Shakespeare/Pop Music: Broadway - shakespeareandpopularmusic shakespeareandpopularmusic INTRODUCTION Although considered part of the classical theatrical canon today, Shakespeare's plays were an important part of the popular culture of Early Modern England. It seems only fitting that Broadway has made these plays part of popular culture again by adapting them into musicals. Very little academic research and/or writing, however, is available on this topic. In order to remedy the situation, this page has compiled a working archive of resources on Broadway musicals based on Shakespeare's plays, in the hopes that this will generate further interest and analysis. Most of the research that went into creating this page is centered on Broadway specifically, but a list of non-Broadway musicals has also been included in order to show that this phenomenon is by no means centered in one locale. To date, this archive includes the names of twenty-two Shakespearean musical productions. These productions have been produced in the United States, England, and Prague and have been performed in numerous other countries. Shakespeare's romantic comedies are the genre of play most often adapted into musical productions. Sixteen of the twenty-two productions included in this archive are based on Shakespearean romantic comedies.

The Comedy of Errors, which was the first Shakespeare play to ever be adapted into a musical, is tied with Twelfth Night for the most number of musical theatre adaptations, at four productions each (Comedy of Errors: The Boys from Syracuse, Oh, Brother! , The Bomb-itty of Errors, and Da Boyz/Twelfth Night: Play On!, Music Is, Love and Let Love, Your Own Thing), while A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet follow close behind with three different musical theatre adaptations (A Midsummer Night's Dream: Swingin' The Dream, Babes in the Wood, and The Donkey Show: A Midsummer Night's Dream Disco/Hamlet: Rockabye Hamlet, The Lion King, and Hamlet The Rock Opera). Besides Hamlet, three other Shakespearean tragedies have been adapted into musicals: Romeo and Juliet (West-Side Story and Sensations), King Lear (Pop!) and Macbeth (From a Jack to a King). No evidence has been yet found of a history play having been turned into a musical. Popular music has also been appropriated by many of these productions.

Swing (The Brothers of Syracuse, Swingin' the Dream, Play On!) , Rock and Roll (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Rockabye Hamlet, Your Own Thing, From a Jack to a King and Hamlet The Rock Opera), Hip-Hop/Rap (The Bomb-itty of Errors and Da Boyz), and Reggae (The Big Life) are all examples of musical genres that have been appropriated by Broadway musicals - whose songs, incidentally, also sometimes become the stuff of popular music (Kiss Me Kate, West Side Story, Lion King, and so forth). The fluid relationship between Shakespeare and popular music in Broadway productions deserves further consideration, as does the fact that many of these productions are using Shakespeare and popular music not simply to make money, but also to discuss issues of both race (Swingin' the Dream) and gender (Kiss Me Kate) or both (Play On!).

Theatre Royal Stratford East's 2005 production of The Big Life, for example, uses Reggae music and the plot-line of Love Labour's Lost to tell the historically true story of Caribbean immigrants who set sail for England in the 1950s on the SS Empire Windrush because they had been promised both jobs and a better life by the English government who very much needed their help to re-build after the war. Some of the questions that productions like The Big Life require academics to ask of themselves include: 1) Can popular music be used in musical adaptations of Shakespeare to talk-back to colonial/patriarchal imperatives and to de-centralize the hegemonic authority of Shakespeare's works? (And if so how are they able to do this? ); 2) Does the capitalist form of Broadway musical productions make it impossible to de-centralize power of any kind in these musical adaptations of Shakespeare? (And, if so, what are Shakespeare and popular music doing in these productions anyway? i.e. What purpose do they serve?). Hopefully, the information that follows below will help to stimulate interest in these questions and, perhaps, even help to generate a few more. Enjoy!

SHAKESPEARE MUSICAL PRODUCTIONS ON BROADWAY The Muppets and Christopher Reeve sing "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" from Kiss Me Kate Creative Team: Music by Richard Rogers, Lyrics by Lorenz Hart, Book by George Abbott. Date/Location: November 23, 1938 - June 10, 1939 at Alvin Theatre. (235 Performances). SYNOPSIS: Based on The Comedy of Errors, this is the first known musical production of one of Shakespeare's play. The play was originally devised by Roger and Hart to showcase the talents of Hart's comedian younger brother, Teddy, who looked a lot like another well-known comedian, Jimmy Savo. Both Teddy Hart and Jimmy Savo starred in the production as the twins Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse. The plot is relatively faithful to Shakespeare's original (itself an adaption of a play by Plautus) and the play's score is influenced by 1930's swing music. The humour in the play, which was often sexual in nature, was critiqued at the time for being obscene.

PERFORMANCE HISTORY: The play was revived once off-Broadway (Theatre Four: April 15, 1963 - June 28, 1964) and once on Broadway (American Airlines Theatre: July 23, 2002 - August 18, 2002). It was also made into a movie in 1940 (Universal Studios Film) and into a television production in 1986 (Canadian Broadcast Company). In 2003 the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London premiered a hip-hop adaptation of The Boys From Syracuse called Da Boyz. Broadway Revival Info: Film Production Info: The Mamas & The Papas sing "Sing For Your Supper" from The Boys of Syracuse Documentary about 2007 Northwestern University Re-Make of The Boys from Syracuse Producer: Erik Charrell in association with Jean Rodney. Creative Team: Music by Jimmy Van Heusen, Lyrics by Eddie de Lange, Book by Gilbert Seldes and Eri Charrell. Date/Location: November 29, 1939 - December 9, 1939 at Center Theatre. (13 Performances).

SYNOPSIS: Starring Louis Armstrong as Bottom, this musical version of a Midsummer's Night Dream is set in 1890's New Orleans, where the action of the plays moves from the Governor's Mansion to the Voodoo Wood. White actors were cast in the roles of the aristocracy, whereas black actors were cast to play the roles of the fairies and mechanicals. Very little is known about the script, as only a small segment of it has survived, but the songs, similar to The Boys From Syracuse, were influenced by 1930's swing music. The segment of the script that has survived can be found at the following link: . Corrigan, Alan. "Jazz, Shakespeare, and Hybridity: A Script Excerpt from Swinging The Dream." Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal for Shakespeare Appropriation. 1.1 (2005). Online. Teague, Fran. "Swingin' Shakespeare from Harlem to Broadway." Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal for Shakespeare Appropriation. 1.1. (2005). Online. Producer: Saint Subber and Lemuel Ayers.

Creative Team: Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter, Book by Bella Spewack and Samuel Spewack. Date/Location: December 30, 1948 - July 28, 1950 at New Century Theatre and July 31, 1950 - July 28, 1951 at Shubert Theatre (1077 Performances). SYNOPSIS : Featuring songs by Cole Porter, this musical adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew was nominated for (and won) six Tony Awards when it premiered on Broadway, including the award for Best Musical. Written as an attempt to mimic the new genre of the integrated musical (which was developed by Roger and Hammerstein in their musical Oklahoma!) the play features a play-within-a-play where the drama on-stage mirrors the real-life drama going on off-stage. Featuring a well-known scene, where the male protagonist, Fred Graham, turns the female protagonist, Lilli Vanessi, over his knee and spanks her in an effort to tame his un-ruly ex-wife, Kiss Me Kate has been critiqued by feminists scholars for romanticizing acts of violence towards women.

