This Winter, No Discontent As Richard III

Today’s Backstage column in the Washington Post features Geraint Wyn Davies.

Immortal Combat

Today’s Express has an article on the fight direction in “Richard III.”

From the Maryland Gazette ...

Comedy, tragedy, symphony: The Bard meets BSO


Call it Strathmore-upon-Avon, if you like: The six-month Washington Shakespeare Festival comes to Montgomery County this weekend with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Washington Shakespeare Theatre mixing it up at the Music Center.

It’s Symphony With a Twist, the BSO’s popular series that tries to tempt folks who usually don’t attend classical music concerts — and delight its loyal audience — with a little something out of the ordinary. Turns out the musicians like it, too.

‘‘We’re creative minds,” says Peter Landgren, Associate Principal Horn for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. ‘‘That’s one of the nice things about the Symphony With A Twist series. It keeps it fresh for us, and for our audience.”

The freshness begins with the program itself. Conductor Carlos Kalmar plans to offer the crowd-pleasing ‘‘Romeo and Juliet, Overture-Fantasy” by Tchaikovsky along with the overture to Otto Nicolai’s opera ‘‘The Merry Wives of Windsor” and Sir Edward Elgar’s symphonic poem ‘‘Falstaff.”
Landgren notes that ‘‘Tchaikovsky’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a piece even a casual classical music listener could recognize in four notes.”

The other two, not so much — and yet that’s what makes them appealing.
‘‘What’s nice for the orchestra is that we get to revisit a workhorse, and then go to something fresh,” he says. ‘‘And there’s always a twist to the program. What will be enhancing the music is an acting performance by members of the Washington Shakespeare Theatre.”

Where there’s a Will

Just how did this collaboration come to be?

David Muse credits the Kennedy Center’s Michael Kaiser and Michael Kahn, Washington Shakespeare Theatre’s artistic director.

‘‘They had the idea of pulling together a citywide Shakespeare Festival,” says Muse, Shakespeare Theatre’s artistic associate director. ‘‘There are over a hundred events in the D.C.-Baltimore area.”

It isn’t an anniversary year for the Bard, who was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564, and died on the same day 52 years later. But, as Muse points out, no one needs an excuse to honor the prolific playwright.

‘‘There’s sort of an explosion of Shakespeare,” he says. ‘‘He’s just so amazing. His works have inspired so many artists in so many different media.

‘‘He writes so beautifully, and he captures the human condition so well. It’s not just theater artists who have been inspired.”

The Washington Shakespeare Festival is about honoring Shakespeare, yes, but it’s also about making connections.

Cross-inspiration

Real life and legend, history and fantasy — everything in the world seems to have inspired Shakespeare, who wrote 10 histories, 10 tragedies and 16 comedies in addition to his poetry. But Shakespeare, through the ages, has inspired the world in turn: authors, actors, visual artists, filmmakers. And composers.

‘‘It’s something that, as an audience member, you rarely explore directly,” says Muse. ‘‘You might listen to Tchaikovsky’s ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ or see the opera ‘Falstaff,’ but it’s rare to go to the source matter, to see the writing that inspired the music.”

To really see it, too — see it performed live with the echoes of the music still swirling around the concert hall. Muse says that attending this particular Symphony With a Twist is a snap whether or not you’re a Shakespeare buff or a fan of classical music.

‘‘The idea is that you can go in cold, or you can know the play intimately,” he says. ‘‘What you’ll see is how the energy of the play inspires the music — you see the flavor.”

It’s a flavor with magnified intensity, too.

‘‘For us onstage, it’s always about collaboration,” the horn player says. ‘‘We’re collaborating with each other, one person with 90 other people.
‘‘Now we get to collaborate with the Shakespeare Theatre, bringing these outside inspirations and stimulation right into the chemical mix of the orchestra. It’s a pure artistic collaboration.”

And a twist that’s sure to appeal across the bard. Uh, board.

