 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| STRATFORD SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL | ||
|
||
For theatre tickets and full season brochures, please phone the Stratford Festival box office at 1-800-567-1600. Brochures and tickets may also be ordered through the website at www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com
|
||
Reviews
Willson was born in 1902 and by the time he was a youngster, he probably had seen enough traveling salesmen pass through his own Iowa town to sense a few of the tricks of the trade. In The Music Man, Harold Hill is a consummate professional, winning, good looking, a smooth talker who could spin any story or incident around to his favor, and would never let an opportunity pass him by if he could make something from it. In painting a portrait of small town Iowans in the early part of the 20th century, Willson was more generous. Blending strong family ties with a midwestern stubbornness and conservatism, the sudden arrival of a traveling salesman who turns their life around by talking the townsfolk into supporting a brass band with uniforms and instruments and teaching their kids how to play, was the genius of a clever pied piper who had no intention of spiriting anyone away except himself when all the money was collected. The trouble was, Hill couldn't read a note of music and his instruction was limited to his own scam invention called The Think Method: by humming a song over the young band members would eventually pick up an instrument and play the song. That's the gist of the story and when The Music Man made its Broadway premiere in 1957, it was during the era of Doris Day films, and the popular family oriented television shows of the day like Leave it to Beaver and Father Know Best. The Music Man was pure Americana, a trip back to earlier times when life seemed much simpler and everyone a little more innocent. Willson's score was tuneful, his songs were both clever and lyrical, funny and romantic, and his book was delightful. Though the passage from page to stage wasn't that easy (his book But He Doesn't Know the Territory is a good read about Willson's endeavors to get his musical produced) it won 10 Tony Awards and was made into a major motion picture. While it's hard to imagine anyone coming up to the electrifying Harold Hill of Robert Preston who did both the Broadway and the film version, Jonathan Goad's performance in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival is pure magic. Goad captures Harold Hill's precision in his body language and speech, all part of his 'act,' completely rehearsed in a long line of conquering disbelievers and wooing well read, smart librarians who tend not to believe everything they hear. Goad doesn't have a lot to to do in the opening number on a train that has just crossed over the state line into River City Iowa except to listen to the griping of the other travelling salesman who know the reputation of a certain disreputable salesperson called Harold Hill because he has spoiled Indiana for them. But once off that train, neatly configured as it was by designer Patrick Clark from a series of collapsible boxes, he springs to life in the first blockbuster number in the show choreographed by Michael Lichtlefeld, Ya Got Trouble, Hills's cleverly phrased caveat to the folks in River City about the evils of a new pool table which has just been installed in the town's Billiard Hall. It paves the way for the second big number and the most famous one in the show, Seventy-Six Trombones, Hill's successful persuasion in letting the kids of River City form a marching band in order to keep them away from the depths of degradation like playing pool. Hall has less success with Marian Paroo, a librarian and a piano teacher, who harbors suspicions of his musical ability from the start, but he does have success with her young brother Winthrop, whose lisp keeps him from joining in with the other kids, and Marian's mother (Michelle Fisk) who is afraid her daughter is going to be an old maid. As Marian, Leah Oster, is a welcome addition to the Stratford stage with a crystal clear voice and a winning presence that makes Marian less angry than just plain annoyed that the other people in River City can be so dim. Dim perhaps, but they form a core of memorable characters from small town America in the 1900's idealized in films and plays; the bumbling mayor with his malapropisms and the mayor's pretentious wife whose status as first lady of River City is unassailable. Lee MacDougall as Mayor Shinn and Fiona Reid as his significant other, wife Eulalie, do full justice to the Shinns, while director Susan H. Schulman keeps the cartoon quality to a minimum. Schulman, in fact, keeps a steady hand on the entire production making everything that could be outlandish, seem almost as normal as blueberry pie to the viewer. These are small town people who were inured from the larger elements of the outside world - no daily papers, no television, no radio (not quite yet at any rate) - with no crime and no other means of entertaining themselves except by their own initiative. Mail was slow and there was more excitement in waiting to see what The Well Fargo Wagon was to bring than the folks would have years later in listening to the 6 o'clock news. With songs like Goodnight My Someone and My White Knight, The Music Man has its fair