Chapman’s spring Shakespeare fest continues

The cavalcade of Shakespearean events at Chapman University continues this spring as the
“Shakespeare ReImagined: Interpretations Across the Arts”
festival rolls onward. April is a rich month for events examining and celebrating the Bard of Avon as this festival — partnering Chapman with Pacific Symphony for the second year in a row — examines how Shakespeare’s timeless tales have been reinterpreted and “reimagined” by directors, choreographers and composers throughout the world.

Events so far this spring have included a production of
T
he Tragedy of Hamlet
(Chapman University Department of Theatre) and a semi-staged production of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
with complete incidental music by Felix Mendelssohn (Chapman’s Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music and Department of Theatre).

Upcoming in April are a new Department of Theatre production of Tom Stoppard’s modern masterpiece (based on
Hamlet
) 
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
, Pacific Symphony’s presentations (and discussion) of two very different endings for Prokofiev’s Soviet-era ballet
Romeo and Juliet
  (“Romeo and Juliet Reimagined” concert series), and a variety of lectures and master classes by renowned artists and scholars.  The festival culminates in an academic symposium bringing together Shakespearean experts from across the country.

“Music is a vital part of the history of ideas, and the nature of our partnership with Pacific Symphony is to bring to light such interplay in ways that will indelibly connect music to history and to other forms of art,” said Chapman Chancellor Daniele Struppa.

Maestro Carl St.Clair, music director and conductor of Pacific Symphony, agreed.  “I’m very excited about our ever-developing partnership with Chapman University,” he said.  “We are uniting our two worlds and creating some incredible new projects.  Last year we collaborated on a groundbreaking festival focused on the landmark works of Dmitri Shostakovich.  This year’s Shakespeare festival is another powerful example of how our collaboration can enhance the understanding of the artistic process and shed new light on art.”

As  Chancellor Struppa said in his recent column about the festival in the
Orange County Register
, “Shakespeare’s influence on world culture is so great that his ideas and themes found further exposure in operas, ballets and other theatrical productions.” 
Read his March 17 column
for a fascinating examination of how Stoppard, in particular, used science as a theatrical ploy to help the audience gain insight into characters’ psyches, as well as “a way to ask fundamental philosophical questions on the meaning of life, on free will, on the randomness and significance of nature.”  Shakespeare’s mansion has many rooms, and science, as it turns out, fits in quite well as part of the furnishings.  Struppa will re-visit these ideas in his April 17 interdisciplinary lecture “Science and Mathematics in the Works of Tom Stoppard” (details below).

And there are many other cultural crossovers and cross-pollinations, as the ongoing festival will illuminate.  Here’s the line-up of great Shakespearean events — reimagined — for April:

April 9-11

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Directed by Gavin Cameron-Webb

Chapman University, Waltmar Theatre

7:30pm




Acclaimed as a modern masterpiece,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
is the fabulously inventive tale of
Hamlet
as told from the worm’s-eye view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are Hamlet’s treacherous friends in Shakespeare’s play.  Tom Stoppard gives the stage to these two characters, but when they finally get a chance to take the leading roles, reality and illusion intermix, and our two heroes comically and tragically find their way to an inevitable end.
$20 general admission; $15 senior citizens, alumni and non-Chapman students

BUY TICKETS

April 9

Lecture – “Falstaff at the Opera
“

Chapman University, Shanley Choral Room (Bertea Hall 109)

11:30am-12:20pm




Lecture by
John Mangum
, President and Artistic Director, Philharmonic Society of Orange County.
Free and Open to the public

April 16

Lecture – “Russian Shakespeare: How Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Pasternack Re-Read Shakespeare
“

Chapman University, Shanley Choral Room (Bertea Hall 109)

11:30am-12:20pm

Lecture by
Joseph Horowitz
, Artistic Adviser, Pacific Symphony. The lecture will discuss and compare interpretations of Shakespeare across different musical genres by Russian composers.  Works include Tchaikovsky’s
Hamlet Fantasy Overture
, Tchaikovsky’s symphonic poem
The Tempest
, Shostakovich’s score to the film
King Lear
, and both Tchaikovsky’s and Prokofiev’s versions of
Romeo and Juliet
.
Free and Open to the public

