Allan Appel Photo
Having come to wive it wealthily in Padua, Petruchio decided to belt Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” at his recalcitrant Katherina inShakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.
Confused? Don’t be.
A teenage rock and roll take on the Bard’s great early comedy is coming to the Long Wharf. Whole batches of his iambic pentameter have been substituted by lyrics from the Doors to Vanilla Ice to Katy Perry with a pulsating result that W.S. would have approved.
The show is the first offering in the Long Wharf education department‘s Shake-It-Up Shakespeare summer youth theater series for New Haven area 14 to 19 year-olds. It goes up for only two performances Aug. 20 and 21.
The Long Wharf Education Director Annie Dimartino, who teaches musical theater at Educational Center for the Arts, wanted to do a Shakespeare play that incorporates “music kids don’t get a chance to explore,” she said.
The production uses only Shakespeare’s words augmented by 14 contemporary songs that capture the heart of the eternal push-and-pull between males and female and those with power and those without. It takes one great creative departure.
In the original play, dad who must marry off his older termagant daughter Kate before the sweeter Bianca is allowed to wed. Here, dad now is a record producer, Bianca is a sweet teen crooner like Miley Cyrus, and Katherine a kick-ass rocker.
Katherine, played by 17-year old Allison Frank, said her favorite parts included those where she beats up on Petruchio and his pal Hortensio. She is being restrained here and ordered to use her words and not fists by her dad Baptista, played with long suffering aplomb by Erik Dossier.
Just as West Side Story’s Jets and Sharks pay hommage to the Montagues and Capulets, Shakespeare purists should not fear that tin this Shrew some of the suitors of the Padua babes are channeling refugees from boy bands.
Not only does it appear to work thematically. (“Ice Ice Baby” of the 1990s is an appropriate way to describe Katherina of the 1590s.) But the hard rock lamentations and keening ballads as done by these young actors are not plot-retarding showcases for their talent. The songs advance story and deepen character.
That’s no mean feat and usually the sign of a thoughtful conception..
On Wednesday, the 17 talented actors and musicians, out of a field of 50 who auditioned, had their first off-book rehearsal of the show. The show includes inventive instrumentation, fight scenes, and dance routines, this one sending the whirling kids into in a choreographed hard rock mosh pit.
Click on the play arrow for a snippet from the overture to see how they get there.
The talented Westville Taubl Family contributed not only Petruchio and Hortensio but also Gremio, otherwise known as Samuel, Jeremiah (left and right), and James. Their mom Carol is the show’s music director.
“Before the show I didn’t like Shakespeare at all. Crazy words you didn’t know.The show completely opened my mind. Next time I have to do Shakespeare, I’m going to be happy,” James said.
The show runs 90 minutes. As the young actors engage each other in colorful Elizabethan double entendres, they will be dressed in the contemporary crooner, groupie, or rocker garb of their choice.
Dimartino said audiences should expect to identify a Frank Sinatra, an Axl Rose, Blues Brothers, and perhaps an Ani DiFranco or an Alanis Morissette
She refused to reveal more details except to say that Petruchio will definitely be wearing shades.
Click here for more info about the Aug 20 and 21 performances. Ten dollars is the suggested contribution, with the money going to future productions of Shake-It-Up Shakespeare.
