The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Newsletter • Spring 2010 Twice Merry: Jim Helsinger Directs & Acts 2010 Season in The Merry Wives of Windsor Romeo and Juliet by Lisa Higgins the memorization, and you’ve seen a variety by William Shakespeare of choices played on lines,” Helsinger says. It’s double the mer- July 21 - August 8 “You’re not in that mystery place of trying to riment in more ways figure out ‘what does that mean?’ than one in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives celebrated comedy about “As Patrick (Mulcahy, producing artistic two wives who devise director) and I were talking about the possi- of Windsor some novel naughtiness bility of having me act in the production, we by William Shakespeare to foil the advances of an remembered that this is how Shakespeare’s July 14 - August 8 over-inflated knight: Jim Jim Helsinger company did it. There wasn’t a director—the Helsinger takes the reins acting company put it all together.” as director, and he returns as an actor after a seven-year absence from the PSF stage. As a father of young children—Rosalind, The Playboy of the 10, and James, 5—Helsinger rarely acts; he Helsinger will play the role of Master mostly directs. (He directed last season’s A Western World Ford, jealous husband of Mistress Ford, played Midsummer Night’s Dream.) However, last by J.M. Synge by his real-life wife, year, he performed June 16 - July 3 Suzanne O’Donnell. as Dr. Faustus in Though both are Wittenberg—directed veterans of the stage, by Matt Pfeiffer. including PSF, they A Funny Thing have not performed The Orlando together in ten years, Sentinel praised the Happened on the since their first child production and the was born. actor: “Helsinger, Way to the Forum his head shaved Music & Lyrics Artistic direc- clean, plays the tor of the Orlando by Stephen Sondheim Machiavellian like a Shakespeare Theater master: He’s genuine- Book by Burt Shevelove and a frequent direc- ly captivated by the and tor at PSF, Helsinger new world of science June 23 - July 11 has directed and per- and psychology, but formed in countless you also sense that productions—but he simply delights in never has he directed being bad.” Robin Hood and acted in the Falstaff’s amorous pursuits of the merry wives by Brandon E. McLauren same production. “It’s leads to hilarious surprises. To say that June 4 - August 7 not something I was Helsinger’s gifts as naturally inclined to do,” he says. “As an actor, an actor have been missed on the PSF boards I really like working with a director because I would be an understatement. Says Mulcahy: like the collaborative process. And as a direc- “Every year, patrons who have seen Jim in Shakespeare for Kids tor, I like working with the whole ensemble.” plays here ask me: ‘is he coming back?’” by Erin Hurley Finally, the answer is ‘yes.’” July 28 - August 7 The addition of Matt Pfeiffer (direc- tor: Dracula and Complete Works... at PSF) as And after a long time taking turns doing associate director helped facilitate the deci- plays, Helsinger and O’Donnell will grace sion. Also, Helsinger has a long history with the stage together again. Their shared per- 610.282.WILL the play as a director, producer, and actor in formance history includes some of the most three different productions. “When you’ve storied roles in theatre: and Ophelia, pashakespeare.org done a play before, you have a leg up on continues on page 11 2010 Sponsors Notes from the Producing Artistic Director

Festival Host What think you of falling in love? – ROSALIND IN AS YOU LIKE IT Our four main produc- our collective consciousness is exemplified by tions this summer explore the number of films made and attributed to the rolling and rocky land- Shakespeare’s story (77 total), and the number scape of romantic love, each of productions at theatres across the coun- Associate Season Sponsors from its own unique per- try each year. More to the point, the names spective. Legend has it that Romeo and Juliet are considered synonymous Queen Elizabeth charged with young love in its freshness, passion, elec- Shakespeare with writing tricity, danger, and beauty. a play showing one of her Patrick Mulcahy favorite characters, Falstaff, The joy in a season like ours lies in both its breadth—two very different classic in the hunt for love, and The Merry Wives of comedies, a vaudevillian musical farce, and a Windsor was the result. great tragedy, taking us to Verona, Windsor, The Playboy of the Western World, by J.M. Ireland, and ancient Rome—and in the way Synge, takes us on a lilting comedic journey these very different plays shed light from Director Sponsors to western Ireland around the turn of the last different angles on a common human experi- century. The play reveals two unexpected lov- ence: romantic love. Linda Lapos & Paul Wirth ers aching to bridge the divide between them and hoping to transform their hardscrabble These great plays offer vivid reflections experience into a life of fulfillment. of this archetypal aspect of human character. Production Sponsors Romantic love enriches, enlivens, and some- Amaranth Foundation In A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to times perplexes as we learn what we are here Steve & Jane Auvil the Forum, Hero and Philia are classic, stock to learn on the greater journey. And it is this comedic lovers seeking to overcome the (hilar- greater journey that is most richly illumi- ious) situational obstacles that separate them. nated by great classic plays.

