The Pirate Queen

The Pirate Queen
2006 Chicago Logo for The Pirate Queen
Music	Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics	Alain Boublil (French lyrics) Richard Maltby, Jr. (English lyric adaptations) John Dempsey (English lyric adaptations)
Book	Alain Boublil Claude-Michel Schönberg Richard Maltby, Jr.
Basis	Morgan Llywelyn's novel Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas
Productions	2006 Chicago 2007 Broadway 2016 West Valley City, Utah

The Pirate Queen is a musical written by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil. John Dempsey is the co-lyricist. The Pirate Queen marks the first time Boublil and Schönberg have created a musical with American collaborators. It is based on the life and adventures of the 16th century Irish chieftain and pirate Gráinne O'Malley, who was one of the last Irish clan leaders to resist the English conquest of Gaelic Ireland.

After a Chicago production, the musical ran on Broadway from March to June 2007. The cast featured Stephanie J. Block as Grace O'Malley, Hadley Fraser as Tiernan and Linda Balgord, who was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I. The show received harsh appraisals from the critics and had weak sales.

16th Century Ireland: a wild country ruled by feuding clans with long, noble histories. Most clans are landed, but some, such as Clan O’Malley, are sea-farers. King Henry VIII of England has decided to annex Ireland, and his attacks have turned the Irish into patriots. The O’Malley pirates have begun plundering English treasure ships coming from China, India, and the West Indies in retribution.

When The Pirate Queen begins, Clan O’Malley is christening a new ship (“Prologue”). Grace (Gráinne) O’Malley, eighteen-year-old daughter and only child of Dubhdara, Chieftain of the O’Malley clan, has sneaked aboard ahead of time with Tiernan, a sailor and her childhood sweetheart. Tiernan, pursuing her in a game of hide-and-seek, finds her and they engage in a serious sword-fight, a game which has over the years turned Grace into a skilled fighter. On this day, however, the heat of their young love can’t be restrained any longer. They drop their swords and kiss passionately.

They are interrupted when the whole of Clan O’Malley arrives for the ship’s christening. Evleen, an old woman who is the spiritual voice of the Clan, gives Dubhdara a goblet of whiskey which he spills on the figurehead, naming the ship “The Pirate Queen.” A christening is one of the few events for which women are allowed aboard. Grace confesses to her father that she wants to be a sailor, but Dubhdara tells her it is impossible. A woman would disrupt the male crew, and there are superstitions that a woman on a ship brings bad luck. He orders Grace to leave the ship with the other women. Grace expresses her frustration to Tiernan (“Woman”).