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The production of The Pirate Queen is in final rehearsals and is getting ready for it’s world premiere later this year here in Chicago. Riverdance creators Moya Doherty and John McColgan are launching their follow-up to the Irish-themed stage show - The Pirate Queen, which is a big budget musical production based on the real-life story of the legendary Irish clan leader, Grace O’Malley, who led an extraordinary life as a pirate chieftain, lover and mother in 16th Century Ireland.
The production, with a cast of 40, is now in final rehearsals in Dublin, Ireland and is due to premiere at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre in October, en route, Doherty and McColgan hope, to Broadway. Aboard are several Tony Award winners, including writer and composer Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg - the team behind Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. Frank Galati, another Tony winner, is director, with Doherty and McColgan producing.
“We wanted an Irish story that had resonance, one that would travel internationally,” said Doherty. “We think we have found that in the life of Grace O’Malley, who was something of a female icon in her day.”
Stephanie J Block, who has featured in many Broadway musicals, including Wicked and Oliver, plays the Pirate Queen, with Hadley Fraser as her lover, Tiernan. Linda Balgord has the role of Queen Elizabeth I.
The show’s Irish roots are emphasized by a score that features fiddles, bodhrans, uileann pipes and tin whistles. According to Doherty, Irish musicians have been working for some time with Boublil and Schonberg developing the show. After America, the production will be staged in Ireland and - if successful - also in the UK.