ALVIN H. BUTZ, INC. Romeo and Juliet is perhaps most So, grab a date or a fellow adventurer, emblematic of the hope and grief associated fasten your seat belt, and enjoy the ride at Dr. & Mrs. Frank J. Szarko with amorous pursuits. Two spirited young PSF this summer. people fall instantly and completely in love, and share every sensation, every nuance of the experience in unparalleled love poetry. That Wills Hall Oblate Community this play takes up such voluminous space in

Actor Sponsors Lee & Dolly Butz Shakespearean Insights featured on WDIY 88.1 FM Dr. & Mrs. Frank J. Szarko In a unique partnership with WDIY the practice today 88.1 FM, PSF presents Shakespearean as new satellites are Production Co-Sponsors Insights—a series of 40-second audio mor- discovered. Titania, Air Products sels, airing from mid-May through August Bianca, Desdemona, Keenan-Nagle Advertising, Inc. 7. Patrick Mulcahy is the voice of the and many others Kathleen Kund Nolan & insights, which range from the surprising to keep Juliet’s compa- Timothy Nolan the inspiring. ny as she awaits the discovery of her Romeo Lutron Electronics Company, Inc. in the heavens. For instance, as Juliet anticipates her Orlando Diefenderfer Electrical wedding night, she prays that Romeo will “We are honored to work with WDIY, Contractors, Inc. be immortalized in the stars, to “make the the Lehigh Valley’s community public radio The Rider-Pool Foundation face of heaven so fine that all the world station, to bring this program to listeners. The Spira Family Foundations will be in love with night!” While Romeo It’s win/win/win—we’re able to do outreach WDIY 88.1 FM Lehigh Valley never made it into the celestial book of in a different medium, WDIY is promoted Community Public Radio names, Juliet did, along with a number of to our audience, and listeners get great Shakespeare’s leading ladies and gentlemen. information,” says Mulcahy. Official Photographer In 1851, William Lassell began the The program airs at 10:04 a.m. on Lee A. Butz practice of naming newly discovered satel- Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and lites of Uranus after characters in the works at 5:29 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Official Hotel of Shakespeare or Alexander Pope, and the Shakespearean Insights is also available at Holiday Inn Express Bethlehem International Astronomical Union continues pashakespeare.org and WDIYfm.org.

2 • The Quill, Spring 2010 610.282.will Why Romeo and Juliet now? An Interview with Patrick Mulcahy Can you give an example? The beauty of great plays is There were a few moments they are always in style, always in auditions where I heard lines in season. So, now is always a I had never heard before or got good time for a terrific produc- an insight from something an tion of Romeo and Juliet. And, actor did that was new to me. of course, we haven’t done it And I’ve lived with this play for for about 10 years, so there is a 25 years. One of those moments whole generation of people who was when the nurse returns in have not yet had a chance to see the aftermath of the violence a professional production of it that kills Tybalt and Mercutio, here in the valley. and she says, “There’s no trust, No faith, no honesty in men. So what makes it a great play? All perjured, All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.” It’s Shakespeare’s first tragic masterpiece. The lyric love Jo Twiss, who we have poetry is perhaps unparalleled. now cast in the role, found the I think it is also unique in its resonance in that moment, in breadth on the spectrum from those words, of a woman who comedy to tragedy. It’s hard to has glimpsed bits and pieces of name another Shakespeare play human failing before but now that is essentially a comedy for sees the darkness and deception the first half, and then hurtles in humanity with crystal clar- headlong into tragedy. Most of ity, all at once, and sees a reality his great tragedies employ come- she despises. The nurse’s insight dy sparingly, often for temporary illuminates a piece of the relief, irony, or as an emotional human puzzle in a way we aren’t contrast to the darkness ahead. expecting in that moment. We But in this play, there are five or are expecting her to stay with six scenes in which the charac- her personal grief over Tybalt. ters, and hopefully the audience, Instead she sees through that are having a great time. catastrophic. This is human, of course, which grief to a larger truth, which is what tragedy is why we care. does for us, certainly in plays, and often in The catalyst for much of the exuberance life. We see things differently, sometimes is Mercutio. He is a lot of fun—and one of The play is also inspiring. I can’t think of more clearly. Tragedy allows us to see what is Shakespeare’s most fascinating characters, a play that more fully illuminates the unique noble in us but was masked by human fail- unlike any other. There are other compelling character of fresh, spontaneous young love—a ing. The nobility comes later in this play. and charismatic tricksters in Shakespeare— love that is perhaps made more pure by its Iago, the clowns and fools, Richard III—but brevity. It cannot be corrupted, because it ends none rival the mercurial wit and pure original- before life can taint its sublime energy. The You said there were a few moments like that ity of Mercutio. And this is at the heart of purity is preserved. Their deaths are deeply in auditions. Any others to share? Shakespeare’s appeal: vibrant, distinctive, irre- troubling on a lot of levels, but one outcome We were auditioning Ezra Barnes sistible, fully dimensional characters. Perhaps that transcends their death is an uncompro- (Dickinson in 1776) for the Prince. In his hyper-dimensional in the case of Mercutio. mised and, therefore, uniquely beautiful love. audition, something happened we always hope will happen: the actor did something that not I also think what makes a play great is Also, in many of his plays, the fric- tion point between the individual needs only met the expectations of the director, and, the substance of the insights into human- in my case, the artistic director—but he made ity, beyond the play’s great entertainment and group expectations ignites some of Shakespeare’s dialectical oppositions: to be an acting choice that illuminated what we value. The ideas stay with you because they should work for in the production. His Prince resonate deeply. In this play, a core conflict is or not to be, marry your love or marry the respected guy in town that will make a good cared deeply about his community, Verona, fate vs. free will, our choices vs. that which is and was hurt personally by this violence in the beyond our control, and, more importantly, marriage for the families, hate your ancestral enemy or fall in love with him. And, in his streets. Not something I’ve seen from a Prince our difficulty sometimes in seeing the dif- before. And it peeled back one more layer of ference. Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed plays, the consequences of choice go beyond living and dying, or getting what you want or the humanity in the play. His Prince saw all lovers, we are told, and yet they make deci- the implications for the community in this sions in moments of heightened passion that not, to questions of being, questions of the involve choice, and some of those choices are way of things. continues on page 4 www.pashakespeare.org The Quill, Spring 2010 • 3 A Couple in Real Life and On Stage: The Capulets, Greg Wood and Susan Riley Stevens

