Spring 2009 PSF Newsletter

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Newsletter • Spring 2009 Real People, Revolutionary Vision �� By Thomas Rankin Opening in 1969 and running for three years, 1776 won several Tony Awards, �� Ben Franklin was trying to inject some including Best Musical, along with rave perspective into the chaos of Independence reviews: “This is by no means a historical Hall. “First things first,” he told John Adams, tract or a sermon on the birth of this nation. “America. If we don’t secure that, what dif- �� It is warm with a life of its own; it is funny, it �� ference will the rest make?” is moving... The songs and lyrics are remark- �� Keenly aware of the need to set a prior- ably original,” wrote John Chapman of the by William Shakespeare ity, Franklin calls for the ultimate: indepen- New York Daily News. “1776 reveals the dence for the colonies. dynamic personalities that founded America involved in gripping drama.” This quest, boldly portrayed in the musical 1776, has inspired director Dennis Razze The famous New York Times critic Clive �� since he first experienced seeing a production Barnes, a native of England, wrote: “On in the 1970s. the face of it, few historical incidents seem �� more unlikely to spawn a Broadway musical by William Shakespeare “The fantastic thing is 1776 takes the than that solemn moment in the history of Founding Fathers, people we deify as being mankind, the signing of the Declaration of greater than mere mortals, and it treats them Independence. Yet 1776...most handsomely � � � as being very human. Adams, Franklin, and demonstrated that people who merely go ‘on � � � Jefferson were certainly extraordinary men, the face of it’ are occasionally outrageously Music & Lyrics but they were real people who had flaws. wrong.... [1776] is a most striking, most by Sherman Edwards Their dream of founding a democratic nation gripping musical. I recommend it without based on revolutionary ideals was a huge reservation. It makes even an Englishman’s Book by Peter Stone gamble that heart beat took great faster.” courage and daring.” The �� uncom- 1776 promising �� chronicles ideology of the early John Adams �� days of serves as a by Adam Long, Daniel America catalyst for Singer, and Jess Winfield as the the story and Founding sets the tone Fathers dis- for the play. cuss, argue, “That little �� joke—and paper there A new PSF production given that deals with it won the freedom for Tony Award for Best Musical—sing and Americans! And yes, even our black slaves dance their way towards the ultimate goal are Americans! They are people, and they �� of independence for a budding nation. “The are here. If there’s any other requirement, I thought of the Founding Fathers singing haven’t heard it.” by Brandon E. McLauren and dancing in a musical may seem silly or even disrespectful, but in 1776, the songs and Adams’ determination drives the action dances arise organically from the characters of the play, while his wife Abigail propels �� and the situations,” Razze says. “And the him to keep fighting for his convictions even period flavor of the orchestrations really cap- when he is most weary. �� tures this time and place in history.” continues on page 10 2009 Sponsors Notes from the Producing Artistic Director Festival Host Occasionally, a patron or journalist the dry volumes of ethics and divinity that will ask me why a Shakespeare festival does were ever written.” According to a letter musicals. A brief conversation ensues about Abigail Adams wrote, when Jefferson and the origins of musicals John Adams traveled together to Stratford, such as Les Misérables, A England, her while serving as diplomats in Season Sponsors Chorus Line, Hair, and London, Jefferson “kissed the ground” upon The Mystery of Edwin arrival. Dr. & Mrs. Frank J. Szarko Drood (all originated at Shakespeare festivals), fol- John Adams read and quoted Shakespeare lowed by a list of the major throughout his life and filled his diaries with Associate Season Sponsors festivals that do them references to Shakespeare’s plays. “Let me every year, and capped search for the clue which led great Shakespeare off with the similarities Patrick Mulcahy into the labyrinth of human nature,” he wrote. between Shakespeare plays “Let me examine how men think.” Adams and and musicals—heightened language and situ- his wife Abigail also often quoted passages ations, a formal structure to the text (verse, from different Shakespeare plays in their let- lyrics), the use of music, singing, spectacle, ters to each other. They liked to compare King movement—hopefully providing a satisfying George III with Shakespeare’s arch-villain, answer regarding the natural connection. Richard III. “The time is hastening,” she wrote to her husband in 1775, “when George, like And, on the subject of connections to Richard, may cry, ‘My kingdom for a horse!’” Director Sponsors