How Actress Samantha Williams Harnesses the Headstrong Heroine In Tony-nominated ‘Pirates! The Penzance Musical'
'I'm just happy that our work is being recognized. [It's] super crazy,' says actress Samantha Williams on a Zoom call, just hours after finding out 'Pirates! The Penzance Musical' has been nominated for the Tony Award for best revival of a musical.
Perhaps nearly as thrilling as the Tony nom, Williams is also fresh off a performance for a group of young students, which she says felt like headlining at Madison Square Garden. For Williams, the journey with this New Orleans-set, jazz-inspired adaptation of the comic opera 'The Pirates of Penzance,' has been this exhilarating since Day One. Williams stars as Mabel, the headstrong heroine, alongside David Hyde Pierce (who plays her father), Jinkx Monsoon and Ramin Karimloo in 'Pirates! The Penzance Musical' at the Todd Haimes Theatre through July 27.
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'Pirates! The Penzance Musical' follows a young man, Frederic, accidentally forced into being a pirate until he turns 21. Gearing up for his birthday, he meets and falls in love with Williams' character Mabel. However, a slew of challenges arise, deterring their relationship — and hilarity ensues.
While many theater fanatics are familiar with the original Gilbert & Sullivan work, this adaptation has been surprising attendees since its opening night with this new setting and 'silly' approach, according to Williams.
It also surprised Williams, who was originally reluctant to audition for the role when she was first approached about a one-night-only concert rendition in October 2022. According to Williams, it was a complete change of pace from the type of work she'd been doing.
'I was like, 'Girl, I don't really think that's my vibe,' because I was doing more serious contemporary theater,' she recalls. 'I was like, 'A lot of young people don't really know it.' I learned about it in theater school, but I passed on the original audition for the concert. Then the team, specifically Joseph Joubert, who rewrote all the music — he was my music director and the orchestrator on 'Caroline, or Change' — wrote to my agents like, 'She has to come in…it's not what she thinks it is. They've changed it all.''
Williams adds: 'The world of Gilbert and Sullivan, I'd never seen a Black girl. I was like, 'I don't really see where I would fit in that world,' and so it was more like the preconceived ideas of what that [world] is and what that looks like, that society has put on all of us, actors and theater makers alike, that I was giving into.'
Upon digging into the updated score and production, Williams was hooked and did go on to star in the concert alongside many of her current cast members. The jazzy orchestration and new take on the character of Mabel in particular stood out to her.
'Mabel is very headstrong and in tune with her sexuality in this version. She knows what she wants, and she gets it,' Williams says. 'She's the one sister that's always up to her own thing, whereas the rest of the sisters work as a school of fish… It's been fun to dive into bringing this character back in a way that's not so much damsel in distress and has more ownership over what she wants.'
Of the vocals, Williams says: 'It has the jazz, the soprano, a little belt. It is all over the place, so it's been really fun and a great challenge for me.'
The show comes with some other challenges, most notably holding in laughter, particularly in scenes with costars Pierce and Karimloo, Williams says.
'We laugh a lot on stage… The audience loves when you break during a comedy. They eat it up,' Williams says, adding this was especially true of the student audience.
In terms of who breaks the most with laughter, Williams immediately says: ' It's me, and [the cast] would all say me too.'
While Monsoon, Pierce and Karimloo are constantly causing Williams to crack up on stage, she's grateful to be working with such a stacked cast.
'All three [are] so gracious and humble… We're only around each other. We don't really have lives, and so [I] kind of forget who they are until someone [is like] 'how is it working with these icons?'' she says. 'My mom is obsessed with David Hyde Pierce and 'Frasier.' She was fan-girling when she met him at opening. David is just so subtle with everything, which is what makes him so good, and Ramin [has] that voice, and Jinx is just such an icon.'
Upon opening, 'Pirates! The Penzance Musical' was already set for a limited engagement, something that Williams is used to as she completed a short run of 'Titanic' at New York City Center last summer alongside Karimloo.
'I love being able to be like, 'OK, we did that. Now, let's jump to the next thing.' There's always something to learn with that,' she says. 'At the same time, it is a little bit scary because you just don't know what the next thing is going to be, and you have to just trust that something will come that's meant to be.'
As far as what is next, Williams jokes about writing a 'Cheetah Girls' musical with her friends, adding that she's always been a Galleria, the character played by Raven-Symoné.
'It would be for a very specific audience, though, like our age girlies, [but] we can we make a dent,' she jokes, adding that she's been listening to the song 'Cinderella' from the first movie.
As thoughts of a potential 'Cheetah Girls' musical rattle around Williams' brain, she says a bit more seriously that she is a part of several hopefully Broadway-bound new musicals. She's also ready to do something on television.
'What's next?' she asks herself. 'Lots of fun!'
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