PERFORMANCE HISTORY: The play was revived on Broadway twice (January 8, 1952 - January 12, 1952 at Broadway Theatre and November 18, 1999 - December 30, 2001 at Martin Beck Theatre). It was also made into a film adaptation in 1953 (MGM) and was adapted twice for television, once in 1958 for Hallmark Hall of Fame and once in 1968 for the American Broadcast Company (ABC). The 1999 play revival was filmed by The Performance Company in 2003 and was presented as part of PBS' Great Performances series on February 26, 2003. Christensen, Ann C. "Petruchio's House in Postwar Surburbia: Reinventing the Domestic Woman (Again)." 17.1. (1997): 28-42. Print. William, Paul. "Breaking the Fourth Wall: 'Belascoism', Modernism, and a 3-D Kiss Me Kate." Film History. 16.3.

(2004): 229 - 242. Print. 2nd Broadway Revival Info: Film Production Info: Hallmark Hall of Fame Info: ABC Production Info: PBS Production Info: Trailer for Film Version of Kiss Me Kate (1953) Part 1 of PBS Special of 1999 Revival of Kiss Me Kate Producer: Robert E. Griffith and Harold S. Prince. Creative Team: Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by Arthur Laurents, Conceived by Jerome Robbins. Date/Location: September 26, 1957 - February 28, 1959 at Winter Garden Theatre, March 2, 1959 - May 10, 1959 at Broadway Theatre, and May 11, 1959 - June 27, 1959 at Winter Garden Theate (732 Performances). SYNOPSIS: Based on Romeo and Juliet, this play is a response to actual historical events that were going on in the United States at the time of the play's inception.

Specifically it was a response to an escalation of gang violence in New York due, in part, to widespread immigration of Puerto Ricans to New York in the 1950's. Featuring songs by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, this play won Best Musical at the Tony Awards in 1958. PERFORMANCE HISTORY: The play was revived four times on Broadway (April 27, 1960 - December 10, 1960 at the Winter Garden and the Alvin Theatre, April 8, 1964 - May 3, 1964 at the City Center, February 14, 1980 - November 30, 1980 Minskoff Theatre, and March 19, 2009 - Present at the Palace Theatre). It was made into a movie in 1961 (United Artists). Original Production Info: PRODUCTION INFO: Producer: Mitchell Maxwell, Eric Nederlander, Thomas Hall, Hal Luftwig, Bruce Lucker, Mike Skipper, and Victoria Maxwell. Creative Team: Book by Cheryl L. West with Songs by Duke Ellington.

Date/Location: March 20, 1997 - May 11, 1997 at Brooks Atkinson Theatre. (61 Performances.) SYNOPSIS: Set in the Magical Kingdom of Harlem in the 1940's, this adaptation of Twelfth Night tells the story of Vi, a young woman from the country who dresses up as a man upon arriving in New York to enhance her chances of gaining employment. Vi eventually gains employment with a man named Duke, who is in love with a lounge singer named Lady Liv. The play features songs written by Duke Ellington and Duke Ellington's granddaughter, Mercedes Ellington, provided the choreography for the production. PERFORMANCE HISTORY: The play was originally produced at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in 1997 before being produced on Broadway. PBS aired a performance of the play as part of its Great Performances Series in 2000. Producer: Disney Theatrical Productions. Creative Team: Music by Elton John, Lyrics by Tim Rice, and Book by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi. Date/Location: November 13, 1997 - Present at New Amsterdam Theatre and Minskoff Theatre.

SYNOPSIS: The Lion King is Julie Taymor's re-envisioning of the Disney movie by the same name, which borrows many of its plots elements from Hamlet. Besides the musical score, written by Elton John and Tim Rice, the most notable aspect of this production is Taymor's use of masks and puppets. The Lion King won the 1998 Tony Award for best musical, as well as four other Tonys for best direction, costume design, set design, lighting design and choreography. Gavin, Rosemarie. "The Lion King and Hamlet: A Homecoming for the Exiled Child." English Journal. 85.3. (1996): 55-58. Print. Modenessi, Alfredo Michel. "Disney's War Efforts: The Lion King and Education for Death, or Shakespeare Made Easy for your Apocalyptic Convenience." Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of Language and Literature. 49. (2005): 397-415. Online. (Note that a more recent version of this essay has been published in Apocalyptic Shakespeares, eds. Caroline Jess Cook and Melissa Croteau.

Jefferson N.C and London: McFarland Publishers, 2009: 181-196. Print). The essay focuses primarily on the film. Wickstrom, Maurya. "Commodities, Mimesis, and The Lion King: Retail Theatre for the 1990's." Theatre Journal. 51.2. (1999): 285-299. Print. Part 1 of Documentary About the Making of the Lion King Other Productions Original Production Info: Oh, Brother! is based on The Comedy of Errors. November 10, 1981 - November 11, 1981 at ANTA Playhouse. Original Production Info: SHAKESPEARE MUSICAL PRODUCTIONS OFF BROADWAY Off-Broadway 1. As You Like It based on As You Like It. October 27, 1964 - October 27, 1964 at Lucille Lortel Theatre. Production Info: 2. Babes in the Wood based on A Midsummer Night's Dream.

December 28, 1964 - February 7, 1965 at Orpheum Theatre. Production Info: 3. Love and Let Love based on Twelfth Night. January 03, 1968 - January 14, 1968 at Sheridan Square Playhouse. Production Info: 4. Your Own Thing based on Twelfth Night. January 13, 1968 - April 5, 1970 at Orpheum Theatre. Production Info: 5. Sensations based on Romeo and Juliet. October 25, 1970-November 8, 1970 at Theatre Four. Production Info: 6. Pop! based on King Lear. April 3, 1974 - April 3, 1974 at Players Theatre. Production Info: 7. Return to the Forbidden Planet based on The Tempest. October 13, 1971 - April 26, 1992 at Variety Arts Theatre. Production Info: 8. The Donkey Show: A Midsummer's Night Disco based on A Midsummer Night's Dream.

April 18, 1999 - July 16, 2005. Production Info: 9. The Bomb-itty of Errors based on The Comedy of Errors. December 12, 1999 - June 18, 2000 at 45 Bleecker/Bleecker Street Theatre. Production Info: and Rap Prologue to The Bomb-Itty of Errors West-End 1. From a Jack to a King based on Macbeth at Boulevard Theatre and Ambassadors Theatre (1992). 2. Da Boyz based on The Comedy of Errors at Theatre Royal Stratford East (2003). 3. The Big Life based on Love's Labour Lost at Theatre Royal Stratord East (2005). Scene from The Big Life at Theatre Royal Stratford East (2005) Elsewhere 1. Hamlet The Rock Opera based on Hamlet at the Kalich Theatre in Prague (1999). Interview with Jared Ledecky Creator of Hamlet The Rock Opera Hamlet The Rock Opera in Czech Hamlet The Rock Opera in English Christensen, Ann C.