Shakespeare, my research in preparing to During the siege of Boston in March produce 1776 led me to an understanding Linda Lapos & Paul Wirth of just how keenly attuned to Shakespeare’s 1776, in a letter to John, urging him to plays our Founding Fathers (and moth- inspire action in the Continental Congress, she quoted this passage from Julius Caesar: Production Sponsors ers) were. A visit to the Folger Shakespeare Amaranth Foundation Library’s website yielded a treasure trove of “There is a tide in the affairs of Men information, quoted liberally here: Steve & Jane Auvil Which, taken at the flood, leads on to We know George Washington went fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life to a production of Hamlet during a trip to New York in May 1773 and an opera of Is bound in shallows and in miseries. ALVIN H. BUTZ, INC. On such a full sea are we now afloat; The Tempest during the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. As president, And we must take the current when it he once hosted an amateur Shakespeare serves, Or lose our ventures.” production of Julius Caesar in the garret of the Presidential mansion. Washington rarely Wills Hall Oblate Community Shakespeare’s plays are packed with quoted from the plays, but he did so in an characters who make compelling arguments, October 1778 letter he wrote as commander- using powerful language to persuade, often in Actor Sponsors in-chief of the Continental Army in which he situations of great moment and import. The borrowed the phrase ‘like the baseless fabric of Lee & Dolly Butz power of Shakespeare’s language to move an a vision’ from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. audience is widely recognized. Equally inter- Production Co-Sponsors One biographer writes that Thomas esting is its power to influence our actions Air Products Jefferson “haunted the playhouses” of in the world, especially in the case of leaders Keenan-Nagle Advertising, Inc. Williamsburg, Virginia. Later in life, he and, by extension, the nations they serve. The American Revolution probably would Kathleen Kund Nolan & went to The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth Timothy Nolan in London. In one letter, he recommended have unfolded without Mrs. Adams quoting Orlando Diefenderfer Electrical Shakespeare for reading in the evening, Shakespeare. But what if it helped? Contractors, Inc. explaining that “Shakespeare must be We hope you and your family will join The Rider-Pool Foundation singled out by one who wishes to learn the us this summer here at this unique cross- WDIY 88.1 FM Lehigh Valley full powers of the English language.” This roads of inspiration, beauty, laughter, and Community Public Radio from the man who wrote the Declaration great stories. There is a tide in the affairs of of Independence. Jefferson once encour- Shakespeare festivals. On such a full sea are Official Photographer aged a friend to read Shakespeare’s plays as we now afloat, thanks to you and your sup- Lee A. Butz a guide to virtue, arguing that “a lively and port. See you in the lobby. lasting sense of filial duty is more effectu- Official Hotel ally impressed on the mind of a son or Holiday Inn Express Bethlehem daughter by reading King Lear, than by all 2 • The Quill, Spring 2009 610.282.will Antony and Cleopatra: An Interview with Patrick Mulcahy By Thomas Rankin the tastes of the times and also trying out all this new How did you decide to pro- stage technology they were duce and direct Antony and developing, just as 20 years Cleopatra this season? ago a helicopter landing on It’s a fascinating play. stage in Miss Saigon was I had thought about it for worth the price of admis- years. And then last sum- sion. mer, patrons responded with great enthusiasm to curtain Antony and Cleopatra speeches and in our survey doesn’t require massive, to the idea of PSF produc- complicated moving set ing the play. Antony and pieces, though you can do Cleopatra was their number it that way. Today, the gen- one choice. It’s a sexy title, eral wisdom is that elaborate and a play most people have machinery may compete with not seen on stage. And we’re the story. And it is possible a Shakespeare festival. The to create stunning moments Festival continues to delve visually without a lot of stuff. deeply into the Shakespeare Sometimes less is more. canon, as we did last year with King Lear and with The Could you describe the Winter’s Tale in 2007. approach you’re taking with this production? Another reason to direct Two of the keywords the play is to explore the ques- driving our artistic choices tion: who were those people? are transcendence and para- Watching the series on Rome dox. As these notions can’t be HBO reminded me of how observed directly, our artistic interesting it is to glimpse choices want to somehow these fascinating characters reveal the human energy of up close in three dimensions.

Load more