The 50th Anniversary Utah Shakespeare Festival production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is nothing short of exquisite! Director, Fred C. Adams has done a magnificent job with an outstanding cast, crew, and design team.
This is one of my favorite plays of Shakespeare's, and this production has deepened that love for me of this remarkable play from a very young Shakespeare. I think it is fitting that the Utah Shakespeare Festival chose for their outdoor season this year three plays that he wrote one after another. He wrote "Romeo and Juliet," then "A Midsummer Night's Dream (in which at the end he pokes fun at "Romeo and Juliet)," and then wrote "Richard III."
As I walked into the Adams Memorial Shakespearean Theatre last night I was immediately mesmerized by the absolute beauty of the very simple set. Beautiful green willow trees which later lit up with beautiful blue stars as the evening progressed. I was indeed transported into a dream.
The entire cast was impeccable. The use of children as the fairies was a wonderful and heartwarming choice. They were all wonderful! It was wonderful to see the incredible Max Robinson as Bottom. Max is an extremely gifted actor and he brought so much fun to the role! Each of the actors in Bottom's troupe were equally impressive. Having them be from all different ethnic backgrounds, which indeed existed in Shakespeare's time, made this production timely and the audience could really relate to them. It was a nice touch. Rhett Guter was a real standout as Francis Flute. His performance as Thisbe in the final play-within-a-play at Theseus' wedding was absolutely hilarious. Ben Charles did an outstanding job as both Philostrate and Puck. His Puck was endearing and reminded me a bit of Peter Pan. Kymberly Mellen's performance though as Hyppolyta/Titania was the standout of the evening. What an incredibly beautiful and gifted actress! She commanded the stage at every moment she was on it. It was breathtaking to watch. Elijah Alexander (Theseus/Oberon), Matt Mueller (Lysander), A.J. Smithey (Demetrius), Betsy Mugavero (Hermia), and Bri Sudia (Helena) were all wonderful! The entire cast needs to be congratulated for a job well done! A true ensemble!
The design elements were simple but magical! I particularly love Janet L. Swenson's costume design that really enhanced the director's vision of tearing away the facade's and getting down to what we truly are. In the beginning, the costumes depicted each and every character's outer facade's and/or society's view of them extremely well. I feel this allowed the audience to distinguish each of the characters from the beginning which helps when doing Shakespeare. Then, one by one, the facade's come down and everyone seems to be similar, and by similar I mean happy and content!
Don't miss this beautiful production if you can help it! It is worth the drive down to see it!
0 comments:
Post a Comment