share of sentiment and Oster does especially lovely work with the sweet confession of Til There was You in which she surprises both herself and Harold Hill who realizes that for the first time he's got his foot caught in the door - the salesman who blunders his last pitch but ultimately wins out as a human being. With the dancing skills of Eric C. Robertson who rocks the floor along with a corps of cracker jack dancers in Shipoopi and the enchanting young Christopher Van Hagen as the withdrawn Winthrop Paroo who begins to come alive under the tutelage of Harold Hill, The Music Man doesn't have a hard time convincing us that we'd much rather play a brass trombone in his band any time than go to the local pool hall. The Music Man plays in repertoire at the Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario, until November 1. For tickets please phone the Stratford box office at 1-800-567-1600, online at www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com
The Taming of the Shrew doesn't quite fall under that description, but it does have flashes of Hinton's dauntlessness in taking a different approach to the text. His opening scene in the Shrew begins with a group of men debasing a woman by dunking her continually in a well. Women were little more than commodities to be bought and sold in Shakespeare's time, but Hinton makes it clear that if a woman had no currency at all, she was sunk. Literally. Apart from the water torture, this Shrew uses the play within a play version as the the host and hostess of a rowdy tavern set up a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly and in his stupor convince him he's a lord whose about to see a play performed just for him by the tavern toughs and wenches. Not just for him as it turns out, but the great Glorianna, the Virgin Queen herself, Elizabeth, who has surprisingly dropped in with her courtiers and will become a kind of continual observer, sometimes musical commentator, of the entertainment. As a woman of indeterminate age (though Barbara Fulton looks quite gorgeous in her flaming red wig and regal costumes by Santo Loquasto) and not married, the Queen will cast a discerning eye as the mean spirited Katherina and her clever manipulator of a husband Petruchio, spar for positioning in a marriage that may or may not be made in heaven But this Katherina is different and here Peter Hinton not only makes her a harridan, but a harridan with a limp. Not only does Katherina, the eldest daughter of the ever patient Baptista, have to put up with her simpering sister Bianca (Adrienne Gould), who is unequivocally her father's favorite, and endure the steady line-up of Bianca's panting suitors who won't be satisfied until Katherina the elder is married and out of the way, but be burdened with an unattractive limp that doesn't make her anyone's popular Renaissance dancing partner. Katherina, played by Irene Poole, isn't only angry, she's bitter, and that's a new emotion - and explanation - for this bad tempered lady. Ms. Poole carries off the rationale very well. After a while you scarcely notice her limp, a good sign for Petruchio who has come to Padua, fresh out of funds after the death of his father, to wive it wealthily no matter who the woman is and what she looks like. Poole, however, is attractive despite her unusually dowdy black mourning black attire, and she even projects a vulnerability that comes through her veil of anger. In her brief fireworks of a courtship by Petruchio, who won't take no for an answer and for that reason earns the love of Baptista forever, Poole and Evan Buliung as Petruchio slug it out from Padua and their quick wedding, to Petruchio's country home where the servants are in on the plot to teach Katherina a lesson in obedience. Aided by Grumio, Petruchio's side kick and savvy servant, in a neat reversal of Shakespearean tradition where boys played girls, Lucy Peacock is a hyperkinetic Gremio, almost sympathetic with Katherina's harsh treatment. It isn't quite tough love unless you believe that Petruchio's has truly fallen for his angry bride, but it is tough going for the dumbstruck Katherina who can't get enough to eat let alone sleep and still endure the mental harassment of her husband. Meanwhile, back in Padua, With a jumble of a sub-plot that finds Bianca's elderly suitors, Gremio and Hortensio outwitted by a more extravagant plan of Lucentio, a wealthy young man who disguises himself as a musician so that he can give Bianca music lessons and woo her at the same time, it's best to forget trying to keep the names straight and enjoy some notable performances. Randy Hughson, who can take on comedy as well as drama and slip easily into either mode as the script warrants, is a fine and funny Hortensio, an aging suitor for Bianca, who comes to the conclusion that he hasn't the vigor or staying power to pursue the now more assertive Bianca, while Jeff Lillico's energetic and engaging Lucentio proves that he has, and Stephen Ouimette's smugly contented Baptista, is simply happy to get rid of both his daughters. The final phase for this taming of this shrew comes on the journey back to Padua for Bianca's wedding and the wedding feast itself. Outside of the final speech in the play, the journey to the wedding where Petruchio tests Katherina's submission with some verbal sleight of hand, the audience is asked to either accept Katherina's