"Petruchio's House in Postwar Surburbia: Reinventing the Domestic Woman (Again)." 17.1. (1997): 28-42. Print. This article discusses the 1953 film adaptation of "Kiss Me Kate" in relation to the re-domestication of women in post-war American suburbia. After the war, women who worked in factories were forced to vacate their positions for returning soldiers. They were expected, in turn, to marry these soldiers and because suburban housewives. Corrigan, Alan. "Jazz, Shakespeare, and Hybridity: A Script Excerpt from Swinging The Dream." Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal for Shakespeare Appropriation. 1.1 (2005). Online. This article includes a script excerpt from a little known musical adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" starring Louis Armstrong in the role of Bottom. The production only lasted for thirteen performances and most of the script has not survived. Along with the script excerpt, the essay also contains embedded mp3 clips of some of the songs from the show as well as photos of the production. Negron-Munater, Frances.

"Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity Discourses." Social Text.18.2. (2000): 83-106. Print. This article problematizes the depiction of the Puerto Rican immigrant community of New York in the film version of "West Side Story." The article discusses the fact that the play's creators did very little research before devising the production and that Stephen Sondheim at first was opposed to the idea because he felt that he could not relate to the experiences of the characters that he was writing about. Miller, D. "West Side Story." Theatre Journal. 61.3. (2009): 479-481. Print This is a scholarly review of the 2009 Broadway revival of "West Side Story," which attempted to deal with some of the criticisms against the original work by casting actors of Puerto Rican descent in the roles of the Puerto Rican characters and by translating some of the play's lyrics into Spanish. Sanders, Julie. Shakespeare and Music: Afterlives and Borrowings. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007. Print.

Julie Sanders' book is an excellent introduction to anyone interested not only in musical adaptations of Shakespeare on Broadway, but also Shakespeare and popular music throughout history. It contains chapters/information on Shakespeare and Jazz Music, Shakespeare and Classical Music, Shakespeare and the Ballet, Shakespeare and Film Scores/Movie Songs, Shakespeare and the Opera, and Shakespeare and Musicals. Most of the information she provides is simply factual. There is very little attempt by Sanders at deeper analysis and she analyzes Shakespeare films with musical numbers and musical adaptations of Shakespeare together which is confusing and also a little bit naive. Nevertheless, if you do not know much about the topic and are interested in learning more, this is a good place to start. Teague, Frances. Shakespeare and the American Popular Stage. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print. This is a fascinating and well researched book that mainly focuses on American musical adaptations of Shakespeare. It also provides information about Shakespeare on the American popular stage before the invention of the stage musical. Especially interesting is Teague's discussion of the use of Shakespeare in Vaudeville and how this inclusion of the high-brow into the low-brow highlights societal tensions that were created in America by the rise of the middle-class.

Teague, Fran. "Swingin' Shakespeare from Harlem to Broadway." Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal for Shakespeare Appropriation. 1.1. (2005). Online. This essay contains a plot outline of the Broadway musical "Play On!", which premiered on Broadway in1997 after enjoying a more successful run at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. As well as an outline of the script, the essay contains photos and embedded mp3 tracks from the musical, which appropriates the music of Duke Ellington to score the story of a young woman named Vi, who travels to the Magical Kingdom of Harlem in the 1940's looking for work. The essay also, briefly, compares the 1997 production of "Play On!" to the 1939 production of "Swingin' the Dream," which starred Louis Armstrong in the role of Bottom and actually used the talents of swing/jazz musicians from the Harlem Renaissance. William, Paul. "Breaking the Fourth Wall: 'Belascoism', Modernism, and a 3-D Kiss Me Kate." Film History. 16.3. (2004): 229 - 242. Print.

According to the abstract, this article "focuses on the effect of the 3-D motion picture "Kiss Me Kate" directed by George Sidney, released in 1953, had on the motion picture industry." William states that this is one of the last films to be produced using the old stereoscopic process of 3D films, which was originally designed to increase audience participation with the media but which eventually became a commercial gimmick used rarely in the film industry (Note: This article was written before the release of "Avatar" ). LINKS This website is a "peer-reviewed, online, multimedia Shakespeare journal" (website) and is also a great resource for anyone interested in the study of Shakespeare and Popular Music. As well as containing articles on musical adaptations of Shakespeare's works, issues of the journal (which are all archived online) contain articles on Shakespeare and Jazz, Shakespeare and Rap, and Shakespeare and Country Music. This is the official website of "Hamlet The Rock Opera" which is a musical that was developed and written (both book, music, and lyrics) by Czech composer Janek Ledecky.

In 1999, the musical opened in Prague in the brand new Kalich Theatre (which was built specifically for the play). It was a huge success, running for 650 performances. "Hamlet The Rock Opera" has since been produced in Slovakia, in Korea, and in the United States (in translation). The website contains information in English on the play's history, design, music, and author, as well as photos, music clips and video clips from the production. This is the official website of PBS's "Great Performances Series," which is a "continuing primetime performance on showcase on American television" that "bring the best in the performing arts across America and around the world to a US [and Canadian] television audience" (website). On February 26, 2003 "Great Performances" aired a filmed version of the 1999 Broadway revival of "Kiss Me Kate." Information about this television performance, the 1999 Broadway revival, and the original production of "Kiss Me Kate" can be found at this website, which also includes information for educators and an Encyclopedia of Composers and Songwriters.

This is the official website of the musical "The Bomb-itty of Errors," which has enjoyed a successful run off-Broadway (1999), as well as successful production in Chicago, London, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This website contains information on the play's authors and current productions, as well as video clips, photos, and reviews. This is an excellent information for anyone interested in the study of Broadway musicals. This website allows users to search for information by show, people, organizations, theatres, or season and contains on producers, locations (theatre spaces), production runs, revivals, awards, cast and crew lists, song lists, and musical recordings for original Broadway productions. The website search engine, however, is not as intelligent as Google is so be careful of your spelling when you try to look up a production. This is IMDB website that most internet users are familiar with. It is useful for gaining just the basic information (name of director, cast, release dates etc.) of film productions that are based on Shakespeare musicals or to look up basic information about film productions in general.

This website allows users to look up similar information that they would be able to look up in The Internet Broadway database but for off-Broadway productions (in New York) instead. This website contains the same issues with its search engine that was mentioned above for the Internet Broadway Database. This is the official website of The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, where the musical "Play On!" was first produced before it was produced on Broadway in 1999. The website is mainly used as a forum for ticket-sales, but it does contain minimal information about past productions under its History webpage. This is the official website of Theatre Royal Stratford East (in London, England) which has produced two recent musical adaptations of Shakespeare's works, "Da Boys" based on "The Comedy of Errors" in 2003 and "The Big Life" based on "Love's Labour Lost" in 2005. The website contains no information of the first production in its online archive (which only goes back to 2004), but the online archive does contain a brief synopsis of "The Big Life." Much like the website of The Old Globe Theatre, however, this website is also mainly a vehicle for ticket-sales to current productions.