With perfor- his life. But at that time, in Othello. She also performed in Bad Dates mance histories at PSF, children were property. So at the Act 2 Playhouse, which earned her a Philadelphia area theatres, he tries to do what’s best Barrymore Award for Outstanding Leading and theatres around the for her and his family—the Actress in a Play. country, Greg Wood and match with Paris. That Susan Riley Stevens each Juliet disobeys him comes “It always takes my breath away to hear embody the phrase “work- as a complete shock.” the language that these two teenagers use ing actor.” Married in real to describe their feelings,” Stevens says. “It’s life (and parents to two- Greg Wood Adds Stevens: “I think Susan Riley Stevens just gorgeous. I actually remember being 14, year-old Laura), they will Lady Capulet loves her and although I could never have articulated perform together at PSF for the first time, as status and position—in her family, and in any of it, I know I felt passionately about the Juliet’s parents, the Capulets. Verona—and that contributes greatly to her relationships and people in my life. happiness in life.” “Being one of the most powerful families “Shakespeare gives meaning and magic in Verona gives (Capulet) great influence,” Wood’s career at PSF includes the title to a story of teenage romance, and as the says Wood. “Marriages at that time, especial- roles in Antony and Cleopatra, Cyrano de adults unknowingly push them toward their ly among the wealthy, were business arrange- Bergerac and many others. Stevens’ credits tragic end, they seem to embody the ideal of ments. He loves his daughter more than include Regan in PSF’s King Lear and Emilia romantic love in its purest form.”

Romeo and Juliet, continued first time, these things are happening, and we can usually prompt them from memory. these words are being spoken.” The pathway There seems to be a Verona section in our path to destruction and was moved by it not to the richest experience of a Shakespeare brains where this play lives on, day to day, only as an individual but as the man charged play is listening with care. Listening to a as we go about our otherwise normal lives. with stewardship of life and living in Verona. Shakespeare play is different than listening to It gets into the coating around the DNA. He made it deeply personal. And yet, again, contemporary material. It’s more terse, richer, Perhaps that sense of the play will then it transcended the personal to the way we the way a gold mine is richer earth. It takes become hereditary. live together. I’d like to write a book someday more energy to reach the gold, but it’s that about this play and call it, The Play We Think extra attention that yields the treasure. We Know. Why aren’t you directing it? Marcus Aurelius talked about this, that We are blessed with a rich pool of artists What do you mean? wisdom comes from learning to trade easy at PSF. The list of plays I’m burning to direct pleasures for more challenging and complex that I give to other directors is a long one. Well, we all think we know Romeo and ones. I can promise that an audience that does That’s just part of running a theatre. Juliet, don’t we? We saw the Zefferilli film in so will come away having heard insights in this school, and we’ve seen a few productions that When Rick Sordelet staged the fights play that will surprise them. That’s why many often fail to measure up to the play itself, and for Cyrano a few years back, both Dennis audience members see their fourth R&J, or we think we’re done with Romeo and Juliet. (Razze) and I noted his dynamic work with their fifth Hamlet: to experience the insights a Those auditions reminded me that, collec- the actors and his keen insights into specific particular production or actor will illuminate tively, we are far from getting to the bottom human moments. I knew he had also direct- in the play, or perhaps just to hear and see of this play. ed Shakespeare plays at other theatres. aspects of the play that have never been appar- ent to them in previous productions. Olivier Dennis raised the idea of Rick direct- How do you get beyond the limitations described Shakespeare’s plays as inexhaustible. ing R&J. The more I thought about having born of that sense of familiarity? a director for R&J who has spent his profes- We (PSF) need to access and illumi- You said you’ve spent 25 years with the play. sional life exploring the interaction between nate the great ideas in the play and translate I was in three professional productions violence and humanity, the more excited I got them into action. We need to access the great by the time I was 23. I got my Equity card about the idea. The violence in this play is so ideas in the company of artists. We need to playing Romeo. My first professional produc- integral to the action, the imagery, and the approach the play as if all the discoveries essential event of the play, which is the human tion was R&J. My first Equity production about its treasures have not already been made community coming to terms with its proclivity in New York was R&J. Even before all that, by someone else. We need to get the right art- I did four or five scenes from the play, the for destruction. So we hired an expert in vio- ists in the right roles. (We have been working balcony scene several times, as an under- lence. And there is a certain magic that hap- very hard at that.) And, the beauty is that we grad here in and while studying pens when Rick gets into a room with actors. have a magnificently constructed, exquisite in England. So, for an actor, other than A play—a masterwork—to explore and fulfill. Christmas Carol, the things you can count on Final thoughts? But we need the audience’s help, too. in life are death, taxes, and Romeo and Juliet. It’s a play of incomparable freshness, vitality, and passion. It’s set in Italy, it’s hot- What can an audience member do? I’ve also been teaching it now for 20 blooded, it’s sexy and romantic, it’s funny years. I see it periodically. And for most of us The audience can do what actors do (until it isn’t), and it’s a great evening in the who have been doing this for a while, when and aim for a sense of “now, and for the theatre. ■ an actor forgets a line in rehearsal or class,

