Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2017: Coverage Overview

Julius Caesar at OSF. Left to right: Rodney Gardiner, Armando Durán, Danforth Comins. Photo courtesy Jenny Graham and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Check here to see our comprehensive coverage of the OSF 2017 season as it is posted.

Introducing the Season:

Season Preview

Coverage Overview

Visiting the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (coming soon)

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The Plays We've Covered:

UniSon: UNIVERSES adapts the poetry of August Wilson to the stage.

The performance troupe UNIVERSES, also responsible for 2012’s intriguing Party People, adapts to the stage the little-known poetry of August Wilson (Fences, The Piano Lesson.) This daring piece reinterprets the work of one of the greatest minds of African-American theatre by combining the classic language of the 20^thCentury with the structure of the 21^st.

Hannah And The Dread Gazebo: A world premiere about family, identity, and the ghost of Kim Jong Il.

This world premiere from playwright Jiehae Park grapples with questions of family and national identity in a tight 90-minute show. Much of the action concerns the tensions between North and South Korea and the DMZ in between them.

Julius Caesar: Shakespeare’s legendary tragedy about leadership, violence, and betrayal.

Shakespeare’s political thriller Julius Caesar occupies a position among his greatest tragic works, alongside such plays as Hamlet and King Lear. While OSF’s previous production, in 2011, was a general look at leaders whose deeds were both great and terrible, the 2017 version, as described in the “From The Director” statement on OSF’s website, more specifically examines the culture of American violence and politics. Armando Durán, who also played roles in Hamlet, King Lear, and The Tempest in his 18-year residency at OSF, takes on the part of Caesar.

Henry IV, Part 1: A young Prince Hal is torn between duty to his country and his rollicking life with Falstaff.

The first part of the Henry V trilogy features a youthful, irresponsible Prince Hal (Daniel José Molina) beginning to choose between the responsibilities of leading a country and the pleasures of tavern life with his friend John Falstaff. OSF is producing the entire trilogy over two seasons, performing Parts 1 and 2 of Henry IV this year and Henry V as part of the 2018 season.

The Merry Wives of Windsor: A small town conspires to trick the mischievous Falstaff (yes, the same Falstaff).

This classic comedy features the lecherous drunk Falstaff, a returning character from the Henry IV cycle. K.T. Vogt, who appeared in other OSF comedies like Animal Crackers and The Yeomen of the Guard, assumes the role in this production, which uses the play’s original setting of Elizabethan England – a place and time Shakespeare rarely used. This is the first time since 2006 that OSF has produced this play, though the company produced a modern adaptation called The Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa in 2012.

The Odyssey: Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of Homer’s epic story of adventure.

Director Mary Zimmerman (see my reviews for two other plays she directed, Guys and Dolls at OSF and Treasure Island at Berkeley Rep) brings one of the oldest adventure stories known to humankind to the Ashland stage. The Odyssey is set in the Elizabethan Theatre, which possesses significantly more vertical space than OSF’s other two venues; Zimmerman's movement-oriented direction should put this extra room to great use. 

Beauty And The Beast: The classic Disney musical, brought to the outdoor Elizabethan Theatre.

OSF’s musical this year is a stage adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, an animated movie from Disney’s early-90s renaissance. Though the decision to run a Disney musical may raise some eyebrows, the show boasts a score from the legendary Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors). This music, combined with OSF’s ability to breathe new life even into Broadway’s most venerable standards, promises an exciting show.

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Restaurants We've Enjoyed:

Morning Glory

Smithfields

Thai Pepper

Flip

Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2016 Season

Each year, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, located in scenic Ashland, Oregon, produces 11 plays in repertory. About half of them are the works of Shakespeare, with the rest a mixture of contemporary plays, older musicals, and shows by classic playwrights.

Ashland itself is a wonderful place for a vacation. A variety of quality restaurants with fresh ingredients, lots of nearby trails and parks, and a thriving visual arts scene make the town a favorite destination.

Here are some of the most exciting plays of OSF’s 2016 season:

Twelfth Night (dir. Christopher Liam Moore)

Runs February 19 through October 30

While OSF’s previous version of this play was set in a color-saturated Elizabethan England, this year’s production is based on glamorous 1930’s Hollywood musicals. Because of the play’s strong themes of music and love, as well as the nicely wrapped-up ending where the villain gets his due, it feels like a great fit.

Director Christopher Liam Moore has worked mostly on contemporary plays during his 6-year career at OSF, but he also directed the semi-modern adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2013.

The River Bride (by Marisela Treviño Orta, dir. Laurie Woolery)

Runs February 21 through July 7

The River Bride, which had several productions around the West Coast prior to this performance, is a mystical, dreamlike story-play based partially on the Amazonian myth of dolphins taking human form to seduce women. Historically, OSF’s plays based on mythology, such as 2013’s White Snake, have been extremely successful, and I look forward to seeing how they present this one.

Great Expectations (Adaptation by Penny Metropulos and Linda Alper, dir. Penny Metropulos)

Runs February 20 through October 30

This new adaptation of Great Expectations captures the over-the-top characters and dramatic twists of fate that one would expect from one of Dickens' greatest novels. Stage versions of Dickens stories (excepting A Christmas Carol) are surprisingly rare, so it is a treat to see such a quality theatrical company take on the challenge.

