth it. PS the version that I had as a kid had Angela Lansbury, this one does not.
Rating:
Summary: Also sucked into buying what I thought was the movie
Review: I'm usually a pretty careful reader, but was making a quick Christmas order of musicals for my little daughter. I saw the cast list, and remembered that Rex Smith and Linda Ronstadt were the principals, so I bought this DVD. Big disappointment when I found out it was a 2nd rate video of a live performance. I really liked the 1983 film version, and hope its owners release to DVD soon. I'll certainly be more careful before ordering from Amazon again.
Rating:
Summary: Be very careful.....
Review: If you expect the movie, then don't get this. This is the stage show three years earlier and suffers from extremely poor technical quality, looks like original are fro U-Matic (not far off VHS) and has poor sound (Quality and balance, sometimes wows). Poor direction and camerawork Additionally meant I was unable to fully enjoy. Though, it was fun to see "Hyacinth Bucket - Bouquet" (Patricia Routledge) perform!
Rating:
Summary: Visual quality
Review: It is valuable to have a record of a notable Broadway production, but you should be aware that this record is barely adequate. The audio is a satisfactory record of the event and while the visuals enable one to appreciate the staging they do little to show the skill and energy that was a feature of the show. The major faults are in two departments. The first is in the clumsy camerawork and TV direction that misframes action and misses bits of important "business". Here a minor complaint is the visible camerman peering out of a hole in the set which adds a distraction that his viewpoint of the back of the cast does nothing to justify. Secondly the visual quality is terrible. Only in close up are facial features resolved, everthing further away is a blur of TV defects. The extensive ghosting suggests a recording of poor quality TV reception, even though the credits suggest a direct videotape recording was made.
However if you can cope with a visual quality that is similar to home TV reception in a remote valley poorly placed in relation to the broadcast transmitter, then go for it! Be aware that this DVD is not a patch on the 1983 film version with the same cast.
Rating:
Summary: Wrong.......
Review: Like so many other people that thought it was the movie turned out to be the play. I realize that the performances are great, as they are in the movie version. Kline, Ronstant, and Smith are in the movie. I shold have read the back of the DVD before I shelled out 24.00 for this copy. I remember that I saw The Pirate Movie first then realized that it was a satire to this movie. I then viewed this movie in cheeze and scan. I thought that it was bad, and then learned that it is very wide. My friend recorded it in wide screen a few years ago. I saw it in wide screen for the first and only time. I was very very good!!! They need to put this movie version in DVD in widescreen (anamorphic)
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