4 • The Quill, Spring 2010 610.282.will An Irish Comic Masterpiece By Nathaniel Myers his father—and then denounces him when the gestive comment by the protagonist in the true reality of the deed is revealed. third act about women in their shifts. That Riots in the theatre led to riots in the is, their undergarments. In contemporary streets of Dublin when The Playboy of the The script by J. M. Synge evokes won- society, for a word like “shifts” or its modern Western World opened on January 26, 1907, der from Patrick Mulcahy, producing artistic equivalent to provoke moral outcry is almost at the Abbey Theatre. Shouting and foot director, who considers the play among his unimaginable; but even in the Ireland of the stamping were some of the tamer methods of favorites: “How has this playwright pulled off early 1900s, it is unlikely that the salacious protestation that evening; one actor recalled this extraordinary synthesis of the comedy implications of such a word would be enough that a stagehand “had armed himself with a of character and the darker humor, that still to cause rioting in the streets. big axe [...] and swore by all the saints in the leaves us refreshed by the end?” calendar that he would chop the head off the Historians and scholars have long debated first lad who came over the footlights.” The Irish poet W. B. Yeats provides the deeper reasons for the public’s antagonism what may be the best answer: In his Nobel at the Abbey. Some attribute the fracas to an It’s hard to believe that Dubliners Prize lecture delivered some 15 years after undercurrent of growing hostility to English protested the same play that James J. “Jim” the Playboy Riots, he said “everyone upon the colonial rule in Ireland, others blame resent- Christy, director of PSF’s production, loves stage is somehow lovable and companionable, ment of an upper-class, Anglo-Irish represen- for its depiction of Irish ebullience and resil- and Synge described [...] a reality which he tation of lower-class Ireland. Perhaps it was ience: “The play presents the harshness of loved precisely because he loved all reality.” a combination of both. What all sides of the their lives while still capturing the exhilara- argument recognize, however, is that the pro- tion of living.” So what caused the opening-night uproar—the first of several nights of public testers believed Synge’s portrayal of the Irish Part of the play’s brilliance lies in its disturbances that culminated in multiple people was, simply, uncomplimentary. ability to relish and rejoice in stereotypical arrests—in 1907? From today’s perspective, Whatever the cause for the riots, the play Irish characteristics—a gift for storytelling, a it’s hard to fathom a new play creating such explores an implicit, broader critique into the tremendous facility with language, a romantic real-life drama. nature of celebrity according to Mulcahy—a sensibility, and, most of all, a wonderful sense theme that he believes will resonate with pres- of humor—while cautioning against the limi- One theatergoer noted that, “An unusu- ent-day audiences. Noting that while we often tations and dangerous exploitation of these ally brutally coarse remark put into the idolize sports figures and movie and television same characteristics. mouth of ‘Christopher Mahon,’ the playboy of the title, set the house off into hooting stars, “when they become us, we resent their Playboy tells the story of a rural Irish and hissing amid counter applause, and the apparent transformation from inspiring idol to community that initially lionizes a stranger din was kept up till the curtain closed in.” just another mirror.” In this way, Synge’s play who comes to town boasting that he’s killed continues on page 8 The “unusually brutally coarse remark”— not to give too much away—is a sug-

www.pashakespeare.org The Quill, Spring 2010 • 5 Frolic in the Forum: comedy Tonight! By Lisa Higgins Lauded as “the funniest musical ever written” by , the play Comedy—the raucous and the refined, the ancient and begins on a spring evening in ancient Rome the contemporary—is “as resilient as man.” A Funny Thing as Pseudolus welcomes the audience to his Happened on the Way to the Forum, winner of innumerable temple to worship the gods of tragedy and Tony Awards, offers an “ancient and honorable style of comedy—emphasizing that “tonight we will fooling,” according to critic, who also perform a COMEDY!” Pseudolus quickly confessed: “you keep laughing as if the old sight and launches into the legendary opening song, sound gags were as good as new.” “Comedy Tonight.” With a title that’s a direct descendant from vaude- Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns ville routines, Forum traces its rich history to the prolific Old situations, Roman comic playwright, Plautus (c. 254–184 BC). His New complications work inspired Forum’s co-authors, Burt Shevelove and Nothing portentous or polite. Larry Gelbart, the award-winning comedy writer best known for Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight! developing the TV series M*A*S*H and co-writing the classic movie comedy Tootsie. The moment of the song’s creation is Forum won six Tony Awards when it Stock Characters’ because he uses the often regarded as a crucial event in the musi- debuted in the 1962-63 season: best musical, same comic types in most of his plays— cal’s development and ultimate stratospheric best actor, best supporting actor, best book, the wily servant, the young lovers, cour- success. “When an early version of Forum best director, and best producer. And every tesans, the philandering husband with was in tryouts in Washington, D.C., it was actor who has opened in the central role of the domineering wife, and the braggart not faring well with critics and audiences,” Pseudolus on Broadway (Zero Mostel, Phil soldier,” says Dennis Razze, PSF associ- says Razze. “The great director/choreogra- Silvers, and Nathan Lane) won a Best Actor ate artistic director who is directing. “One pher Jerome Robbins was brought in as a Tony for his performance. , of his plays is the basis for Shakespeare’s play doctor, and after seeing a rehearsal, he who performed as Pseudolus in one scene in The Comedy of Errors. What a lot of people suggested that Sondheim write an opening Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, also won the Tony don’t know is that most of Plautus’ plays number that would set the outrageous comic for Best Actor in a Musical. were sung to musical accompaniment, tone for the evening. That’s how ‘Comedy so he has also been called the ‘Father of Tonight’ was born. After the addition of Plautus would have been proud. Musical Comedy.’” “Plautus is often called the ‘Father of that number, along with some other rewrites, Clowns at Play* Photos by Lee A. Butz

