Line #1 Theatre/ThePirateQueen


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/71bo6oqh66l_sl1500_2.jpg]]
2	''The Pirate Queen'' is a stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, who also wrote the musicals ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' and ''Theatre/MissSaigon''. It's based on the life of 16th century Irish chieftain, Gráinne, or "Grace" O'Malley. It debuted in Chicago in 2006, going into an unsuccessful Broadway run that ended after only 85 performances.
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4	It follows the life of Gráinne O'Malley, who's mainly called "Grace" throughout the musical, who dreams of becoming a pirate captain like her father, Dubhdara, but who is held back by her gender, since women are viewed as being bad luck on a ship. Grace successfully sneaks on board and distinguishes herself, also igniting a romance with Tiernan, a childhood friend, but the English, led by their new queen, Elizabeth, have their eye on Ireland, and Grace will soon have to make the ultimate choice: Freedom or duty.
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7	!!This work provides examples of:
8	* ActionGirl: Grace.
9	* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: Based on the novel ''Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas'' by Morgan Llewelyn.
10	* ArrangedMarriage: Grace and Donal.
11	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Grace and Tiernan.[[spoiler: Ends with Tiernan being a VictoriousChildhoodFriend, marrying Grace and living happily ever after.]]
12	* CoolShip: The titular ship itself. They spend an entire song devoted to how awesome it is.
13	* GoodParents: Dubhdara. Even though he seems at first to be a FantasyForbiddingFather, in the course of one song, he's totally won over by Grace's skills, talking about how proud he is of her and letting her stay on the ship. He hates giving her away in marriage to Donal and, at the end of the first act, he makes her chief in his place.
14	* PirateGirl: It's in the title.
15	* PregnantBadass: Grace, particularly in the Broadway run where she kills multiple English soldiers IMMEDIATELY AFTER giving birth and then [[spoiler: divorces Donal]]. This is (possible) TruthInTelevision: There is an oral legend that says that Gráinne ní Mháille gave birth during a battle, rising from her bed to fire on the invading force while berating her men for not being able to do anything on their own.
16	* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Grace herself, given that, far from being the nationalist, feminist heroine she's portrayed as here, she was primarily interested in what she got out of whoever was in control of Ireland, and often made deals with English officials and used English laws to her advantage. Not that that would make her any different from other Irish leaders of her time.
17	* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: There's really no reason to suppose that Donal was NEARLY as bad as he's portrayed here.
18	* MisogynySong: Donal gets "Boys Will be Boys."
19	* PimpedOutDress: Queen Elizabeth gets a LOT, to the point where it was Lampshaded by critics.
20	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Both Bingham and Donal qualify, being virulent misogynists. Bingham in particular gets bonus points for VERY openly claiming that he would NEVER kneel before a woman...before realizing [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI who he's talking to.]]
21	* SweetPollyOliver: Grace disguises herself as a boy in order to sneak onto her father's ship.
22	* TakeMeInstead: Tiernan offers himself up to Elizabeth in Grace's place in "Surrender".
23	* VillainSong: "Boys Will be Boys" for Donal.
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Context Theatre / ThePirateQueen