compliance and change of heart or believe that she is fully capable of outwitting Petruchio. She is after all, highly intelligent and Ms. Poole plays that card very well. At one point, Katherina laughs as if she and Petruchio are both in on the joke when he tests her obedience yet again. Is it that she's on to his manipulative techniques and they're only worth a good laugh, or that both of them have finally started playing games instead of making war and have begun to enjoy each other? At Bianca's wedding feast, Katherina, still the butt of jokes, puts down both her sister Bianca and the older widow who has nabbed Hortensio, by winning Petruchio's bet that she will come to him as soon as he calls her. While both Bianca and the Widow have become more demanding with marriage, Katherina is finally released from her anger at being the odd woman out, though her one great speech facing the audience, "I am ashamed that women are so simple," a plea to wives to throw down the gauntlet with their husbands and become more loving, is instead given like Lysistrata's call to arms. This somewhat startling turn around doesn't fit in with the resigned Katherina of the previous scene, yet where the speech can and often will elicits boos from the women and applause from the men in the audience, there is none of that television style approval or disapproval rating. Either Poole's Katherina has made her point clear, or the audience has begun to understand that you simply can't take The Taming of the Shrew at face value, only for what it is, a play written more than 400 years ago when the inequality of the sexes may not have been fair, but made life a lot simpler. The Taming of the Shrew plays in repertoire at the Festival Theatre until Oct. 25. For tickets please phone the Stratford box office at 1-800-567-1600, online at www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com
It's not the first time that Romeo and Juliet have found themselves in an unfamiliar setting - and lived through it. So to speak. But McAnuff had the right idea in taking one of the world's most famous couples and putting them in a contemporary tale about adolescent love in full blast in a city divided by hatred.The poetry is lovely but the plot feeds on rivalry and vengeance, and in the long run, Romeo and Juliet despite its romance, is not a pretty story. It is, however, well suited to modern dress: blue jeans, leather jackets and snarling youth. When Escalus, the Prince of Verona (Wayne Best) and his entourage appear, trying to assuage the age old argument between the warring young Capulets and the Montagues, It's clear that Capulet, Juliet's father, is not just wealthy but very very rich. Dressed in white and quaffing an espresso, it's obvious how much he adores his daughter - and how much he loves being "the great rich Capulet." As for Rosalind, Romeo's current flame, she's hardly the nymphet of his dreams - a further emphasis on how young the young are in this production- but a school girl with a plaid skirt and knee socks, an old girl boarding school outfit. Romeo is clearly smitten but his fascination with Juliet will soon eclipse Rosalind. There is also a world of difference between the Capulets, played like a celebrity magnate by John Vickery with Sophia Walker as his confident wife, and the less ostentatious Montagues, played by Roy Lewis and Irene Poole respectively. Poole plays a sad, cowed Lady Montague with inability to express any emotion, an interesting contrast to her son whose testosterone is working overtime. McAnuff had an interesting enough idea with his contemporary opening in a youth oriented world, but when Capulet invites the adoring crowd to his house for a party that night, something odd happens. We're back in the 15th century with Paul Tazewell's mouth watering costumes. Perhaps, it's really a costume party and they'll change back into their every day mod outfits after the ball is over, but no, the performers wear their Renaissance finery until nearly the end of the play, then change once again to modern dress. It's one of those niggling things you wonder about throughout the play, and that's too bad because there are worthier things on which to concentrate. It's only Peter Donaldson as Friar Laurence, who keeps on his sensible brown habit throughout. If we don't notice his outfit very much, we pay attention to Donaldson's unceremonious Friar Laurence, down to earth, almost salty, and a real friend to to Romeo and Juliet. In that respect, Donaldson is thoroughly modern and accessible if everyone else waffles between the 15th century and the here and now. Donaldson provides one of the memorable performances in the production; the other is Lucy Peacock's garrulous Nurse, prattling on endelessly about her dead daughter Susan, but so fond of Juliet, the young woman who has been in her care since birth, that you can almost feel her waramth when she cradles her. Our young lovers are not as memorable but they do have passion, especially Nikki James as Juliet, a true adolescent who lashes out at her mother as any 15-year-old might do in the heat of frustration, yet is as vulnerable and self-centered as a child, while Gareth Potter's Romeo is impetuous and lusty, though not as lusty as friend Mercutio whose vigorous Queen Mab speech is filled with sexual innuendos and dark ruminations. Mercutio has always seemed older than Romeo, his