LESSON PLANS For information on how to teach Shakespeare to students by having them develop their own musical production of a Shakespearean text, click on Lesson Plans - Broadway for more information. This page contains three lesson plans (one for Language Arts, one for Music, and one for Drama) that are designed to introduce Grade 6 students to Romeo and Juliet. They can easily be adapted, however, to teach other plays or grade levels. All lesson plans on this website are based on the curriculum guidelines developed by the Ontario Ministry of Education. h2g2 - Shakespeare Sings - Stage Musicals Based on the Bard's Plays - Edited Entry 4 Conversations Musical theatre is often cannibalistic, eating up previous plays and recreating them in new and innovative (or sometimes disastrous) ways. Everything from Aristophanes to Eugene O'Neill appears to be up for musical grabs, and the bard is one of the most frequently mined sources. With opera having mined the works of William Shakespeare for centuries (Macbeths, Falstaffs and Othellos abound), it was probably inevitable that musicals would follow suit.

The Shakespeare-inspired musicals often take great liberties with the plays, and very little (if any) of Shakespeare's language tends to make it through onto the stage. This is because the language, whatever you may think of it, is not the reason that the plays attract this interest in adaptation. It's the plots, the wonderful farces and the moving tragedies that provide plenty of emotion and therefore numerous launching-pads for music and dance. The Boys from Syracuse - Shakespeare! The first successful musical comedy based on Shakespeare came about in 1938. George Abbott, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart created The Boys From Syracuse for Broadway, based on The Comedy of Errors, mainly because they came across two talented actor-singers who looked startlingly similar 1 .

They remained fairly faithful to the bard's original, though only one line of his text remained, greeted by one of the Dromios 2 popping out from the wings and exclaiming 'Shakespeare!' The songs in The Boys From Syracuse for the most part follow the pattern of 1930s musical comedy by adorning the plot in a mostly ornamental fashion, and include love songs such as 'Falling in Love with Love', comedy numbers such as 'Come With Me', and the show-stopping female trio number, 'Sing For Your Supper' - none of which have much to do with Shakespeare when it comes down to it. However, the show's success did start a trend that would include some of the musical's greatest hits as well as several... others. The Comedy of Errors has seen various other musical adaptations, none of them as successful or enduring as the first: Oh, Brother! was a 1980s show by Michael Valenti and Donald Driver, and The Bombitty of Errors ( hip hop with a live DJ) appeared on Broadway in 1999.

The Boys From Syracuse has itself been updated for the 21st Century, with a short-lived hip-hop adaptation called Da Boyz playing London's East End in 2003. Kiss Me, Kate - I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple Kiss Me, Kate was a 1948 musical about a musical based on The Taming of the Shrew, where backstage events sometimes parallel those on stage. Cole Porter's only truly integrated 'score' (he tended to write a batch of songs more than a cohesive score), much of the show's comedy comes from the libretto by Sam and Bella Spewack. It also includes the classic list song 'Brush Up Your Shakespeare', which includes innovative rhymes for many of the Bard's plays, even Coriolanus 3 . The musical within the musical gave Cole Porter licence to indulge his lyrical genius in a whole variety of ways.

He came up with more rhymes for Padua - where Petruchio, as he tells us in song, has 'Come To Wive it Wealthily' - than should really be possible, and takes his penchant for rhyming further by pairing girls' names with Italian locations in the comic lament 'Where Is The Life That Late I Led?'. Audiences can often be heard quietly supplying the rhymes to the latter song in sheer delight at the audacity of pairings, which range from the fairly innocuous 'Alice/Palace' and 'Lisa/Pisa' to 'Becky-wecky-oh/Pontevecchio' and 'Momo/duomo'. Also included are 'I Hate Men' for Kate (the shrew herself) and 'I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple' at the resolution of the plot, a setting of a speech from Shakespeare's original play. Parallels in the world backstage can be seen in the 'taming' of the haughty Lilli Vanessi (who plays Kate) and the incessant romantic appetites of Lois Lane 4 (who plays Bianca).

The Lois/Bianca parallel is brought out by two songs: 'Tom, Dick or Harry' for Bianca, expressing how she's 'a maid who would marry/and would take double quick/any Tom, Dick or Harry/any Tom, Harry or Dick' and 'Always True To You In My Fashion' for Lois, delighting in her dalliances with various wealthy gentlemen. West Side Story - Something's Coming One of the most popular musicals of all time 5 , widely acknowledged as a classic, West Side Story is a version of Romeo and Juliet from the late 1950s. The work of Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, it brought the story up to date, with the rival families replaced by rival street gangs in New York . The other characters - priests, princes and the like - are replaced by figures such as policemen and drug store owners. In this version, 'Juliet' (Maria) survives, although she does consider shooting herself, and the reconciliation between the two sides of the conflict is suggested in movement rather than spoken or sung.

A later Romeo and Juliet musical with music, by Gerard Presgurvic, has been a great success in Europe since it opened in France on Valentine's Day, 2000. An attempt to launch it on the English-speaking world fizzled out after Don Black's translation was poorly received in London. Later Shows Return to the Forbidden Planet, subtitled 'Shakespeare's Forgotten Rock and Roll Masterpiece' is a favourite of UK theatre-goers. Taking its inspiration from the classic science fiction film Forbidden Planet and the film's source The Tempest, the show takes Shakespeare's characters into space and gets them singing rock and roll classics such as 'All Shook Up' and 'Great Balls of Fire'. The Tempest is still just about recognisable, too. Two Gentlemen of Verona was a surprise hit, with the people from Hair adapting one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays into a 1970s success. One of the biggest ever Disney films, which later became a hit stage musical - The Lion King - is essentially the plot of Hamlet with lions replacing the main characters.

Simba is Hamlet, Scar is Claudius (the evil uncle who kills his brother to steal his throne) and Simba's dad (Mufasa) of course appears as a ghost before Simba goes off to avenge his death. Heavily disguised, perhaps, but the basics of the plot are there. Shakespeare has also been the source for some dismal failures. Jack to a King was an attempt to replicate the success of Return to the Forbidden Planet with a gangland Macbeth. Numerous attempts at Twelfth Night have been made (including Music Is and Play On). And Rockabye Hamlet was just disturbing (for instance, Ophelia strangled herself with a microphone cord). A Brief Note On Other Playwrights Of course, Shakespeare isn't the only playwright to have had his plays 'musicalised'. Various plays that most people would never have considered putting music to have been turned into successful musicals: My Fair Lady is a musical version of Shaw's Pygmalion, which sticks very closely to the original - using much of Shaw's dialogue and changing only the ending - yet manages to make the songs a natural part of the proceedings.

