By Ron Fassler . . .

In 1980, Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera The Pirates of Penzance was given a revival in Central Park at the open-air Delacorte Theatre, courtesy of producer Joseph Papp. It was so successful that, in 1981, Papp moved it to Broadway where it won three Tony Awards and ran for two years. Now, decades after that fabled production, The Roundabout Theatre is certainly hoping history repeats itself. Interim Artistic Director Scott Ellis is behind a staging for a newly envisioned version titled Pirates! The Penzance, Musical. Removed from its English setting and now placed in 1880 New Orleans, the adaptation is by Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) and will star Ramin Karimloo, Jinkx Monsoon, and David Hyde Pierce. Also starring as the adult orphan Frederic, is Nicholas Barasch, who made his Broadway debut at the age of ten in the 2009 West Side Story revival. Now twenty-six, I recently had the chance to speak with him on a rehearsal break from Pirates! which began previews April 4 before its official opening night on April 24 at the Todd Haimes Theatre.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Ron Fassler: It’s amazing how much work you’ve done for someone still so young. What age did you begin your professional career?

Nicholas Barasch: Yeah, I’ve been lucky, it’s true. I started working around nine years old in community theatre where I lived in Westchester and an agent saw me in something. So, that started me going out for professional things, which led to being cast in West Side Story (2009).

RF: You were ten, right?

NB: Yes, ten. Crazy.

RF: Although I did read that at age eight, you begged to go up for a production of The Music Man and your mom said, “If you go, I’ll go” and you got cast as Winthrop and Marian—brother and sister.

NB: That was wild! A true learning experience.

RF: Can you describe a bit what you’ve learned from working with such great theatre actors as Laura Benanti, Gavin Creel, Jane Krakowski, Jim Norton, and Chita Rivera, as well as so many others.

NB: I’ve been so fortunate. I mean, we lost Chita and Gavin Creel only last year and I think of them all the time. Not only their professionalism, but what they taught me about kindness and working as a team. And the same can be said for the directors I’ve worked with like Scott Ellis, who has been an amazing supporter. Pirates! is the third time, after Mystery of Edwin Drood and She Loves Me, that he’s directed me and there are so many lessons he’s taught me as well as being inspired daily right now in the rehearsal room.

Doing the workshop and now rehearsing the full production of Pirates! has been incredible. I’ve got a 300-page research pack that was made for us. And I love learning about the history of Gilbert and Sullivan. I mean, Pirates of the Penzance officially appeared in New York in 1897, which is an amazing fact to be part of that legacy. It’s such a gift to be able to be bring this to Broadway forty years after its last revival.

RF: What discoveries are you making while working on this music now? Not only about what you can handle vocally, but acting-wise as well?

NB: There are a lot of plates up and spinning in the air. I’m dancing in this—I’m not a dancer by trade, but Warren Carlyle is making me dance—and I’m getting to sing in a variety of genres because we are doing a jazz-infused New Orleans take on it. So, it’s a big challenge and it’s a big gift as an actor with a lot of tools of mine being utilized.

RF: What goals do you have for yourself in the future? I know you write, so what sort of contributions do you want to make to the theatre, film and television?

NB: I am dabbling in playwriting since my family is full of writers and it was bound to happen at some point that I would give it a try. I think the goals as of now are to keep growing and to keep tackling things that are new. I mean, I’m still young. I would love to do a play, I would love to do Shakespeare, I’d love to do more film. My love of that medium is equal to that of the theatre. I’m really open right now. ♦

For the moment, Nicholas Barasch will just have to settle for being a major part of the tail end of the 2024-25 Broadway season that boasts six other musical revivals and fourteen new musicals. Let the games begin!

Pirates! The Penzance, Musical begins previews April 4 at the Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 W 42nd Street, NYC. For ticket information, please visit: https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/2024-2025/pirates-the-penzance-musical.

Photo Credits: Joan Marcus.

Headline Photo: Nicholas Barasch (Frederic), Ramin Karimloo (Pirate King), and Jinkx Monsoon (Ruth) in Pirates! The Penzance Musical.