brooding, quick temper and mood swings a sign of something not quite stable, and true to form, Evan Buliung plays him as a swaggering playboy whose confidence in himself seems unassailable, though a deeper purpose seems to propel him. The revamping of the Festival stage has served Juliet's balcony scene well. Now, Heidi Ettinger's set design for Juliet's balcony looks more like Juliet's landing, an improvement since Romeo appears as if he could - and does - climb the balcony without looking as if he's scaling Mt. Everest. Visually, the production is mellow looking from Tazewell's Renaissance costumes to Robert Thomson's warm lighting, though the chilly looking atmosphere of the burial chamber where Juliet lies ready to awaken from the effects of a sleeping draught, is in sharp contrast to life that has hurtled along at a quicker pace above ground. There, where Romeo had seen his best friend Mercutio killed in a senseless sword fight, and in retribution killed Juliet's cousin Tybalt, there was life blood flowing. Down below, all is cold and still. When Romeo kills the Count Paris, who was to marry Juliet, it is not a slaying of retribution as was Tybalt's death, but one of senseless jealousy, for there is nothing to gain from Paris's death. There is no justification for any of the deaths, though something positive will come from them. Romeo will kill himself out of grief before Juliet awakens, but their deaths will affect, and change for the good, the ones who remain behind.
Ben Carlson's Hamlet, is so focussed, so precise in his stages of feigned madness, that we never for a moment think he's actually mad, only compulsive in his resolve to unmask his father's murderers. His exclamation "What a rogue and peasant slave am I" is one of self-satsifaction. Carlson, who often speaks breathlessly in his performances, is in his element here as we watch Hamlet in fast forward mode, rushing to curb any emotion that threatens his purpose as he pursues his prey. He disposes of the the King's troublesome errand boys, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (David Lyshon and Patrick McManus) who are hired killers, sets up a troupe of strolling players to enact the murder of the king as a court entertainment (done cleverly as a kind of shadow puppet show with live actors), and accidentally kills the busy body Polonious, making light of it as he drags his body away. Geraint Wyn Davies as Polonius provides us with the most refreshing humor in the play and we miss him though Hamlet doesn't. Even Victor Ertmanis' amusing 1st Gravedigger with his collection of sculls, gathers little sympathy from Hamlet when he holds out the scull of Yorick, the old jester who played games with Hamlet when he was a child. Hamlet's "Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him, Horatio", is spoken by Carlson as if human mortality had suddenly dawned on the prince. Director Adrian Noble's fine production has many fresh touches, one of which is the character of Ophelia, portrayed by Adrienne Gould as nowwhere near the emotionally fragile girl of some productions, but a young woman who depends upon Polonious, her father and brother Laertes to steer her in the right direction, even if she protests too much. Unlike other Ophelias, Gould also manages to elicit of the eagerness of a young woman in love with love, eager to taste the joys of it, making more sense of Ophelia's famous mad scene in which here her favorite "toy" is a box with a baby doll in it. Nor does Hamlet's closet scene with Queen Gertrude bear any hint of sexual impropriety even on a threatening level. Maria Ricossa is a refined Queen Gertrude who would clearly like a more stable Hamlet to return to the fold, and her grief at his behavior is apparent. But their relationship is strained to the breaking point and she pays heed to Hamlet's warning to her that she refrain from sleeping with the king that night. Set sometime in the 19th century, this Hamlet demonstrates a less barbaric period than the earlier Danish court of other productions. Ophelia is schooled in the arts of obedience and fine arts, adept at playing the piano for the entertainment of her family, while our first impression of King Claudius' court is a Christmas party with a decorated tree and a folk dance in progress with merry couples. Scott Wentworth is a politically minded King Claudius who manages a well run kingdom and who has moved far up on the royal ladder with the help of an experienced queen. But their intense passion for each other which precipitated their marriage, is absent. What doesn't quite fit into the period is the ghost of Hamlet's father, played by a regal and suitably pale looking James Blendick, appearing in a cloud of smoke (too much smoke as it turns out with jets in view streaming full blast), while the final duel between Hamlet and Laertes and the poisoned cup of wine and deadly sword tip, seems more a theatrical exhibition match than a prelude to tragedy. But, fight director John Stead, has given us a smashing finale, even if we know the outcome. There is still the most melancholy speech in Shakespeare's canon, "Good night, Sweet Prince,"...as Hamlet lay dying. Spoken by a low key Horatio played by Tom Rooney, it's proof once again that no matter in what period Hamlet is set, it remains a tragedy that is ageless. Hamlet plays in repertoire at the Festival Theatre until Oct. 26.