Some, such as 'Why Can't the English' and 'The Rain in Spain', spring from the trials and tribulations of language, while others perform the usual musical comedy function of taking over from dialogue when the emotion runs highest. New Girl in Town was less successful, lasting just over a year on Broadway, but then the very concept of adding music to Eugene O'Neill's plot of Anna Christie is exceedingly bizarre. Another 'pointless' musicalisation is that of High Spirits, which achieves the bizarre feat of putting music by other people to a Noel Coward play (Blithe Spirit). It too had a relatively short life on Broadway, but has proved popular since, with frequent revivals. Hello, Dolly! was based on Thornton Wilder's popular farce, The Matchmaker, subsituting music for much of the farcical elements (though combining the two in the 'Motherhood March'), much as Where's Charley? had done for Charley's Aunt. Chicago, Carousel and Oklahoma! all achieved the task of taking an almost-forgotten play (respectively, Chicago, Liliom and Green Grow the Lilacs), spotting something in it and transforming it into a smash-hit musical.

Rent, Miss Saigon and Aida, all smash hits on Broadway, take things one step further, mining operatic sources (La Boheme, Madame Butterfly and Aida) and creating a new score around much the same story. Further Reading The British Library's website has 93 copies of the 21 plays by Shakespeare printed before 1642 available to download. 1 Of course, it was pure coincidence that one of them happened to be related to lyricist Lorenz Hart... 2 The servants of the twin brothers. 3 If she says your behaviour is heinous, kick her right in the... 4 Not the character from Superman, though the Man of Steel had been around for ten years by this point. 5 Though not an immediate success. Project MUSE - Shakespeare and the American Musical (review) Heather S. Nathans (bio) Shakespeare and the American Musical. By Irene G. Dash. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010. Illus. Pp. xviii + 230. $24.95 paper. In her introduction to Shakespeare and the American Musical, Irene Dash offers a chronicle of her own personal experience with five musicals based on Shakespeare’s plays.

For Dash, the fusion of Shakespeare’s verse and vision with the “organic” (or “integrated”) form of American musical theater that began to emerge in the late 1930s “tells the story of how American culture transmuted these Renaissance plays into a vibrant new experience in modern theater” (9). Dash investigates how “the American Shakespeare musical” served as a marker of “political and social change” (186). She brings an intricate and valuable familiarity with Shakespeare’s texts to this project. The book covers the following musical adaptations: The Boys from Syracuse (based on The Comedy of Errors), Kiss Me, Kate (based on The Taming of the Shrew), West Side Story (based on Romeo and Juliet), Your Own Thing (based on Twelfth Night), and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (a rock musical version of Shakespeare’s comedy). It is divided into five chapters, plus a brief introduction and a coda. Each chapter covers a single musical.

Dash credits the melding of Shakespeare’s plays and the American musical form with “providing [American musicals] with a sophistication they had [End Page 287] lacked,” arguing that Shakespeare’s plays offered American composers “complex, multilayered plots with psychologically credible characters” (187). It would be more accurate to suggest that the American Shakespeare musical coevolved with the complexity of the American musical, rather than that one gave rise to the other. Many of the other psychologically complex musicals of the period that Dash mentions fleetingly (or omits entirely) such as Showboat, Porgy and Bess, Carousel, and Gypsy also developed during the period she examines and owe no recognizable debt to Shakespeare’s work. And while Dash explores how lyricists adapted Shakespeare’s verse structure to songs that would appeal to American audiences, it would have been productive to examine more fully the ways in which forms of music that came to be seen as distinctly American (jazz, blues, rock ’n’ roll) helped to “translate” Shakespeare into a contemporary context.

While she uses terms such as “syncopation,” “off-beat,” “minor key,” “bouncy melody,” or “blues melody” throughout the text, she does not detail how these musical choices are relevant to the Shakespearean content. Examining more explicitly the connection between the rhythms of American music and the rhythms of Shakespeare’s language might explain why she thinks his works lent themselves so well to the musical theater genre. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on comparisons of The Comedy of Errors to The Boys from Syracuse and The Taming of the Shrew to Kiss Me, Kate, respectively. Dash provides an extended summary of the action in each play for those who may be unfamiliar with the scripts before describing the changes that Rodgers, Hart, and Abbott made to Comedy and that Spewack and Porter made to Shrew (indeed, she does this for each play throughout). While she offers intriguing interpretations of many of the adaptors’ choices, Dash often omits evidence that might support her argument.

For example, in detailing the addition of the tailor scene to The Boys from Syracuse (which is only alluded to in Shakespeare’s play), Dash argues (but does not provide evidence for the assertion) that the added scene in which a tailor gives the outsider Antipholus one of his twin’s suits contains a subtle reference to the growing political conflict in Europe. Yet the added scene also seems a theatrical device to ensure that the two Antipholus characters wind up dressed in identical clothing, thus explaining and prolonging the other characters’ confusion throughout the rest of the play. Additionally, in describing the transformations made to various female characters, Dash makes frequent references to the mores of the 1930s and 1940s without providing a larger historical context for that claim, such as the backlash against the sexual freedom of the 1920s, the advent of the Hays Code in 1930, and the postwar effort to push women out of the work force. Instead, she often praises or critiques the adaptors for the ways in which they “capture” Shakespeare’s characters onstage—particularly women.

This raises the question of whether it was the stated goal of [End Page 288] the adaptors to fully and accurately represent Shakespeare’s characters. Dash seems to argue that the adaptors should simultaneously create a new genre (the American Shakespeare musical) while adhering to Shakespeare’s original ideas. Chapter 3 examines the lengthy and complex process of bringing Romeo and Juliet to the stage as West Side Story. Dash pays particular attention to the adaptation of Shakespeare’s original text into the musical genre, focusing on how Bernstein, Sondheim, Laurents, and Robbins struggled to develop a story that would resonate with American audiences. Puzzlingly, Dash underplays the importance of Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics, arguing that Jerome Robbins’s choreography largely supplanted the need for verse or dialogue. Given Dash’s interest in adaptation, it might have been intriguing to discuss how each of the elements (music, dance, and lyrics) combined to echo either the structure or images of Shakespeare’s text, rather than his plot line. For example, as Dash notes, the breathless bravado of Romeo’s character finds a parallel in the rapid pace of the song “Something’s Coming” (95).

Unlike the Porter or Hart songs Dash cites earlier, this song is full of short, four-beat lines that drive the song forward, juxtaposed with longer notes that build a sense of anticipation. Examining how the music and lyrics work together could explain how the integrated musical functioned not as a replacement for, but as a parallel to, Shakespeare’s verse style. Dash ends the chapter noting that the musical’s creators sought to preach a broader message of tolerance. This segues into chapters 4 and 5, which deal with musicals that explored racial, sexual, and gender identities. Chapters 4 and 5 examine Your Own Thing and Two Gentlemen of Verona, respectively. Both chapters could have benefited from additional historical context, especially the chapter on Your Own Thing, a show that debuted one year before Stonewall and captured some of the anxiety surrounding the emerging gay rights movement. This kind of discussion (particularly of the violence that challenged the gay and lesbian communities of the 1960s) would have amplified Dash’s description of the dream sequence in which Orson (Orsino) is hanged by a group of cowboys for loving another man.