Brad DePlanche Carl N. Wallnau Chris Faith Role: Pseudolous, the slave who is “the mas- Role: Senex, a philandering husband. Role: Hysterium, slave to Senex and his wife ter of all of intrigues that occur.” Domina. PSF Credits: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, PSF credits: Around the World in Eighty Days 2009 (photo right); Twelfth Night, 2008 PSF Credits: The Complete Works of William and The Mystery of Irma Vep (photos above.) (photo left); among others. Shakespeare (Abridged), 2009 (photo left); King Lear, 2008; The Taming of the Shrew, Razze says: “He is a bit of an everyman Razze says: “Carl is masterful at convey- 2007 (photo right). character, and his desire to be a free man in ing a scheming personality and has a bit of Rome sits well with our notion of American Groucho about him.” Razze says: “Hysterical antics are one of values and democracy.” Chris’s comic gifts—so he is ideal to play the worried and stressed out servant.”

* In keeping with the spirit of the play, this headline was borrowed from May 20, 1962 issue of The New York Times.

6 • The Quill, Spring 2010 610.282.will Sidebar on Sondheim: Frolic in the Forum: comedy Tonight! An Interview with John Bell Editor’s Note: John Bell the show had a triumphant opening on “One would think comedy was always is the author of several Broadway in 1962.” with us, and in fact it has always been with articles on Stephen us, but [Plautus and others] organized that Sondheim and the co- In Forum, Sondheim both composed comedy. They gave us stereotypes. They author of the book the music and wrote the lyrics for the first gave us the hen-pecked husband. They gave Music Theory for Musical time. “Previously, he had written lyrics for us the moonstruck young lover. They gave Theatre. He is the chair West Side Story and Gypsy, but this is his us ... all sorts of comic conventions which of DeSales University’s first Broadway score—and it’s a terrific one have not been changed or improved upon in Performing and Fine filled with great tunes and fabulously witty two millennia.” Arts Department and lyrics,” says Razze. a professional director, Keep a straight face if you can. ■ choreographer, conductor, and actor. The situation’s fraught Fraughter than I thought Stephen Sondheim, composer and With horrible, lyricist of A Funny Thing Happened on the Impossible Way to the Forum, has won eight Tony Possibilities Awards (more than any other composer), including the Special Tony Award for The “situation” is as familiar as the lat- Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, mul- est movie, soap opera, or sit-com. In a 1996 tiple Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, interview for the NPR program “Fresh and a Pulitzer Prize. He has been described Air,” Terry Gross asked co-author Gelbart: as “the greatest and perhaps best-known “What’s the connection between Plautus artist in the American musical theatre.” 1 and Forum?” Gelbart replied: “Total. We read the hat first attracted you to Stephen 26 plays of his which still exist...and we W Sondheim’s work? selected a character here, a character there, When I was a freshman in college, I a bit of a story line here, and another one auditioned for a Sondheim revue. It was from another play, and then started add- my first exposure to his songs and his ing our own connective tissue and our own songwriting style. I recall being surprised Plautean-like complications. and excited by the depth in the lyric writ- ing. Sondheim was clearly writing about * rumblings beneath the surface. I also remember feeling that his melodies were Clowns at Play rapturous. Most people say Sondheim’s music is un-hummable. I feel just the Dennis Razze reverse. In fact, I think some of his best songs rival the great melodic invention Director of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and PSF Credits: 1776, Richard Rodgers. Cyrano de Bergerac, Amadeus, My Fair Lady, hat differentiates him, in your and many others W opinion, from other musical theatre composers? “I have long been a fan of ancient Greek and Roman theatre—my doctoral work Like Porter and just a few other musi- was in theatre history and I’ve been to cal theatre writers, Sondheim serves primar- ily as his own lyricist. I think that intensifies Wayne S. Turney Rome and Greece to see the theatres. I’m also a fan of (Forum co-writer) Larry the potency of his songs. The message being Role: Erronius, an old man whose children Gelbart, who later won an Emmy for conveyed in the lyric is intrinsically tied to and supported by the melodic, harmonic, were abducted by pirates many years ago. M*A*S*H. He collaborated with some of the greatest comedy writers of all time, and rhythmic choices he makes to express PSF credits: Cyrano de Bergerac; My Fair , , Carl Reiner, and character and situation. Lady (photo right); The Imaginary Invalid . Gelbart won the Academy (photo left). One of my favorite Sondheim anec- Award winning screenplay for Tootsie—so dotes is that Sondheim has stated that if Razze says: “Wayne plays befuddled old I must confess, the section where you ask him to write a torch song he’ll men better than anyone I know—odd, since Hysterium unwillingly disguises himself respond that he can’t do it. He says he has he himself is extremely bright and he used as a girl really tickles my funny bone.” to ask: “what kind of torch song do you to fly jets!” want?” But he says that if you want a torch continues on page 8