The Kander/Ebb 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret, in turn based on the play by John Van Druten (I Am a Camera) and the novel Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood, told of a purgatory period in Berlin in which the final descent into hell was about to being. The world held its breath while cabaret artists held on. With a book by Joe Masteroff and music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb, Cabaret didn't look so much at the bravery of Cabaret artists in assaulting right-wing politics and anti-semitism, but at their naivety in believing that they could just continue doing what they did without retribution. There have been several revivals of Cabaret through the years, each one becoming darker in tone to remind us of a dire time in the history of the world, as if we needed reminding. The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is presenting Cabaret, under Amanda Dehnert's astute direction. with Trish Lindstrom playing a Sally Bowles who hasn't a shred of vulnerability about her. This Sally is tough and worldly wise, a proper fit for the seedy Kit Kat Club where she's billed as the "Toast of Mayfair" - a joke on us. Sally comes up short in the talent department but her pipe dreams about a singing career dissolve in the sleazy atmosphere of the Kit Kat Club where talent is a negligible attribute. She shows her true colors in Mein Herr with a brassy in your face sexiness, and in the end when she belts out that final big number of the night, the title song, she does it with a belligerence, thumbing her nose at life. Her near savior is a man who has come to Berlin by chance, looking for a place to write his second novel, but only succeeds in getting involved in Sally's life when he visits the Kit Kat Club and watches her perform. He and Sally form an odd relationship that gradually evolves into a kind of love, but when Sally becomes pregnant, Cliff willingly - and rather stupidly - becomes a courier for Ernst Ludwig, a Nazi sympathizer who has been taking English lessons from him. To Sean Arbuckle's credit, his Cliff is much more than a bystander caught up in a maelstrom as he sees Berlin deteriorate, but someone who becomes painfully aware that looking the other way is morally wrong. Nothing becomes of Sally and Cliff's superficial love affair. Sally's abortion is the final straw, and Cliff leaves Berlin amid disarray as the Nazi's put their final stamp on artistic freedom. Other lives are similarly interrupted. Bruce Dow's Emcee begins the show with a leer and a gentrified Wilcommen, and finishes the show in striped concentration camp garb. In between, he seems to be everywhere, even making a brief appearance in Sally and Cliff's bedroom where as a kind of omniscient onlooker is a bit much. But in the musical numbers Dow, as usual, shines. His If You Could See Her as I Do with its anti-semitic undertones is unctuous and ultimately distasteful; while Two Ladies is luridly entertaining. Both the Emcee and Sally Bowles have one thing in common: their end is predictable and probably unsavory, and you see it in their eyes. The character of Fraulein Schneider, the boarding house owner where Cliff and Sally live, and Fraulein's Jewish companion Herr Schultz, are not primary characters but their context in Cabaret is powerful. Nora McLellan as a resigned Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret's Brechtian influenced song about fate, "So What?", may try to shrug off reality, but when she breaks off her friendship with Herr Schultz, who like a passenger on Ship of Fools, cannot conceive that he will be destroyed by his own countrymen, there is so much pathos here that it is almost painful to watch. A sterling performance by Frank Moore as the deluded Herr Schultz is one of the few beautiful moments in a production which doesn't pretend to be about beauty. A special commendation for Kevin Fraser's dramatic lighting which draws us so completely into the abyss of seedy nightclubs and emotional upheaval, David Boechler's variegated 1930's costuming, and Kelly Devine's vivid choreography, all of which contribute to a memorable Cabaret. It's hard to resist Sally Bowles' invitation, old chum. Cabaret plays in repertoire at the Avon Theatre until Oct. 25.