Hamlet (dir. Lisa Peterson)

Runs June 7 through October 14

Hardly anything is more exciting than a production of Hamlet by one of the greatest Shakespeare repertories in the country. This version, directed by guest artist Lisa Peterson, emphasizes the themes of madness and doubt present in the play: Is Hamlet avenging the murder of a noble king, or killing an innocent man in a haze of grief?

While the 2010 production cast Dan Donohue in the titular role, this year’s Hamlet is played by Danforth Comins, most notable for his incredible portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in 2013’s A Streetcar Named Desire. It will be exciting to see what he brings to the part.

The Wiz (Book by William F. Brown, music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls, dir. Robert O’Hara)

Runs June 8 through October 15

This year, OSF’s recent tradition of directing classic 20^th-century musicals in fascinating ways arrives at the all-Black adaptation of The Wizard of Oz – the one that took audiences by storm in 1974. Director Robert O’Hara, who also wrote the play Insurrection: Holding History, frequently focuses on the conflicts between identity and the past in his work, and I look forward to what messages he will add to and discover within The Wiz. 

The Winter’s Tale (dir. Desdemona Chiang)

Runs June 9 through October 16

Shakespeare’s rarely performed tragicomedy, featuring magic, miracles, and the most famous bear-related stage direction of all time, arrives at the Elizabethan Theatre this year. For this production, director Desdemona Chiang has adapted the play across multiple times, setting it simultaneously in dynastic China and America’s West in the 19^th Century. One of the great benefits of large Shakespeare festivals like OSF is their willingness to take risks with uncommon works, and a production of The Winter’s Tale is a rare treat.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2015: The Count of Monte Cristo

Left to right: Raffi Barsoumian, Robin Goodrin Nordli, Al Espinosa, Kyle Hines, Erin O'Connor.
Photo courtesy Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

When crafting their 2015 season, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival made one of their most interesting choices in recent history: They decided to run Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night alongside the melodramatic 19^th-century adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, the play that made – and ruined – his father. Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale of injustice and revenge is given a crowd-pleasing twist, through both the preserved script and director Marcela Lorca’s appealing interpretation.

The play preserves some of the melodramatic devices that have fallen by the wayside– notably, soliloquies denoted by a wood block sound effect and a spotlight. Besides being funny, these dramatic speeches give us a more concrete view into the characters’ internal processes, something that modern plays have eschewed in favor of ambiguity. In this way, even complicated plots with a variety of motivations on all sides can be expressed to the audience.

Former Broadway actor Al Espinosa performs marvelously as romantic protagonist Edmond Dantés. A good Dantés is larger-than-life, full of emotion, and as likely to rescue someone from the pit of Hell as he is to kick them into it. Espinosa’s version expresses emotion both as strength and as weakness, a Dantés who recognizes the irrational nature of his actions, yet resolves to see them carried out.

The triptych of antagonists will be familiar to someone who read the book; the standout villain in this performance is Michael Sharon as Fernand, the cousin of Dantés’ fiancé Mercedes. In both the books and the adaptation, Fernand is the fiery, impulsive member of the conspiracy, and Sharon entertains the audience with his gleeful sense of evil. The fight at the end of the show is something to behold.

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the most fun and exciting plays of OSF’s 2015 season. It deviates fairly significantly from the book, but if you go into it expecting an adventurous melodrama instead of a faithful version (which would take around five hours anyway), you’re almost certainly going to have a good time. It’s especially a great play for families, so take your kids!

Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2013: My Fair Lady

Ensemble. Photo by Jenny Graham. Photo courtesy Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Over the past few years, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has developed a pattern of taking a classic musical – perhaps one that the audience is starting to tire of – and directing it in a way so fresh and innovative that it seems new once again. In 2009, OSF’s Music Man changed Harold Hill into a man bringing Pleasantville-esque color to a black-and-white town. 2012’s Animal Crackers kept the rapid-fire Marx humor but added some cleverly blocked visual gags–and a few choice barbs aimed at the Festival itself. And this year, OSF has accomplished the impossible – breathing new life into My Fair Lady, one of the most well-known musicals of all time.

My Fair Lady takes place in the streets, apartments, and racing booths of the British upper class, and director Amanda Dehnert does not try to convince the audience any different. The twist is that these settings are left to our imagination; the action takes place in a rehearsal room, where a group of actors are practicing for My Fair Lady. This setting seems cliché, but the production doesn’t skimp on technical artistry. Eliza’s final exit has to be seen to be believed, and the familiar settings become new as the rehearsal room, with the help of a few props and costumes, transforms into a myriad of settings and spaces.

When I went to see My Fair Lady, an unfortunate illness was going through the ensemble, and numerous characters–including Eliza Doolittle herself–were played by understudies. Christina Acosta Robinson, coming straight from her role in The Unfortunates from earlier in the day, played Eliza immaculately, carrying her with the fire and emotional extremes the role requires to stay believable. Also great was Ken Robinson, probably the most acrobatic Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the history of the role, who drew wild applause for his rendition of “On The Street Where You Live”. The cast gave a wild, bombastic rendition of the show that made you almost forget where you were.

If you think you’ve seen My Fair Lady before, or even if you think you’ve seen it too many times, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s rendition of My Fair Lady will almost certainly change your mind. I am excited that the Festival is continuing the trend next year with The Cocoanuts, and, even more so, Into The Woods.