www.pashakespeare.org The Quill, Spring 2010 • 7 continued Sondheim continued time passed and I heard nothing. Then one day, I received this very elegant envelope in comments on our modern society and not song about a woman who’s walking down the my campus mailbox with a New York return only upon a provincial Irish town. sidewalk in a red dress, who steps into a bar, address. I opened it to find a lovely, very Synge’s Ireland has little in common and sits down and orders a Grasshopper— short note from Steve Sondheim telling me with the “shamrock” Ireland presented that he can write. Now you’ve given him he was flattered by my remarks and that if I in Riverdance or Finian’s Rainbow. The something to characterize. Why did she were ever to find myself in New York to call play’s reach is much greater, its themes choose the red dress? Is this her favorite him up. He included his phone number! bar? Where is she going? Why did she more profound—small town existence, Well, I had never been to New York; the necessary function of narrative in stop in for a drink? Why did she order the Grasshopper? His response illuminates the I had never seen a Broadway show. So, my our lives, daily disappointment met with mom and I immediately planned a grand restorative humor, and, at its center, a fact that Sondheim is one of the few, truly great musical dramatists of the American New York adventure, which, because of romantic love story, a pair of star-crossed Steve’s great generosity, included a meeting lovers for early 20th century Ireland. musical theatre. I would rank him right up at his home and then attendance at Sunday Synge renders all this thematic material there with Jerome Kern and Richard Rogers in the Park. It was a lovely, magical night. into a wonderfully rich and lyrical prose. in this regard. He’s a smart writer and, in his songs, smart singers seem even smarter. In some ways, it is a disservice to ow is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum different from Synge to describe his dialogue as prose hat has given him staying power H Sondheim’s other works? when at times it is more akin to poetry. W during the past 50 some years? Take, for example, the first line of the The interesting thing about , I’m not sure Sondheim would agree Forum play: “Six yards of stuff for to make a yel- in the context of the Sondheim canon, is that he’s had staying power. He is the first low gown.” Students of poetry would that for a writer who is acclaimed for hav- to admit that his is an acquired taste. He recognize this line as a slight variant ing broken new ground in both form and has often lamented that audiences have not of the metrical form known as iambic content, is actually a very traditional always turned out for his shows. And even Forum pentameter, itself the principal meter of musical comedy. his most popular shows have not had the Shakespeare. This rich linguistic lyri- type of blockbuster success as many of those cism lends a larger vitality to the play. In fact, Forum is the one Sondheim from the Golden Age and even some of his As Mulcahy notes, Synge’s reality, while show which most directly links him to contemporaries like Andrew Lloyd Webber. often harsh, is “a poetic one.” the early roots of American musical the- atre. Having been mentored by Oscar That said, I think the fact that The result of this coupling of a harsh Hammerstein, Sondheim learned from an Sondheim has always been attracted to new and poetic reality is a tragicomic tale of early age that good musical storytelling subjects and new approaches to musical enormous beauty and consequence—a story involves using the songs to develop character storytelling has kept him in the vanguard that reflects the severity of the world while and advance plot. And most of Sondheim’s and solidified his place as one of America’s simultaneously allowing us to transcend our scores achieve those objectives in thrilling preeminent musical theatre writers. The sub- daily lives through laughter and love. and innovative ways. ject matter to which he has been attracted Editor’s Note: The writer is a 2005 includes everything from Roman comedy But with Forum, Sondheim must have alumnus of the DeSales University (Forum) and political assassination (Assassins) instinctively known that the wild, farcical theatre program. He grew up playing the to expressionist Pointillism (Sunday in nature of the story would become almost recorder for the PSF Green Show before the Park with George) to Grand Guignol unbearable if the songs didn’t provide respite. he was a college student, when he was (Sweeney Todd). No other writer for the a member of the acting intern company. So he wisely uses the songs to provide cessa- American musical theatre has shown, as one He is currently in the Ph.D. program in tion of action. Once the plot advances so far, English at the University of Notre Dame, of Sondheim’s own lyrics says, that there’s “so the story pauses for a song, giving the char- studying 20th century Irish and British much stuff to sing.” acters an opportunity to catch their breath literature, with an emphasis on poetry. ■ and comment upon what has just occurred. Fittingly enough, he has said that he Whether a ballad or a comic number, after would like that lyric to be the epithet on his that brief pause, the story ensues. Sondheim tombstone. knew that audiences needed those breaks in the action as well. ow did you first become associated Hwith Stephen Sondheim? This approach to dramatic structure is Having been introduced to his music the traditional formula for the musical com- in a college revue, I was excited to thumb edy and was used in many of the works of through the Arts and Leisure section of The great writers such as Irving Berlin, George New York Times one Sunday and find an and Ira Gershwin, and Cole Porter. So really, advertisement for his new musical, Sunday in Forum is Sondheim at perhaps his most tra- the Park with George. I simply wrote a very ditional and, if audience appeal is any mea- saccharine-coated, three-page, single-spaced sure, his most accessible. ■ fan letter and sent it to the Booth Theatre, 1. Frank Rich, “Conversations With Sondheim,” where the show was playing. A great deal of The New York Times, March 3, 2000.