We can start with the legendary Martha Henry, who begins the show and remains on stage until the very end. She anchors the production with a clear, strong performance as Hecuba, the Queen of Troy, who sees her entire family destroyed by war. He husband, her sons, her daughter and finally, her grandson are sacrificed to the fickle Greek gods. The play centres on the effects that war had on the women and children who survived the conflict in their lives, but with little else and even less hope. Presented by Kelli Fox as the violated princess Cassandra, whose gifts as a seer inform the audience of what will inevitably happen to both Trojans and Greeks in the coming years, Fox is riveting, powerful and the focal point of the central part of the production. I have not often been moved to tears at Stratford , but the performance of Seana McKenna as Andromache, devastated by the loss of her young son, is something to send chills through the most cynical observer. It is a scene I will never forget. All the women in this production are particularly effective, including Yanna McIntosh as the deceitful Helen, but the lighting, supported wonderfully by Marc Desormeaux' sound and music put the cap on a memorable piece of theatre. The Trojan Women plays at The Tom Patterson Theatre, until Oct. 5. For tickets please phone the Stratford box office at 1-800-567-1600, online at www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com All photos by George Simhoni.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare. April 23 to Oct. 26. Opens May 27. Devastated to find that his father's death was no accident that, in fact, the late king was murdered by the brother who now wears his crown Prince Hamlet immediately vows revenge. Yet putting that vow into practice proves agonizingly difficult, and Hamlet perhaps the most famous tragic hero in all of Western drama, and certainly the most enigmatic can't even figure out why. Directed by Adrian Noble with Ben Carlson, Maria Ricossa and Scott Wentworth. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. May 19 to Oct. 25. Opens May 31. Devastated to find that his father's death was no accident that, in fact, the late king was murdered by the brother who now wears his crown Prince Hamlet immediately vows revenge. Yet putting that vow into practice proves agonizingly difficult, and Hamlet perhaps the most famous tragic hero in all of Western drama, and certainly the most enigmatic can't even figure out why. All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare. June 19 to Aug. 23. Opens June 27. Love just doesn't come easy in this bittersweet romantic comedy. As her reward for healing the King of France, Helena, the daughter of a famous doctor, claims the hand of Bertram, a young lord. He, however, wants nothing to do with someone of so low a rank, so it's up to Helena to find another remedy this time for the contempt that prevents Bertram from accepting her love. Directed by Marti Maraden with Juan Chioran, Brian Dennehy and Martha Henry. Caesar and Cleopatra by George Bernard Shaw. Aug. 7 to Nov. 9. Opens Aug. 17. Shaw's legendary wit turns political drama into sparkling comedy when veteran strategist Julius Caesar becomes mentor to the enchanting teenage queen of Roman-occupied Egypt. Their first encounter under a desert moon will lead to a shift in the course of history, as Cleopatra gradually overcomes her timidity to become a determined player in the game of power politics. Directed by Des McAnuff with Christopher Plummer and Anika Noni Rose.
Cabaret. Book by Joe Masteroff, Based on the play by John Van Druten and Stories by Christopher Isherwood. Music by John Kander. Lyrics by Fred Ebb.
May 13 to Oct. 25. Opens May 29. No sooner does struggling writer Clifford Bradshaw arrive in Berlin to work on his novel than Emilia Galotti by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Nov. 5 to Nov. 9. Opens Nov. 6. Directed by Michael Thalheimer. His first sight of the beautiful Emilia Galotti sends Prince Gonzaga into a frenzy of desire but Emilia, a woman of impeccable honour, is already engaged to Count Appiani. As Gonzaga attempts to fulfil his erotic obsession by murder and abduction, Emilia must take up arms against her own deepest fear. An internationally acclaimed production by the Deutsches Theater Berlin, presented in German with projected English translations.
Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare. May 21 to Oct. 4. Opens May 31. In order to devote themselves to intellectual pursuits, the King of Navarre and his friends swear to avoid female company for three years. When four lovely ladies then arrive on the scene, the men are smitten but what about their vow? The members of the 2007 Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre perform alongside senior artists in this delightful comic feast of language and love. Directed by Michael Langham, with members of the 2007 Birmingham Conservatory.
There Reigns Love. Devised and performed by Simon Callow. Commissioned and premiered by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. July 11 to Aug. 3. Opens July 13. For too long, the peasants of Fuente Ovejuna have meekly endured the tyranny of their lecherous overlord. But when one man stands up in defence of his beloved, the townspeople are galvanized at last into rebellion and an extraordinary display of heroic resolve. Part comedy, part thriller, this classic of the Spanish Golden Age also resounds with beautiful music and song. Directed by Michael Langham, starring Simon Callow.
Krapps Last Tape by Samuel Beckett and Hughie by Eugene O'Neill. June 18 to Aug. 31. Opens June 28. Krapp's Last Tape. Every year on his birthday, Krapp has tape-recorded an assessment of his life so far. Now, having just turned 69, he listens with mixed emotions to the tape he made 30 years earlier. Anger and regret entwine in ironic counterpoint with a memory of epiphany, just as the voice of Krapp's long-ago self counterpoints the new recording he now begins to make. A hauntingly enigmatic memory play by the author of Waiting for Godot. Directed by Jennifer Tarver with Brian Denehy. Hughie In the wee hours of the morning, a small-time Broadway gambler regales the weary night clerk of a run-down hotel with self-aggrandizing yarns of booze, broads and big wins. Even as he brags, another narrative unfolds: the story of his relationship with Hughie, the clerk's recently deceased predecessor. A funny, poignant and brilliantly written study of character both seen and unseen by a master of American drama. Directed by Robert Falls with Brian Denehy and Joe Grifasi. Moby Dick. Based on the novel by Herman Melville, adapted by Morris Panych. Commissioned and premiered by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. July 22 to Oct. 18. opens Aug. 17. Having signed on as a harpooner aboard the Pequod, a whaling ship commanded by the mysterious Captain Ahab, the former schoolteacher Ishmael gets more than he bargained for when Ahab, obsessed by the great white whale that took his leg, turns the voyage into a personal quest for revenge. Music and movement help tell the story in this world première of a new Canadian play by the co-creator of The Overcoat. Directed by Morris Panych with David Ferry and Shaun Smyth.
Shakespeare's Universe (Her Infinite Variety). July 22 to Sept. 28. Opens July 25. In Elizabethan England, women were seen as the chattels of men yet the woman who sat on the throne was hailed as one of the greatest rulers of history. No actresses appeared on the stage yet Shakespeare's plays contain some of the greatest female roles ever written. This unique open-air presentation, designed to complement our 2008 playbill, uses drama, song, dance and more to explore the many-faceted and sometimes paradoxical role of women in Shakespeare's world. Directed by Peter Hinton.
For theatre tickets and full season brochures, please phone the Stratford Festival box office at 1-800-567-1600. Brochures and tickets may also be ordered through the website at www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com
About Us | Reviews | Previews | Stratford | Shaw | Theatre World | Links of Interest | Contact Us | Home © 2007-2008 Jeniva Berger |
Composer Meredith Willson was a small town boy at heart. Born in Mason City, Iowa in the heart of the American Midwest, it was natural for him to use his home state Iowa as the locale for his show, The Music Man. Setting the story in 1912 in River City, Iowa, population 2,212, for his comedy about a salesman called Professor Harold Hill who makes his living by traveling from state to state and scamming locals in small towns, was a labor of love. 
