Shrew Opens Tomorrow

[Craig T Gustafson]

Eric (one of my producers) had his 7 year old (as near as I could tell) son with him while watching the show last night, waiting for the mom to come pick up the kid. So the 7 year old was watching my Scandalous Adult Show. And loving it.

He was following the action completely and loved all the slapstick. He especially enjoyed Lars as Hortensio. Later, Eric was saying, "I don't even know why we're saying this is Adults Only. There's nothing in here I would have a problem with my kid seeing."

Except that as Steve (his fellow producer & partner in the comedy group Gag Reflex) pointed out, Eric's standards are pretty relaxed. So, yeah... I also regard what I'm doing as innocuous, but I know that my Innocuous is another person's Oh My God!

We have some teasing nudity in the show. Try though you might, you're not going to see anything. Well, nothing female, at any rate. What we're mainly doing is giving full measure to Shakespeare's incredibly bawdy language. When a fake music teacher's love letter contains the phrase, "One clef, two notes have I", there's really only one interpretation that makes any sense; so we're doing it.

So anyway -- I'm doing a Shakespeare that a 7 year old had no problem following and enjoying. I've cut almost an hour of deadwood out of the script -- if a joke required that the audience read a footnote and go, "Oh. That's funny!" instead of laughing, that joke is out. And yes, I know, I blaspheme. There is deadwood in Shakespeare. The whole unresolved Induction is gone. So you're gonna be out before 10:30.

Steve & Eric have been terrific to work with. There are always issues inherent with working at First Street. They've been coping with those as best as possible and have run incredible interference for me on some really tough issues, not the least of which was losing a major cast member Very Close to Opening. These guys are great. Julane's costumes are perfect. My stage manager Aimee Kennedy & assistant director Kathy McNally are dependable, focused and solid.

The cast:

Petruchio - Randy Knott. Solid, intelligent acting, sharp comic timing. He makes a terrific, fearless Petruchio. Fearlessness is a must in what I have him doing in the wedding scene. And Randy is a rock as far as being available, helpful and generous.

Kate - Catie Early. We acquired a new leading lady two weeks ago. Catie came to us hot off of playing Isabella in Measure for Measure at Janus Theatre in Elgin and has worked her adorable ass off. She's funny, vibrant, beautiful and has great chemistry with Randy.

Hortensio - Lars Timpa. Comedic rock. Completely dependable to fill every moment with something funny and to not steal focus when it's not his turn. Brilliant at playing every possible moment.

Trania - Marie Clawson. Marie is the revelation for me on this one. She was in The Wizard of Oz with me last year, as a dancing tree. I knew she'd be competent and fun to have around. I didn't know that she's a fuckin' genius who makes iambic pentameter sound as natural as Ron Santo announcing a Cubs game.

Lucentio - Robert S. Richardson. Robert is great at throwing in little Human moments, such as when Baptista offers to cover a bet for him and Lucentio declines. Robert does this unspellable sound that is dismissive and over-confidant. He's funny & makes Lucentio real.

Bianca - Nora Manca. Aside from being a sweetheart of a Bianca (as well as illuminating Bianca's less angelic qualities right from the start), Nora, seeing that little was happening in the area of acquiring costumes on time, dove in & took the job upon herself, doing a Herculean amount of work to make sure the cast was dressed circa 1969 (the setting of this production.) Julane & Steve helped, but Nora did the grunt work. I cannot thank her enough.

Baptista - Larry Boller. Great straight man work, as well as tossing in unexpected moments that get big laughs. And he gets a little more to play with than Baptista usually does, in that we're gender bending Tranio to Trania and deciding that, although wooing Bianca for Lucentio, she's attracted to Bianca's father, who finds himself strangely drawn to this small, lithe... boy. Larry and Marie do dynamite work together.

Gremio - Don Gingold. Great work from Don as an old fussbudget with a dress code from The Fantasticks and the cheerful outlook of Eeyore.

Grumio - Alan Kortas. Very funny and solid as Petruchio's grumbling servant who misinterprets instructions deliberately.

Biondello (& others) - Kevin Gum. Kevin is the brunt of most of the slapstick in the show. He's playing the type of servant people just want to slap. And do. He's a great physical comic.

Pedant (& others) - John Gould. Gets some of the biggest laughs I've ever heard in a part that's been a throwaway whenever I've seen it. I want John and Marie to go on the road as a comedy team. She's Abbott, he's Costello.

Vincentio (& others) - Harry Davis. Solid, dependable. Straight man as Vincentio, but got some huge laughs in the dinner scene last night.

Widow (& others) - Margie Gustafson. It was several rehearsals before Margie's ferocity toward Randy as the Widow stopped breaking up the cast. Sweet and funny. Not that I'm prejudiced or anything.

Tailor (& others) - Emily Gingold (& others). I asked Emily in the show because Don (Gremio) wanted some father/daughter time and since there were no auditions anyway (the project came together too quickly to have auditions) that was ok by me. How nice to find out that she's intelligent, funny & thinks on her feet. I'd cast her out of an audition any time. She's still in high school, but I recommend her to you for any young adult parts you might have.

One of the things I love to do is make sure that everybody in the cast gets some moments to shine. This cast rises to the occasion beautifully. From Randy & Catie to Emily & Margie, everybody works to make this show funny. I'm so lucky to get an entire cast this wonderful.

Come and see it. Pictures are on view at My Website.

Thanks.
Craig
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<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ September 27, 2007 11:51 AM: Message edited by: Sgt. Bilko ]</font>

[Craig T Gustafson]

Some more Taming of the Shrew pictures, now that the costumes and set are finished:

http://www.bozolisand.com/shrewposter2.html (photos by me; full costume & set)

http://www.bozolisand.com/shrewposter.html (the page I posted yesterday; photos by Mike Lanners; some costume & set)

Craig

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Kro-Bar: Aliens? Us? Is this one of your Earth jokes?
Ranger Brad: I've seen a bear do things, well... things that even a bear wouldn't do.
Betty: Well, I suppose if I had wanted a safe life, I wouldn't have married a man who studies rocks.
Animala: Rowwr!