8 • The Quill, Spring 2010 610.282.will Education News

Hamlet Succeeds Julius Caesar The Prince of Denmark succeeds the Roman emperor in PSF’s annual fall road tour of a Shakespeare play. The Linny Fowler WillPower Tour of Hamlet, October 6 to November 19, will travel to middle schools and high schools in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware following initial performances on the DeSales cam- pus. If your school is interested in booking the tour, please call 610.282.9455, ext. 9, or e-mail [email protected]. Photo by Bryan Sheffield WillPower Travel Notebook: A Trip To Warren Story and photo by Jarrod Yuskauskas Shakespeare Competition Awards Students $15,000 When you’re cast in PSF’s WillPower tour, as I was in the fall Renewable DeSales University scholarships and engraved tro- 2009 tour of Julius Caesar, you’re told that you will perform in a variety phies were awarded at PSF’s third annual Shakespeare Competition of spaces with a range of qualities. Within the first few days, our cast held March 6. Sixty-six student actors from 17 high schools in of nine learned how true this was when we found ourselves stabbing Pennsylvania and New Jersey performed scenes and monologues. The Caesar on the stage of a state-of-the-art high school performing arts day-long program included three rounds of competition, discussions complex one day and at center court of a school gymnasium the next. and workshops with theatre professionals, and a closing showcase. One space was rumored to be a lovely old theatre, and when we 1 “Students and teachers raved about the sense of artistic com- arrived at the Struthers Library Theatre in Warren, Pa. , early one munity that the competition created and the performance recom- morning, we were greeted by a magnificent and imposing but beauti- mendations provided by the five professional adjudicators,” says Erin ful brick façade. This opened to a large, warm stage and the most Hurley, PSF education director. “Each student received insights into beautiful theatre in which I have ever performed. Shakespeare’s words that enhanced and deepened their experience Built in 1883 to with the language.” serve the town as both The scholarships are renewable for the four years should the library and cultural student choose to attend DeSales University as a theatre major. The center, the theatre was scholarship recipients and the roles they performed in the competi- first used for opera, then tion are: completely redesigned in 1914 as a more standard Peter Danelski, Fool, King Lear proscenium theatre for Philadelphia High School for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia vaudeville, touring pro- ductions from Broadway, Sarah E. Webster, Helena, All’s Well That Ends Well and the films of its long- Villa Victoria Academy, Ewing, N.J. The Julius Caesar set at Struthers Library Theatre term tenant, Warner Anthony Saraceno, Orsino, Twelfth Night Brothers. Today, the theatre welcomes a variety of live performance Notre Dame High School, Easton, Pa. groups, houses a long-standing successful community theatre, and still shows the occasional film. Jacob McEntire, Edmund, King Lear Abingdon Friends School, Jenkintown, Pa. Beyond the theatre, the “library room” just above the mezzanine lobby serves as overflow from the newer town library. A fireplace is Matt Bazulka, Petruchio, The Taming of the Shrew adorned with tiles that depict the adventures of King Arthur, a two-of- Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts a-kind set with the other decorating a hearth at Parliament in London. (LVPA), Bethlehem, Pa. The uppermost level of the theatre provides rehearsal space and cos- Rachel Towne, Kate, The Taming of the Shrew tume storage for the community troupe that calls Struthers home. LVPA, Bethlehem, Pa. Fortunately for us, we were at Struthers for two performances. LeChean Reed, Viola, Twelfth Night The first was for students from all four of the high schools in North Penn High School, Lansdale, Pa. Warren County and the second was open to the public who, as we learned at the Q & A session after, were excited and hungry for live Ryan Egan, Romeo, Romeo & Juliet Shakespeare. Between the two shows, we walked around the center of Conrad Weiser High School, Robesonia, Pa. town, a delightful blend of architecture new and old that maintains the charm of history and proves that it remains a vital town with Sara Burik, Rosalind, As You Like It a bustling business district full of friendly faces at many charming LVPA, Bethlehem, Pa. shops and restaurants (one had the best baklava I’ve had in years). 1. Warren is located about 70 miles southeast of Erie on the border of What a joy for us to perform on this historic stage, have an inti- the Allegheny National Forest. mate tour, and spend time appreciating the beauty of Warren. www.pashakespeare.org The Quill, Spring 2010 • 9 PSF STAFF whereas Antony had a percussive, military PSF News sense. Then I tried to see how these sound Producing Artistic Director PATRICK MULCAHY elements work with and against each other.” Associate Artistic Director DENNIS RAZZE Wall Street Journal Critic Lauds Managing Director CASEY WM. GALLAGHER PSF Resident Sound Designer Although sound design has only gained Director of Development JEANNE L. BITLER Matthew Given, PSF’s resident sound recognition in contemporary theatre in the Education Director ERIN HURLEY designer (six seasons) and production manager past 30 years or so, Given notes that sound Director of Marketing & Public Relations (two seasons), designed sound for the Orlando was the first design form used when the LISA HIGGINS PECHTER Shakespeare Theater’s production of Hamlet Greeks built amphitheaters to naturally Box Office Manager DAEL L. JACKSON in January and earned high praise from Terry amplify sound effects they created. Business Manager JANICE S. HEIN Teachout, the theatre critic of the Wall Street Production Manager MATTHEW GIVEN Journal, who wrote that he “especially liked... “Prologues” Give the Context Management Associate TIMOTHY T. WALLING the sound design of Matthew Given, who has To offer audiences insights and a frame- Associate Box Office Manager MARISSA LIVOLLEN mashed up Brahms, Dvorák, Debussy, and work in advance of seeing a Shakespeare play, Arvo Pärt into a sumptuous sonic backdrop.” PSF introduced Prologues—discussions led EDITOR Lisa Higgins by a PSF artist before every performance. The accolade reads like music to the DESIGN Laura Zielinski Informal and free, Prologues are held in the EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Victoria M. Fragnito ears. “Sound design at its best creates a mood theatre 45 minutes before curtain for Romeo and doesn’t make a presence of itself,” says and Juliet and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Founder Fr. Gerard J. Schubert, OSFS Given. “One of the most intriguing elements about sound design is the subtlety of it.” Volunteers Welcome Amy Best Sound design begins with reading the Director The 150+ members of the PSF script and meeting with the director and Company come from around the coun- other members of the design team. “How try—last year they came from 22 states. The to use sound to tell a story is the first thing 100+ volunteers of the PSF Guild come from I start with,” he says, “and I’m intrigued by around the Lehigh Valley. And together, the using solo instruments in theatre, relating a Company and the Guild provide a welcom- particular character to an instrument.” ing and entertaining experience for more For example, in last season’s production than 30,000 patrons. If you have six hours of Antony and Cleopatra, “Cleopatra had an that you could contribute to the PSF experi- airy sensibility to her, so there was a wood- ence, contact Tim Walling at 610.282.WILL, wind, a flute—though it didn’t stay small; ext. 2, or [email protected].

