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Journey back about 350 years ago when Blackbeard was the scourge
of the Atlantic coast and when "booty" had an entirely different
meaning, when men were men and so were some of the women.
Blackbeard amassed a fortune in his lifetime, but now he is
dead and the audience must elect a new king, which pirate will
become Pirate King. "Blackbeard's Booty" is a new form of dinner
theatre that is interactive and improvised. The show is loosely
written and directed by Frank O'Donnell who stars as Sir Francis
Drake where he leads his cast of some of the funniest and
fiercest pirates to plunder the Seven Seas. This show is bawdy
and naughty as well as being a fun evening of entertainment,
with a delicious dinner served with it.
Frank chose some clever dialogue, innuendoes, double
entendres and jokes for his talented cast to tell and he makes
each of their characters different from the other. They each
have their tale to tell the audience in how they each met
Blackbeard and why they should be king. The gorgeous costumes
are by Lori Vermilye. As soon as you enter the show, the pirates
pick a pirate name for you and Frank takes your photo on a
digital camera. A slide show is shown at various times
throughout with these photos and others taken during the night.
The pirate palace in RI is the state house and some of our
earlier pirates included Joe Mollicone, Richard Hatch and Buddy
the Rug. Also included is a trip to Gilligan's Island and the
top ten things Pirates say that sound dirty but really aren't. A
couple of examples are "Permission to come aboard" and "Time to
Polish my sword". Each performer gets their moment to shine in
this show. Frank is a stand up comic and one of the funniest
moments was when he started to tell a dirty joke, spotting a 13
year old boy, David in the audience who was nicknamed King, kept
trying to keep things clean because of him, using the boy in
many hilarious moments incorporating it into this high energy
show. He and his 6 member cast do a topnotch job with this
clever show. I don't want to ruin any surprises so I will tell
you the names of the cast and their wacky roles. Kim
Alessandro plays the busty Katie the Cupboard, who has many
different items hidden in her bosom, while Karen DiOrio
plays the serving wench, Tempest McFlurry who also does the top
ten list. Captain Henry Morgan, a drunken buffoon is well played
by John Morris who has many a funny moments relating his story
to the crowd, drinking merrily from his whiskey bottle while his
trusty navigator, Yahoo is played by Bobby Ricci who wears thick
lens in his eyeglasses and carries a sword which he asks the
women to rub. The mustached lady pirate, Mary Read is played
by Lynn Nadrowski who gets to sing a couple of comic songs,
shows how Blackbeard found out how she was a woman which is a
hoot while Bill Beatini plays the gay pirate, Thomas Tew from
Newport who explains that he is only a businessman. Many funny
antics are done with this character.
Not only is the show a hoot but the food is excellent, too. This
preview performance was at Stage Right, 68 South Main Street,
Woonsocket and the buffet was by Savory Spreads 401-243-7476
prepared by Shelley Whittle. It starts off with salad, chicken
in mushroom sauce, roasted broccoli and rice plus
miniature brownies for dessert with coffee and tea. So for a
wonderful trip back to the days when pirates roamed the Atlantic
coast, be sure to catch "Blackbeard's Booty" and enjoy much
laughter and merriment during this cold and dreary winter. Like
Frank says "All for fun and fun for all".
BLACKBEARD'S BOOTY (Jan 23 open ended run)
Notfanuttin' Players, Hose Company No. 6,
636 Central Avenue, Pawtucket, RI
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