April 16-18

Pacific Symphony Concert:  “Romeo and Juliet
“

Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

8pm


Preview Talk with Joseph Horowitz, KUSC’s Alan Chapman and Principal Cellist Timothy Landauer begins at 7pm

Carl St.Clair, conductor
Joseph Horowitz, artistic adviser
Rich Wordes, Romeo
Amy Hitchcock, Juliet
David Tai Kim, Young Romeo (dancer)
Keira Schwartz, Young Juliet (dancer)
Lorin Johnson, choreographer

Relive the timeless tale of star-crossed lovers through Prokofiev’s masterful music. Here actors and dancers reinstate Prokofiev’s original happy ending, which was banned by Josef Stalin in favor of Shakespeare’s tragic finale. But first, the principal violinists of Pacific Symphony ignite Vivaldi’s
Concerto for Four Violins
and Principal Cellist Timothy Landauer breathes passion into Tchaikovsky’s
Rococo Variations
.
Tickets are $25-$99; visit
www.PacificSymphony.org
or call (714) 755-5799.

April 16-18

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Directed by Gavin Cameron-Webb

Chapman University, Waltmar Theatre

7:30pm, with an additional performance April 18 at 2pm




Acclaimed as a modern masterpiece,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
is the fabulously inventive tale of
Hamlet
as told from the worm’s-eye view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are Hamlet’s treacherous friends in Shakespeare’s play.  Tom Stoppard gives the stage to these two characters, but when they finally get a chance to take the leading roles, reality and illusion intermix, and our two heroes comically and tragically find their way to an inevitable end.
$20 general admission; $15 senior citizens, alumni and non-Chapman students

BUY TICKETS

April 17

Lecture – “Science and Mathematics in the Works of Tom Stoppard”

Chapman University, Waltmar Theatre

4pm-5pm




In the spirit of interdisciplinarity, Chapman University Chancellor
Daniele Struppa
will discuss the creative ways in which Stoppard uses mathematics and more general scientific method to convey poetic ideas and significance.  Examples will include excerpts from
Hapgood
  (1987),
Arcadia 
(1993), and, of course,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
  (1966).
Free and open to the public

April 18

Symposium – “Shakespeare Reimagined: Interpretations Across the Arts
“

Thomas F. Bradac and Kent Lehnhof, co-moderators

Chapman University, Musco Lecture Hall (Oliphant Hall 301)

1pm-5pm




Scheduled panelists include:

• Joseph Campana, Department of English, Rice University
• David McCandless, Director of Shakespeare Studies, Professor of Theatre Arts, Southern Oregon University
• Matthew J. Smith, Department of English, Azusa Pacific University
• Don Weingust, Director, Shakespeare Studies, Department of Theatre Arts & Dance, Southern Utah University
• Lisa Wolpe, Producing Artistic Director, Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company

REGISTER NOW
(pre-registration is recommended)
Free and Open to the public

April 19

Pacific Symphony Discussion – “Romeo and Juliet: How Should The Story End?
“

Segerstrom Hall, Judy Morr Theater

600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

1pm-2:30pm

Joseph Horowitz, artistic adviser
Julia Lipton, UC Irvine professor
Rich Wordes, Romeo
Amy Hitchcock, Juliet

Prokofiev’s
Romeo and Juliet
ballet was originally conceived with a happy ending. In fact, there are many versions of this story, and many ways to end it. Using film clips, Pacific Symphony Artistic Adviser
Joseph Horowitz
and UC Irvine Professor
Julia Lupton
explore the different ways in which the lovers’ tale has been told, with special attention given to Prokofiev’s translation of an Elizabethan tragedy into a Soviet ballet.
Free and open to the public

April 19

Pacific Symphony Concert: “Romeo & Juliet: Happy Endings
“

Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

3pm




Carl St.Clair, conductor
Joseph Horowitz, artistic adviser
Rich Wordes, Romeo
Amy Hitchcock, Juliet
David Tai Kim, Young Romeo (dancer)
Keira Schwartz, Young Juliet (dancer)
Lorin Johnson, choreographer

Relive the timeless tale of star-crossed lovers through Prokofiev’s masterful, memorable music! Here, actors and dancers reinstate Prokofiev’s original happy ending, which was banned by Josef Stalin in favor of Shakespeare’s tragic finale.
Tickets are $25-$99; visit
www.PacificSymphony.org
or call (714) 755-5799.