The BSO’s Symphony With a Twist presents ‘‘Shakespeare: Love and Comedy” at 8 p.m. Friday in the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Tickets range from $25 to $78. Call 1-877-BSO-1444.

On Opening Night...

Today’s Washington Times features coverage on Opening Night for “Richard III.”

All of Washington's a stage for the Bard

Today’s USA Today features an article on “Shakespeare In Washington.”

Wednesday’s DC Examiner included an item on the openning night of Richard III.


Ex-mayor, wife crowned by theatre

As they arrived at the Ronald Reagan Building on Monday night for a dinner preceding the opening night performance of the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s “Richard III,” former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and his wife, Diane, ran into a bit of difficulty at the door.

Yeas & Nays watched as security explained to the couple that they needed ID to enter. Diane, unfortunately, was without. An awkward few seconds ensued, until another guard surveyed the scene and asked the bow-tied wonder, “You’re Mayor Williams, right?”

Yes, he nodded, as he flashed his official ID, and in the couple went.
Their reception upstairs was a bit warmer. During dinner, Michael Kahn, the company’s creative director, presented them with the two crowns worn by the King and Queen of France in the company’s production of “Henry V” in 1995, as well as a lifetime subscription to the theater. The gifts “symbolize your crowning achievement,” Kahn told Williams — that is, the revitalization of Penn Quarter, where the theater resides.
Unfortunately, when it came time for the theater to buy its new space across from Verizon Center, Kahn said, “We paid full market value for it. But thank you anyway.”

Also there to witness the Williams’ coronation: Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and Stephen Breyer, AOL founder Jim Kimsey, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine

Brilliantly Twisted: A 'Richard III' That Rules

The Washington Post's Peter Marks weighs in on Richard III

Backstage, Rising Stars Reign in 'Richard III'

Friday’s Washington Post Weekend section included a feature on the Lee Savage, the set designer and Jennifer Moeller, the costume designer for “Richard III.”

Meet King Richard!

Geraint Wyn Davies (Richard III) will be interviewed on Washington Post Radio (107.7 FM) at 12:20 p.m. today about “Richard III.”

Windows on Shakespeare

We’re about to open Michael Kahn’s production of Richard III, and I wanted to invite you to learn more about the play this Sunday at 1 pm.

At the beginning of the run of every show, we host a discussion program called “Windows,” which gives the audience a chance to hear from both a scholar and an artist. This program will feature Stephen Fried, the assistant director of this production, and Professor Jeffrey Cohen, of George Washington University. Professor Cohen is not a specialist in Shakespeare, but few people are more qualified to talk about the play; he specializes in monsters of the medieval period, and Richard III may be the most famous medieval monster. After they offer their introductions to Richard III, you’ll have a chance to ask your questions about any aspect of the play or this production.

Topics may include:

Why we needed 36 actors to do this play...

Whether Shakespeare had it out for the real King Richard III...

and where that hump came from in the first place!

You can sign up for free tickets on the website.

Akiva Fox, Literary Associate

Cut and Play Shakespeare Festival

Are you looking for some Shakespeare fun? Stage your own Shakespeare plays right at home. Check out this fantastic piece from The Washington Post !

Bard shakes up D.C.

DC's Shakespeare celebration makes news in Variety.

Michael Kahn... on Shakespeare In Washington

Give a listen as Michael talks about Shakespeare In Washington on WETA FM 90.9.

Morning Edition - January 11, 2007

Michael Kahn... in his own words

Saturday’s Washington Post Opinion Pages featured an editorial from Michael Kahn.

Much Ado about Hamlet

This Washington Post article, about the many incarnations of one of Shakespeare's most famous characters features Jeffrey Carlson ,who will be portraying the tortured Dane this summer at the Lansburgh.

Power Play

The six-month Shakespeare in Washington festival capitalizes on the city's attraction to themes of intrigue, influence. - From The Baltimore Sun

Michael Kahn and the Force of Will

2007 is the year for Shakespeare In Washington!

Michael was featured in the Sunday, January 7th Washington Post. He gives some insight to the festival. Take a look!