Chapter 5 explores how Joseph Papp’s mission to bring free Shakespeare to the people intersected with the impulse to make Shakespeare more accessible through contemporary musical forms (those drawing on diverse racial and ethnic influences) and contemporary stagecraft. This leads her to the coda in which she reiterates her argument that musical adaptations of Shakespeare of note, those developed during the “Golden Age” of American musical theater covered in this study, give Shakespeare’s works “a life for our time” (192). One puzzling point throughout is that almost none of the photographs identify the actors, dates, and locations of the productions shown. It would have been helpful for Dash to clarify this information if it was available (or to note [End Page 289] in the cases that it was not). This is important when photographs are used as evidence to support the author’s argument. Ultimately, Dash’s work may be of greatest use to readers interested in the process of adaptation. Musical theater scholars less familiar with the intricacies of some of Shakespeare’s plays will find food for thought, and musical theater directors may find useful points to inform their own artistic work. The Boys From Syracuse :: Rodgers & Hammerstein :: Show Details Like this page on facebook.

The Boys From Syracuse Music by Rodgers, Richard | Lyrics by Lorenz Hart | Book by George Abbott | Based on Twins! More twins! Women-chased and chaste! The first musical ever adapted from Shakespeare remains the most madcap musical farce ever to animate the stage. Antipholus and his wily servant, Dromio, travel to Ephesus in search of their respective twins, from whom they were separated in a shipwreck. Naturally, they are immediately taken for their brothers and we're off and running on a riotous chase from marketplace to marital bed. Perplexed wives, disgruntled courtesans, outraged constables and an audience roaring with laughter are left in its wake before this show's tangled web is unraveled, and Rodgers & Hart & Abbott have triumphed once again! Participate in the R&H Online Community.Leave comments or talk with other fans in the forum! About The Show To request the rights to make merchandise for this show email brian.sherman@rnh.com .

Fan Info: RSS In 1938, Rodgers & Hart's musical THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE had its New York premier at the Alvin Theatre, and ran for 235 performances. The birthday of William Shakespeare! Rodgers & Hart's musical THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE (1938) marked the first time that Shakespeare was adapted for Broadway. Based on THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, the story brings not just one but two sets of estranged twins into a series of near-collisions, resulting in a major case of mistaken identity. Hart's lyrics throw in further Shakespearean references, as in the song "This Can't Be Love"" : ""Though your cousin loved my cousin Juliet / Loved her with a passion much more truly yet / Some poor playwright / Wrote their drama just for fun. / It won't run!""" In 1895 Lorenz Milton Hart was born in New York City.

In 1918 he was introduced to Richard Rodgers, and they collaborate on twenty six Broadway musicals over the next two decades, including A CONNECTICUT YANKEE (1927), BABES IN ARMS (1937), I MARRIED AN ANGEL (1938), THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE (1938), PAL JOEY (1940), and BY JUPITER (1942). In 1887 George Abbott was born, Broadway actor, writer, and producer. His musical collaborations included ON YOUR TOES, THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, ON THE TOWN, PAL JOEY, DAMN YANKEES, and FIORELLO!, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1959. "I believe it will be regarded as the greatest musical comedy of its time...set to the most captivating, thrilling, humorous music and lyrics in the long and honorable history of Messrs.

Rodgers and Hart, and it has a modern and swift moving book." — New York World Telegram, January 01, 1938 "The kind of show we've almost lost the ability to create." — New York Post, January 01, 1997 "Light as a feather and fresh as a day in spring." — The Wall Street Journal, January 01, 1997 "It doesn't get much better than this." — The New York Observer, January 01, 1997 "It doesn't get much better than this." — The New York Observer, January 01, 1997 Song # The Boys from Syracuse History When THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York City on November 23, 1938, Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times said, “Rodgers and Hart have written some of their gayest songs…a beautiful feast of rollicking mummery…” and Richard Watts of the Herald Tribune called it “…the finest and most satisfying musical comedy that has reached New York in many a season…” The original production ran for seven months but the 1963 New

 York revival ran twice as long and received even more enthusiastic notices.

The book, based on William Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors,” was by George Abbott but it was Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart who first thought of using one of the bard’s plays as the basis of a musical comedy. This inspired idea gave them the opportunity to write a score which included such songs as: “Falling in Love With Love,” “This Can’t Be Love,” and “Sing for Your Supper.” It is rare in show business for nepotism to pay off – but in the case of THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE it did so handsomely. Lyricist Hart’s younger brother, Teddy, was often mistaken for a popular comedian of the day, Jimmy Savo, and they were therefore a natural choice for the twin Dromios in the play, servants to twin brothers. “The Comedy of Errors” is a story of mistaken identity and as both Dromios state at the beginning of THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE: “If it’s good enough for Shakespeare, it’s good enough for us.” Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart worked together for twenty-five years, during which time they wrote the songs for 26 Broadway musicals, 3 London musicals, and 9 films.

They also collaborated on one night club revue and one non-musical play. Mr. Hart died in 1943 at the age of 48. Mr. Rodgers then entered another extraordinary partnership with a man he had known from their Columbia University days – Oscar Hammerstein 2nd, with whom he worked exclusively until Mr. Hammerstein’s death in 1960. Mr. Rodgers continued to entertain Broadway and television audiences with his music until his death in 1979. What Can Time Do? By Theodore S. Chapin Every time an opportunity presents itself to restore another Richard Rodgers score, I am reminded of Alec Wilder's comment in his book American Popular Song. In that fascinating and opinionated tome, Wilder wrote of Rodgers: "After spending weeks playing his songs, I am more than impressed and respectful: I am astonished." Those of us involved with this recording were inclined to echo Wilder's words. The fact that THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE boasts so many standards isn't what's astonishing. What is astonishing is the melodic invention, musicianship, theatricality, harmonic surprises, and even mischievousness to be found in this score and its musical arrangements.

Sitting at the orchestra’s sitzprobe for the Encores! performances in May 1997, Mary Rodgers remarked "this stuff is so wonderful—I only wish my old man could see what joy we're all getting from his music sixty years after he wrote it." But what is it exactly about Richard Rodgers that made Alec Wilder astonished? On the surface Rodgers’ songs sound straightforward and tuneful. There are hummable melodies and familiar sounding harmonies. But take a careful listen. Is it possible to be tuneful and astonishing at the same time? Yes, indeed. The Shortest Day Of The Year, for example. The lyrics for the first four lines of the refrain form one complete thought—which needs your attention all the way through to make sense. So Rodgers tricks you by taking the melody where you don't feel it will go until it gets there—at which point you say to yourself "Oh, yes." The notes he chose for the end of each of the first two lines—"The shortest day of the year, Has the longest night of the year," are not the notes for which the preceding phrase has prepared you.

