Musical Settings for Shakespeare

SHOW DESCRIPTION (CONTENT)

We know that music played a crucial role in the original productions of Shakespeare's plays because there are over 70 texts that are supposed to be sung. Unfortunately, most of the original music has been lost. This is both a problem and an opportunity for theatre companies. On one hand, productions need to figure out what music to use, which can be tricky. At the same time, productions can also use music to solve "staging problems." These are practical problems that a company might want to address and solve. The problems could be created by 1) the text, 2) the physical circumstances of the production, 3) the audience, or 4) the general culture and context of the performances.

One example of a staging problem is the disparity between the demographics of the plays and the audience. Only 16 percent of the characters in Shakespeare are female. That's in stark contrast to most audiences that go to see Shakespeare, and it raises this simple question: can you use musical settings of the texts to bridge this demographic gap?

We'll look at this and other staging problems. I promise, by the way, that this isn't going to be a lecture. 80 percent of this will be musical performances featuring three vocalists--Sarah Callahan, Sophie Caplin, and Sarah Zuber--and Eric Struve on bass. Musical styles include the Great American Songbook, period correct (i.e., circa 1600), Western swing, glam rock, parodies of radio ads from the 1940s, and several other genres, in other words, a little something for everyone.

SHOW DESCRIPTION (FORMAT)

We're presenting in the back room of the Black Forest Inn, immediately east of the garden. There are lots of benefits to this set up.  The first is that there is free parking in the restaurant's parking lot, just south of the building.  You can enter this from Nicollet.

In addition, there's the opportunity to combine Shakespeare with German food and beer. Towards those ends, there is a short intermission.  We'll be performing from 7:00 to about 7:45, then break for 10-15 minutes to chat, and resume around 7:55-8:00 to continue until 9:00 pm.  The format is more informal than a typical theatrical experience based around a play or musical drama.  It's more like cabaret. If you can't be there at 7:00 pm or have to leave earlier than 9:00, that's fine.

What's the ticket price?  It's "pay what you can".  This is a deliberate choice because an important part of the target audience is people actively working in theatre arts--these are practical settings meant to be used in a real production--and we know that those who work in theatre arts often have to deal with shoestring budgets. We want to make this as accessible as possible for everyone so we're going to let you decide what you can donate.  On the subject of financing, here's an important message that explains how we're able to use the "pay what you can" model:

“This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.”

(A lot) more details and examples at https://kentakata.com. The website will give you an idea of what the show is like in terms of the musical styles and also the conceptual basis for the musical settings.  These are explicitly meant to solve practical staging problems.  You don't have to think of them in these terms.  You can, if you want to, just listen to them as songs, but they are meant to work within real theatrical productions so if that's what you're interested in, there's something for you as well.  The show is for anyone interested in Shakespeare, staging problems, musical theatre, or how one can use musical settings to solve staging problems.