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PrintSunny days in the park with Will, and more
THEATER
Shakespeare in Delaware Park founder and artistic director Saul Elkin and SDP actors Josie DiVincenzo and Kate Konigisor.
Photos courtesy of Shakespeare in Delaware Park.
Theater in WNY slows down in the summer, but it doesn’t stop. As always, the stage offers a variety of diversions to wile away the hazy days and nights.
Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespeare in Delaware Park is currently underway with Much Ado About Nothing, directed by SDP founder and artistic director Saul Elkin. In the past, Elkin set the romantic comedy in the Old West after the Alamo. This time, he has selected post-World War II Italy “because I am going back to a style I frequently used in the early years of the festival—which was to interpolate modern and pop music, and I like the romantic ballads of the ’40s and ’50s,” Elkin says. Theresa Quinn is music director and performs on-stage.
To accommodate the musical interpolations, Elkin cut the play, but not its romantic storyline. “What I’m after is an evening that is romantic, bright, and very accessible. I think audiences will be drawn to the approach and to the music.”
Much Ado About Nothing continues through July 11.
Macbeth
It’s turning out to be a big year for “the Scottish play” with Macbeth productions from New Phoenix earlier this year and SDP this summer. However, Elkin doesn’t see the coincidental scheduling as competition. “We so rarely see a professional production of a Shakespeare play done locally during the theater season that I was delighted that Kelli Natale and the Phoenix took on Macbeth this year, and I thought the work was excellent,” he says.
Nevertheless, SDP’s interpretation will be markedly different from the Phoenix’s. In addition to having a full cast, Elkin’s is all female. Elkin had several motivations.
“In part, it was to get more female actors on the stage, to respond to the Elizabethan casting where only men were onstage. I had seen an all-female Richard the Third at the Globe in London a few years ago, and I was tremendously moved by the play and the performance. So I was waiting for the moment to do so here.”
Eileen Dugan, who was “a wonderful Lady Macbeth for us several years ago,” Elkin says, is directing. “This is, for me, a ‘match made in heaven.’”
The cast includes Kate Konigisor as Macbeth (she was a member of the Judith Shakespeare Company in New York City, an all-female Shakespeare company); Josie DiVincenzo (Lady Macbeth), an early SDP veteran who has been living and working in Hollywood for many years; and familiar talents Katie White (Macduff), Pam Mangus (Duncan), and Lisa Vitrano (Banquo).
Macbeth runs July 22 though August 15.
Also playing
Road Less Traveled lives up to its name with Insidious, a provocative play by Ibn Shabazz (director of Robeson’s The Bluest Eye), which tackles the controversial subject of African American men who engage in homosexual behavior, yet do not identify as gay. The play also explores violence and addiction, making it—according to artistic/executive director Scott Behrend—the edgiest production the company has done so far. Directed by Doug Zschiegner (Secret Order), Insidious runs July 16 to August 1.
On the lighter side, MusicalFare offers a unique take on the classic My Fair Lady. Running from July 7 to August 7, the Lerner and Loewe musical is being given a minimal production with only ten cast members and two pianos accompanying.
Over in Lewiston, director Randy Kramer reunites with choreographer Lynne Kurdziel-Formato for All Shook Up, a musical comedy by Joe DiPietro inspired in part by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and the Elvis Presley songbook.
All Shook Up shakes, rattles, and rolls from August 12 to 22 at Artpark.
Darwin McPherson is theater previewer for Buffalo Spree.