Both notes have an unexpected and "blue" quality that Rodgers used so cleverly ("Oh, what a beautiful mornin’" for example) throughout his career. Those unresolved notes hold us briefly in emotional suspension until music and lyrics are ready for a mutual resolution. An easy melody is kept interesting, and we are viscerally satisfied. The way Rodgers harmonized his melodies is equally surprising. Listen to how he created the sublime descending feel of You Have Cast Your Shadow On The Sea—and then what he did on the line "on both the sea and me." It eludes us, then catches us, and leaves us where we didn't expect to be. And then there is the sheer emotional pleasure of the harmony rising from beneath the last notes of the verse of Falling In Love With Love ("Wives can only sew and weep.") When the waltz melody begins (and no one wrote better waltzes) it's hard not to smile. All this invention was, by the way, totally instinctive. Stephen Sondheim recounted that he once told Rodgers how much he admired "...the way in People Will Say We’re In Love the middle section was an exact musical inversion of the beginning.

[Rodgers] blinked at me as if I'd been speaking Eskimo... He did the right thing, but he couldn't begin to analyze why." Another right thing Rodgers did was to hire a very young Hugh Martin to create vocal arrangements. Martin's arrangement of Sing For Your Supper has not only proven to be a show stopper since 1938, but is perhaps the most imitated vocal arrangement in theater history. Bringing that "downtown" vocal feel to the uptown world of Broadway was a stroke of genius. And what of Lorenz Hart? Here was a nimble witted, naughty, and sometimes cynical songwriter who also happened to be an erudite scholar, expert on everything from the classics to Rilke. Only he would gleefully turn an esoteric Greek myth into a song about a man-grabbing woman (Oh, Diogenes), and reduce the story of Romeo and Juliet to two verses sung by confused would-be lovers. (He: "...my late cousin Romeo..fell in love and then he died of it. Poor half wit!" She: "Some poor playwright wrote their drama just for fun.

It won't run!") In Dear Old Syracuse he found subtle ways of describing distinctly different lights in patios: those at home where "there’s a light that's burning in the patio" and those where a man goes when he’s lonely - "there’s a red light burning in the patio." (The first red light district?) This is the kind of humor that can whiz right past in performance—if you’re not careful, you'll miss it altogether. And what breeziness, humor, and just plain fun there is in such thoughts as: "Some men wear half pajamas, I took a chance. I bought the guy pajamas, he wears the pants." On the other hand, "Caring too much is such a juvenile fancy" is pure poetry. One of the songs from this show that has been forgotten (this is its first known recording) is Big Brother, sung by the Dromio of Ephesus, played in the original production by Lorenz Hart's younger brother Teddy. It provides the introduction to the ballet (choreographed by George Balanchine) in which one brother searches for his lost twin. But it may have had a personal resonance as well.

Teddy and Lorenz Hart looked alike and were both short; maybe Larry was offering a homage to his own brother. No cynicism here, just pure resonant sibling sentiment. Hart and his fellow wordsmith George Abbott may have been the progenitors of the Broadway Musical as sitcom. THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE is an ideal specimen. The situation comes from Shakespeare (the first time anyone adapted Shakespeare into the musical theater), the comedy comes from the 1930s (lots of vaudeville-inspired schtick). And since the show opened on Broadway six months after Rodgers & Hart’s previous effort (I MARRIED AN ANGEL) it was obviously put together quickly, much in the way television sit-coms are cranked out today. Jokes abound—from the Gilbert and Sullivan police line-up (who are, this time, sending one of the leading men off to jail with a rousing march) to three distressed wives who sing in the style of the swing band "canaries" about how to keep their husbands (the afore-mentioned Sing For Your Supper.) There’s always a danger in lavishing too much praise on people who just did what they loved to do.

Were Rodgers & Hart aware of the artistic superiority of their work? Probably. But did they care? Maybe. Alan Jay Lerner said of Lorenz Hart: "Whether he cared or not, he was as close to being [a genius] as lyric writing has produced." Rodgers and Hart were first and foremost two guys who loved the musical theater and were devoted to giving every show their best. They wanted to keep writing, and write they did—contributing to 47 shows and movies over 22 years. Thanks to the pieces of paper left behind and to some of today’s more enlightened theater artists, we can once again revel in Rodgers & Hart’s astonishing THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE. On to the next restoration. Vernon Rice Awards Film musicals based on, or inspired by, Shakespeare’s plays – Part II | Shall we dance Film musicals based on, or inspired by, Shakespeare’s plays – Part II · by vwonka In part I of this compilation , we enumerated film musicals based on, or inspired by, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and The Taming of the Shrew.

To conclude this list, here are some other movie musicals based on Shakespeare’s plays, which you should certainly take a look at: Film musicals based on, or inspired by, Shakespeare’s plays – Part II Film musicals based on Othello Much like Hamlet, Shakespeare’s Othello has not been a favorite source of inspiration for movie musicals, perhaps due to its indisputably sinister subjects. However, a barely known film musical inspired by the story was manufactured in 1974 as a co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom. The movie received the name of Catch my soul, based on one of Othello’s lines in the original play, and it was a stage-to-screen adaptation of the homonymous rock musical created by Jack Goods. The narrative retained many elements of the original, yet, faithful to the general style of rock musicals from the 70’s –think Jesus Christ Superstar, which premiered the year before- altered them to fit the spiritual atmosphere of the times. Thus, Catch my soul sees Othello transformed into a hippie pacifist who stumbles upon Iago’s commune and marries the good-hearted Desdemona.

In spite of this changes, the narrative does follow Iago’s wicked machinations, and concludes in a similarly tragic ending for the characters. The critic’s reception was poor, and it received plenty of hostility due to poor dramatic performances, as well as an oversimplification of the tale. Film musicals based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream Perhaps one of the most iconic Shakespearean comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been adapted multiple times and appeared in a wide range of formats, from operas to ballets. And, of course, musicals. The narrative structure based in numerous misunderstandings has also influenced the romantic comedy, and it’s possible to find traces of it in some of the Rogers-Astaire films. A more recent film musical loosely inspired by the play is Were the world mine (2008), which integrates A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of the plot by having the characters work on a staged version of the play. Still, the narrative is quite different from the original story. Were the world mine presents an openly homosexual protagonist who, inspired by the play, succeeds in recreating Puck’s flower of Love-In-Idleness, and proceeds to use it to turn every other member of his community into homosexuals.

Needless to say, chaos ensues. On the other hand, although not quite a full movie musical –even if it does present a few fun musical numbers-, Get over it (2001) also integrates Shakespeare’s story as a play-within-a-play which is being adapted into a modernized musical called A Midsummer Night’s Rockin’ Eve by some students and their drama teacher. However, things turn complicated, as the romantic relationships between the children are as convoluted as that of the characters in the play. Film musicals based on Love’s Labour’s Lost Unlike most of the plays we’ve mentioned previously, Love’s Labour’s Lost is the only one to retain its original name on its film musical adaptation. It was Shakespeare-veteran Kenneth Branagh who directed the movie musical version of the play in 2000 as part of his ill-fated deal with Miramax. In Love’s Labour’s Lost, the plot remains mostly the same, yet Branagh made some alterations by adding characters, modifying the dialogue, and, of course, adding musical performances.

