Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance performing  at the University of Michigan Museum of Art: The Romeo and Juliet Program Museum of Art, Apse Saturday, December 4, 2010 7:00 PM Free, no tickets required University news release: William Shakespeare's beloved romance, presented in a collage of operatic settings by Charles Gounod,  Vincenzo Bellini, and others, with Leonard Bernstein's musical theater adaptation West Side Story and scenes from Shakespeare's original stage play.  Performed by voice students from the UM second-year opera workshop, directed by Professor Joshua Major, with musical direction by Professor Timothy Cheek.

I was happy to be in Jackson for the official opening of the 2010 Season of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival yesterday. I attended the first (of two) preview performances of The Comedy of Errors and the opening night performance of R omeo and Juliet . Both productions were good (in my own opinion), but Romeo and Juliet was much better. Perhaps this is part due to the fact that R&J is "better" play, or is tragedy (although structured as a comedy until the very end). Shakespearean comedies (especially the "early ones") are more difficult (in my opinion again) to stage properly. They are full of long passages of puns and somewhat obscure allusions (to modern ears) as well as references to law, classical works, "aristocratic" interests, etc. These puns and allusions would go over much better for performances at the royal court, at private houses (of the wealthy) or in the Inns of the Temple (law schools such as Gray's Inn) and I am convinced that th...

News from Robert Duha, Managing Director of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival:    Jackson, Mich. (April 9, 2010) – The Michigan Shakespeare Festival enters its 16 th season in mid-July with an abundance of frivolity, fun and fancy that promises to keep audiences glued to their seats from the opening line to the final curtain. The 2010 season runs for four weeks beginning July 15 through August 8. In her first year as artistic director, Janice Blixt takes a bold, fresh approach to two of Shakespeare’s most well-known and frequently performed plays, Romeo and Juliet and The Comedy of Errors . An accomplished Shakespearean actor, director and teacher of classical theatre, Blixt noted, “The best productions of Shakespeare are the ones that demand their audiences live the journey with them.” With that in mind, theatergoers can expect a memorable ride at this summer’s festival. The 2010 season opens at 7:30 p.m. on July 15 in the Michael Baughman Theatre on the campus of Jackson...