Peter Hinton's direction of Stratford's The Taming of the Shrew demonstrates once again that Ottawa's Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre likes to take risks. To get a taste of the Hinton style, his production of 
In the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet, a sleek red motorcycle is parked next to a doorway. A young girl looking little more than a teen ager crosses the stage pushing a baby carriage. Suddenly, shots ring out. A member of the Prince's military guard rushes in with a machine gun to squelch the confrontation - and the audience applauds. Applause? Folks, this isn't West Side Story, it's Des McAnuff's production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the real McCoy. And it's a school matinee, which explains it. Who else but students would applaud someone firing a machine gun in the middle of a busy square in Verona? It could be a video game: Romeo and Juliet Meet Super Mario in the Plaza of the Matrix. 
How markedly different is 
Depression years in Germany were marked by the stinging political and social commentary of popular cabaret. It was already a dying art when Hitler finally took power in 1933, one of the first victims of Nazi terror with writers and performers arrested and taken to concentration camps. 
For years, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival has made efforts to include classics from the Greek playwrights and some of these productions have been less than anticipated. This is not the case with Marti Maraden's production of Euripdes' The Trojan Women in a new translation by Nicholas Rudall. Even though its length is shorter than the first half of Hamlet, it's a show that will stay in the mind. Any more than 90 minutes of such intensity would burn out an audience, and this particular show features some of Stratford 's best actresses. 
Romeo and Juliet. By William Shakespeare. May 7 to Nov. 8. Opens May 26. They love each other passionately as only teenagers can while their families, addicted to hatred, embrace a culture of endless violence. To be united with her Romeo, Juliet dares to face the terrors of the tomb but not even the best of plans can change the inevitable course of disaster. Romance, laughter and tragedy add up to the greatest love story of all time. Directed by Des McAnuff with Gareth Potter, Nikki M. James and Evan Buliung. 
Directed by Peter Hinton, with Evan Buliung and Irene Poole. 
The Music Man by Meredith Willson. April 26 to Nov. 1. Opens May 28. When charming huckster Harold Hill arrives in River City, Iowa, with a promise to teach the town's youth to play in a marching band, librarian Marian Paroo rightly suspects that he's a fraud. But Harold's silver-tongued gift for selling dreams may be more potent than he realizes. A warm, zany and gloriously tuneful musical comedy, set at the height of America's golden age of innocence.
Directed by Susan H. Schulman with Jonathan Goad and Leah Oster. 
he's distracted by a romance with nightclub singer Sally Bowles. Meanwhile, the world around them is darkening under a sinister shadow, as Hitler's Nazis rise to power. Memorable tunes, deliciously decadent dance numbers and a poignant love story have made this one of the most popular musicals of modern times. Directed by Amanda Dehnert with Bruce Dow, Trish Lindstrom, Sean Arbuckle and Nora McLellan. 
The Trojan Women by Eurpidies in a new translation by Nicholas Rudall. May 14 to Oct. 5. Opens May 30. From the ancient roots of drama comes this powerfully moving testament to the endurance of the human spirit in the face of adversity. After 10 years' siege, Troy has fallen to the Greeks. Now King Priam's widow, Hecuba, and other women of the ruined city are to be the slaves of their conquerors. But even as they lament their present calamity, they hear predictions of tragedy still to come. Directed by Marti Maradan with Martha Henry. 
Fuente Ovejuna by Lope de Vega. In a new English version by Laurence Boswell. June 19 to Oct. 4. Opens June 27. For too long, the peasants of Fuente Ovejuna have meekly endured the tyranny of their lecherous overlord. But when one man stands up in defence of his beloved, the townspeople are galvanized at last into rebellion and an extraordinary display of heroic resolve. Part comedy, part thriller, this classic of the Spanish Golden Age also resounds with beautiful music and song. Directed by Laurence Boswell, with James Blendick, Jonathan Goad, Severn Thompson, Sara Topham and Scott Wentworth.
Palmer Park by Joanna McLelland Glass. Aug. 8 to Sept. 21. Opens Aug. 16. In this world première of a new work by the author of the Tony-nominated Play Memory two professional couples one black, the other white become neighbours in Detroit after the race riots of 1967. Together, they and their other friends strive to maintain the racial integration of their community and their children's school. But skin colour, they find, isn't the only thing that can drive people apart. Directed by Ron Parson with Dan Chameroy, Kelli Fox, Yanna McIntosh and Nigel Shawn Williams. 