As part of his reinvention of the play, Branagh employed songs from classic Hollywood musicals, and set the tale in the 30’s, thus continuing with the trend of adapting Shakespeare’s tales to modern times. Unfortunately, the film was received with mixed reviews and didn’t do too well at the box office. Film musicals based on The Comedy of Errors Like 2000’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Boys from Syracuse (1940), the film musical based on Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, is a mostly faithful musical adaptation of its original material. It’s also the first musical to be based on a Shakespearean tale. The Boys from Syracuse is a big screen adaptation of the homonymous stage musical, which follows the same narrative of the original play, with two sets of twins estranged and finally reunited after plenty of comical misunderstandings. The film received two Academy Awards nominations in 1941: for Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects. Any other film musical based on, or inspired by, Shakespeare’s plays we might have missed? Which one is your all-time favorite?

About: The Boys from Syracuse About: The Boys from Syracuse An Entity of Type : musical , from Named Graph : , within Data Space : dbpedia.org The Boys from Syracuse is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play, The Comedy of Errors, as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemporary rhythms of the 1930s. The show was the first musical based on a Shakespeare play. The Comedy of Errors was itself loosely based on a Roman play, The Menaechmi, or the Twin Brothers, by Plautus. Property abstract The Boys from Syracuse ist ein Musical mit der Musik von Richard Rodgers und Liedtexten von Lorenz Hart. Das Buch nach William Shakespeares Komödie der Irrungen schrieb George Abbott, der die Show auch produzierte und Regie führte. Die Choreografie erarbeitete George Balanchine. Das Stück gilt als erste Musical-Vertonung eines Shakespeare-Werkes am Broadway.

Der Titel ist eine Anspielung auf die Shubert Brothers, die mächtigsten Theaterproduzenten am Broadway, die aus dem New Yorker Städtchen Syracuse stammten. Die Uraufführung fand am 23. November 1938 im Alvin Theatre in New York statt und erreichte 235 Vorstellungen. Ein Off-Broadway-Revival 1963/64 im Theatre Four brachte es auf 500 Vorstellungen. Die Londoner West End-Premiere hatte das Musical am 7. November 1963 im Drury Lane Theatre. Die deutschsprachige Erstaufführung, vom 24. November 1971 im Theater Pforzheim, unter dem Titel Die Boys von Syrakus, weicht vom Original ab, so wurden u.a. die Tanznummern gestrichen. Den deutschen Text besorgte Heiner Bruns. (de) The Boys from Syracuse is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play, The Comedy of Errors, as adapted by librettist George Abbott.

The score includes swing and other contemporary rhythms of the 1930s. The show was the first musical based on a Shakespeare play. The Comedy of Errors was itself loosely based on a Roman play, The Menaechmi, or the Twin Brothers, by Plautus. The play premiered on Broadway in 1938 and Off-Broadway in 1963, with later productions including a West End run in 1963 and in a Broadway revival in 2002. A film adaptation was released in 1940. Well-known songs from the score include "Falling in Love with Love", "This Can't Be Love" and "Sing for Your Supper". (en) The Boys from Syracuse è una commedia musicale con musica di Richard Rodgers, testi delle canzoni di Lorenz Hart e libretto e regia di George Abbott e con le coreografie di George Balanchine.

La commedia debuttò all'Alvin Theatre per il Broadway theatre il 23 novembre 1938 con Eddie Albert e chiuse i battenti il 10 giugno 1939 per un totale di 235 repliche.Nel 2002 fu montato un revival all'American Airlines Theatre per Broadway che chiuse dopo 73 repliche. Nel 1940 la MGM ne realizzò una versione cinematografica per la regia di A. Edward Sutherland. (it) comment The Boys from Syracuse is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play, The Comedy of Errors, as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemporary rhythms of the 1930s. The show was the first musical based on a Shakespeare play. The Comedy of Errors was itself loosely based on a Roman play, The Menaechmi, or the Twin Brothers, by Plautus. (en) The Boys from Syracuse ist ein Musical mit der Musik von Richard Rodgers und Liedtexten von Lorenz Hart.

Das Buch nach William Shakespeares Komödie der Irrungen schrieb George Abbott, der die Show auch produzierte und Regie führte. Die Choreografie erarbeitete George Balanchine.Das Stück gilt als erste Musical-Vertonung eines Shakespeare-Werkes am Broadway. Der Titel ist eine Anspielung auf die Shubert Brothers, die mächtigsten Theaterproduzenten am Broadway, die aus dem New Yorker Städtchen Syracuse stammten.

(de) The Boys from Syracuse è una commedia musicale con musica di Richard Rodgers, testi delle canzoni di Lorenz Hart e libretto e regia di George Abbott e con le coreografie di George Balanchine.La commedia debuttò all'Alvin Theatre per il Broadway theatre il 23 novembre 1938 con Eddie Albert e chiuse i battenti il 10 giugno 1939 per un totale di 235 repliche.Nel 2002 fu montato un revival all'American Airlines Theatre per Broadway che chiuse dopo 73 repliche.Nel 1940 la MGM ne realizzò una versione cinematografica per la regia di A. Edward Sutherland. (it) Shakespeare on Broadway - Off-Off-Broadway | Tickets, Reviews, Info and More Shakespeare on Broadway Hi, I was on TheaterMania.com and thought you might be interested in seeing this. Cancel Send Email WHAT IS IT ABOUT? The Shakespeare Society presents a 90-minute musical celebration of the American Musical Theater's adaptation of Shakespeare.

Shakespeare on Broadway features Broadway stars Marin Mazzie (Kiss Me, Kate, Passion, Ragtime), Jason Danieley (The Full Monty, Candide, Floyd Collins), Tom Wopat (Glengarry Glen Ross, Annie Get Your Gun, 42nd Street), Richard Kind (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Producers, Tale of the Allergist's Wife), and Brian D'Arcy James (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Sweet Smell of Success) performing songs from such popular musicals (based on Shakespeare's plays) as The Boys from Syracuse, Kiss Me Kate and West Side Story. Tony Award-winning director Jack O'Brien (Hairspray, Henry IV) provides commentary as scenes and speeches from The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, and Romeo and Juliet are paired with the incomparable songs of Rogers and Hart (The Boys from Syracuse), Cole Porter (Kiss Me, Kate), and Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim (West Side Story). Visit the Shakespeare on Broadway website: The Boys from Syracuse (1940, A.

Edward Sutherland) :: Shakespeare in Performance :: Internet Shakespeare Editions Internet Shakespeare Editions The Boys from Syracuse (1940, A. Edward Sutherland) Title The Comedy of Errors (derivative) Description Based on the Broadway musical, Boys from Syracuse with book by George Abbott and music by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Abbott's play was in turn based on Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors Description from Shakespeare on Screen : an International Filmography and Videography by Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer. ©1990 Kenneth S. Rothwell. Cited by permission. — Added 2008-11-14

Question: On which Shakespeare play is the musical 'The Boys From Syracuse' based?
Answer: Comedy of Errors