Stretch thy spirits up– Williaminto Shakespearethe air.

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

Annual College Credit Available Gala Saturday, June 5, 2010 All proceeds benefit PSF education and artistic programs

Special Award to the Rider-Pool Foundation

For information call Jeanne L. Bitler at 610.282.WILL, ext. 6

10 • The Quill, Spring 2010 610.282.will Robin Hood: Mystery Man of Sherwood Forest June 4 - August 7 · Schubert Theatre Fable and fact spark our imaginings of the Sherwood Forest. The brooding Sheriff the man known as Robin Hood. Celebrated of Nottingham who seeks to end Robin’s in ballads and stories dating to the 15th sway and supremacy in Sherwood is a key century, Robin Hood even merits mention target. from Shakespeare in two of his plays. A “Robin Hood will be a classic produc- lively new adaptation of this classic tale tion with period costumes and lots of makes its debut at PSF this summer. action,” says Hurley. “Our story also has “Just as we carefully select the its share of romance: Maid Marian dons a Shakespeare plays in our season, we like to disguise and falls into a dungeon of dis- alternate the selection of our children’s play tress. And of course, how could our tale between magical fairytales, like last sea- be complete without an archery contest?” son’s Cinderella, and action-packed adven- Amy Best has designed vibrant folk-tale ture plays,” says PSF Education Director Erin costumes and five-time Emmy award-win- Hurley, who is directing the play. ning set designer Bob Phillips’ lush world With a sense of humor alongside their of Sherwood Forest will be full of surprises. Kids meet the cast after sense of adventure, Robin Hood and his Adds Hurley: “Robin Hood is sure to be a every performance! Merry Men pursue villains and victories in feather in PSF’s cap this season.”

Merry Wives, continued Bottom and Hermia, Arnolphe and Agnes Who’s Who: (The School for Wives), Antipholus and Adriana (The Comedy of Errors). Helsinger delights A Merry Cast in reporting that they met playing the roles of Orlando and Rosalind in Orlando on Rosalind Avenue in the Orlando Shakespeare Theater production of As You Like It in 1993. Over the years, Helsinger says, “Many times, I was in the comic plot and she was in the main plot.” This time around, there are multiple comic plots, which he describes as an “Elizabethan sit-com.” Jim Helsinger Suzanne O’Donnell “Merry Wives is not about the intel- Master Ford Mistress Ford ligentsia, nobility, or the higher class—it was John Ahlin written about the merchant class,” he says. Sir John Falstaff, an “In these characters, you see the beginnings of impoverished knight what have become stock characters: the jeal- ous husband, the foreigner, the local bartender. And everyone wants to marry the same girl. “The characters are as strange and nutty as the people you meet in the bar or at the PTA; they are reflections of ourselves.” According to The Essential Shakespeare Handbook, “The play abounds in characters who bubble with mischief... The ridicu- Richard B. Watson lous trials and tribulations of Falstaff as he Doctor Caius, a French attempts with stunning lack of success to doctor, suitor to Anne Page Anthony Lawton Grace Gonglewski woo two middle-aged, middle-class wives Master Page Mistress Page makes for an irresistible comic plot.” “Imagine Windsor on a really fun day in 1602,” Helsinger laughs, “where the women can smile about how smart they are, and the men can laugh at themselves.” ■ photos by Lee A. Butz www.pashakespeare.org The Quill, Spring 2010 • 11 Win a Trip to A high-energy one-hour production, S4K is designed for children ages Napa Valley! 4 to 10. Shakespeare’s vibrant language and characters activate imaginations and generate laughs for the whole family. Sing along with Romeo, Juliet...and their robot! July 28 – August 7 • Performances at 10:00 a.m.

NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID

at DeSales University Lehigh Valley, PA Permit No. 68 2755 Station Avenue Center Valley, PA 18034 Raffle tickets $100 each 610.282.WILL • pashakespeare.org Only 300 to be sold! Package valued $6,000, includes private wine tours and tastings Raffle drawing at PSF on August 8, 2010 (need not be present to win) Call 610.282.WILL, ext. 6

One Night Only Performances July 21 - August 8

The Screwtape Letters By C.S. Lewis Mon., June 28, 7:30 p.m. Actor Anthony Lawton, a PSF artist once named Philadelphia’s “Best One- Man Theatre,” has adapted C.S. Lewis’ imaginative story into a 90- minute, two-person play that crackles with wit and insight and features tap, Latin ballroom, and martial arts. Underneath the Lintel By Glen Berger Mon., July 26, 7:30 p.m. Performed by Christopher Coucill—who inspired PSF audiences as Don Quixote and King Lear—this one- man play explores the world and its won- drous mysteries via a library book that was checked out 113 years ago. Finale Cabaret june 23 - July 11 Sunday, August 1, 7:30 p.m. Songs and scenes, Shakespeare and Tony Award-Winner for Best Musical Shakespeare’s Epic Masterwork more! Performed by PSF’s favorite actors Story Page 6 Story Page 3 in a refreshing, spontaneous event on the Main Stage. A wonderful, and sometimes Find us on irreverent, finale to the season. Tickets: 610.282.WILL • pashakespeare.org Facebook