When it comes to reviving a 145-year-old comic opera, who better to recruit than drag superstars Jinx Monsoon liven things up?
On Wednesday (November 13), the Roundabout Theater Company announced its upcoming new musical Pirates! A Penzance Musical, starring Monsoon alongside Broadway veterans Ramin Karimloo and David Hyde Pierce. Billed as a “reimagined, lovingly adapted production” of Gilbert & Sullivan's 1879 play The Pirates of Penzance, The new show will feature “jazz-infused, New Orleans-style” music and celebrate “the genius of Gilbert & Sullivan while taking some gleeful liberties,” according to a statement from director Scott Ellis.
Monsoon will play the role of Ruth, the original show's pirate “handmaiden of all jobs” and comic relief throughout the production. In a statement to Bulletin boardMonsoon shared that she was excited to join the cast. “If there was ever an unexpected role for me to sink my teeth into … she has EVERYTHING I could want in a character, not to mention the opportunity to play her from a whole new angle,” she said.
“The opportunity to revive the classics is something special that I've been asked to do.”
This won't be the first time Monsoon has taken on a famous role on the Great White Way. In 2023, she made her Broadway debut as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago. During its initial run, Monsoon broke several box office records for the show, including own gross record of unique performance. Monsoon later returned to the role in June after becoming the first transgender woman to portray the role of Audrey in the Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors.
Meanwhile, Monsoon's 2025 is currently packed with more Broadway-side gigs: In January, the twice Drag Race The winner is set to star as Reno Sweeney at the Pasadena Playhouse's Anything Goes: In Concertbefore making her Carnegie Hall debut in her Valentine's Day concert, Jinkx Monsoon: Live at Carnegie Hall.
Pirates! Penzance Musical will begin previews on April 4th and officially open on April 24th at the Todd Haimes Theatre. tickets available at Roundabout Theater Company's website.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/culture/pride/jinkx-monsoon-star-pirates-a-penzance-musical-broadway-1235827921/
