Ahoy, me matey. I'll tell ye a tale of plundering bankers, singing pirates and tangoing sharks.

It will shiver ye' funny bone and rattle ye with laughter.

"The Pirate Play" hits the deck at Carroll College, Nov. 5, and sets sail weekends through Nov. 15.

Directed and written by theater professor Michael "Mokey" McNeilly, it's a high-sea adventure pitting heroic pirates against blackguard bankers. McNeilly is also the play's composer, lyricist and sole musician.

Clever, witty and timely, this engaging musical drama seems destined to capture the fancy of theater-goers here and far beyond Helena.

The play started as a lark, said McNeilly, during a recent interview in Carroll's Performing Arts Center costume shop.

It all began, said McNeilly, when he and his wife, Nancy Harper, returned to Los Angeles for their annual reunion with friends a la the film "The Big Chill." Each year's gathering has a theme, and six years ago it happened to be pirates.

McNeilly, a former Hollywood actor and member of the Johnny Carson Show's Mighty Carson Art Players, composed and performed a song, "I Always Wanted To Be a Pirate."

It was an immediate hit with the group. And the idea "typhooned as it were" from there.

The plot and characters fell into place, thanks to a nudge from bankers and pirates in the news.

The antagonist is Count Long Gone Madoff (Randy Fuhrmann) - a banker who built his wealth through a pyramid scheme, funded by selling orphans and bilking pirates' friends and families.

"I'm a really wonderful person who wants to help out humanity and improve the world by becoming wealthy," said Fuhrmann of his character. "I'm very interested in attaining wealth any way I can - by exploiting, using, beating and abusing others - and I don't see anything wrong with that."

He describes the play as "a delightful musical romp in the world of pirating."

Without giving away too much of the plot's twists and surprises - there's a mad-cap crew of eccentric pirates assisted by a school of sultry sharks who come to the aid of the bilked citizens of Tortville.

The good-guy pirates and the bad-guy bankers each have half of a treasure map and chase across the seas to find the hidden loot first. Expect a surprising and swash-buckling finale in the creepy Dredgie Lagoon.

The cast is having such fun doing the play, they have a habit of breaking into infectious song smack in the middle of their interviews.

Lori Carey, who plays pirate captain Ann G. Bonnet, is delighted the play is being premiered.

"From an actor's perspective, it's more fun than most plays," she said. "Mokey gives us more freedom. It's an ensemble effort."

As the cast improvises, new ideas frequently get worked into the script.

McNeilly has been grateful for the collaboration.

"I take some credit for the idea," he said, "But the full-bones-walking- around body that has materialized as 'The Pirate Play' owes its life to the cast and crew and especially Randy Fuhrmann, who is a wonderful writer."

"It's an honor for me as an actor to be in a brand-new show," said Carroll student Mary Holbrook, who plays a dancing shark and pirate Grizzly Belle.

"I love acting and it's an honor for me to be part of bringing this creation to life that he has poured himself into - to bring it to fruition on stage is a very humbling experience. It's almost like a gift back to him ... just to make him happy that his brainchild is out in the world."

As a student, she said, it's been exciting working on a play that's just been written and never performed elsewhere.

"You're working with a virgin audience," she said. "They're not going to expect anything because they don't know the story."

"The Pirate Play" is among a host of special events on campus this year as Carroll celebrates its centennial.

Also working on the production are Carroll faculty members Nancy Harper, costumes; Sallyann Mulcahy, who did some of the choreography; and Chuck Driscoll, set design.

It's a play for all ages that's full of surprises and puns - and infectiously happy music you find yourself humming hours later.

Fuhrmann predicts the audience will find itself swept along in the treasure hunt.

"It's done in a fun and theatrical way. It's a very interesting journey the audience will like going on. And the music is outstanding."