Tuesday, June 22, 2004 | 9:36 a.m.
Watching men in tights
For those interested in attending the plays this summer, they will run in the Adams Shakespearean Theatre and the Randall L. Jones Theatre from Thursday through Sept. 4.
Play schedule
"Henry IV, Part One"
Runs Tuesdays and Fridays in rotation at the Adams Shakespearean Theatre at 8 p.m.
"The Taming of the Shrew"
Runs Mondays and Thursdays in rotation at the Adams Shakespearean Theatre at 8 p.m.
"The Winter's Tale"
Runs Wednesdays and Saturdays in rotation at the Adams Shakespearean Theatre at 8 p.m.
"Forever Plaid"
Runs Mondays at 2 p.m. and Thursdays at 8 p.m. in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.
"Morning's at Seven"
Runs at 2 p.m. Saturdays and 8 p.m. Tuesdays in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.
"My Fair Lady"
Runs 2 p.m. Fridays and 8 p.m. Wednesdays in the Randall L. Jones Theatre.
Ordering tickets
For ordering tickets, or for more information:
Telephone: 1-435-586-7878 or toll-free 800-PLAYTIX (800-752-9849)
Internet: www.bard.org
Mail: Box Office, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Cedar City, UT 84720
FAX: (435) 586-1944.
E-mail: [email protected]
Take an ill-tempered wife, a British king bent on revenge, crew-cut basement singers and an educated flower girl, put them together and they are all part of this year's 43rd Utah Shakespearean Festival.
This summer's festival opens in Cedar City on Thursday and runs until Sept. 4.
For actors, directors and artists spending the summer in southern Utah, the festival is a homecoming and a heartfelt test of the range of their skills.
Although there are comedies and musicals such as "Taming of the Shrew," "Forever Plaid" and "My Fair Lady," there is a serious production in "Henry IV, Part I" and a romantic play, "A Winter's Tale."
Festival founder Fred Adams has been producing works by William Shakespeare and modern playwrights under the cedar trees of Southern Utah since 1961. Plenty of Las Vegans travel the 3 1/2 hours north on Interstate 15 to enjoy tolerable summer temperatures in Cedar City, along with premiere performances by skilled actors, directors and artists.
According to Adams, in its first season the festival attracted more than 3,000 patrons and netted $2,000, enough to produce a second season. Compare those figures from 43 years ago, he said, to more than 150,000 playgoers and a budget topping $5 million in 2003.
More than 25 percent of those attending the Utah Shakespearean Festival each year in the summer come from Las Vegas, Adams said. For the fall season, Southern Nevada attendance rises to 40 percent.
The theme of the Tony-award winning festival is "Let's Play," and Adams is fully prepared to give playgoers plenty of comic touches this year. The plays are steeped in family values and homespun touches reaching back before the days of television.
"'My Fair Lady' is going to be such fun, just wonderful," Adams said. "And for Shakespeare fans, there's 'The Taming of the Shrew.' "
A look at the productions:
'Taming of the Shrew'
For "Taming of the Shrew," director Henry Woronicz, who directed "As You Like It" at the 2002 festival, said he wants the play to tell a love story.
"'The Taming of the Shrew' deals with a theme that Shakespeare will return to and rework again and again during his career: how and why we fall in love," Woronicz says in his director's notes.
It's one of Shakespeare's early plays. Woronicz calls the play "a 16th century 'I Love Lucy.' "
He finds it a complex play with its own set of rules. It's an old tale of a shrewish and unruly woman made into an obedient and dutiful wife by a forceful and single-minded husband.
For Leslie Brott, a staple at the festival for most seasons since 1992, this year's festival is a homecoming. Brott plays Kate, the shrew to be tamed.
"Cedar City and the festival are really the hometown of my adult life," Brott said. "In the off-season, I miss the festival community, my friends, the sense of creative purpose, the beauty of southern Utah and Cedar City."
'My Fair Lady'
Marc Robin directs "My Fair Lady" in his debut at this festival.
"I first saw 'My Fair Lady' when I was in grade school, and I remember thinking that it reminded me of 'Cinderella,' " Robin confided. "In my opinion, 'My Fair Lady' is one of the most joyous musicals ever written."
Melinda Pfundstein, who plays Eliza (her first Equity actor role at the festival), said, "I have great memories of watching 'My Fair Lady' while doing Saturday afternoon chores as a kid."
'Henry IV, Part I'
On a more serious note, J.R. Sullivan directs "Henry IV, Part I," a story about a troubled king and his errant son. Why does this history play of Shakespeare's rivet audiences?
"Clearly it is something more to us than a tale of kings at the beginning of the 15th century," Sullivan says.
Enter Sir John Falstaff, a character Sullivan considers Shakespeare's supreme comic creation, one who draws us into the action with a laugh before he ever opens his mouth.
Sullivan asks a crucial question: Whose history are audiences watching?
"It is ourselves that we meet in the characters of these plays; it is our deepest impulses, instincts and desires looking back from the stage ..." Sullivan says. "History is the story of what we are becoming. It is the story we are living right now."
Peter Sham plays King Henry IV (and then Eliza's father, Alfred P. Doolittle, in "My Fair Lady") in his seventh year at the festival.
"This delicious pairing of roles will allow me to play a wide range of emotion," Sham, who makes Cedar City his year-round home, says of the two characters.
Veteran festival actor Brian Vaughn, playing Hotspur in "Henry IV," said he relishes the comedic role this year.
Pfunstein, for five years a festival regular, plays Lady Percy in "Henry IV."
"Going back to Cedar City is always like going home," Pfundstein said. "It is just good for the soul."
'The Winter's Tale'
When Shakespeare wrote "The Winter's Tale," it was late in his writing life. In this play, director Fontaine Syer says, the bard focuses on mature themes such as forgiveness, reunion, serendipity, nature as haven, love restored and the power of faith.
Instead of calling this a comedy, Syer prefers to call his production of the play a story or a romance.
Syer is a first-time Utah Shakespearean Festival director after sojourns in Oregon, Delaware, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Missouri.
'Forever Plaid'
"Forever Plaid" is a nostalgic trip to small-town America where you can still find heroes in the corner grocery store, in line at the bank or even the local high school, Director Russell Treyz said.
Sparky the joker, Jinx the wholesome family guy, Frankie the shy one and Smudge the group's mainstay are killed in an accident in 1964 (the group is hit by a bus carrying screaming Beatles fans) only to resurrect to perform one last show in 2004.
" 'Forever Plaid' gives us a joyous opportunity to celebrate the hero within us all," Treyz says. In the dedication, the director salutes "the good guys," those that didn't tell anyone of their kind deeds. (The production enjoyed a long run at Flamingo Las Vegas before closing in 2001.)
Treyz is a festival veteran, directing "The Servant of Two Masters" in 2003, "Cymbeline" in 2002, "The Pirates of Penzance" and "Around the World in 80 Days" in 2001, and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1999.
'Morning's At Seven'
In another tribute to family values, Director Kathleen F. Conlin says of "Morning's at Seven" that the play tells the story of four sisters who in their golden years continue to ask questions about life, a woman's role and about home.
"Home is actually key to all of the characters in this play -- how it's defined, who it includes," Conlin says.
The play evokes a time before television.
Anne Newhal, who created a re-creation of Billie Dawn in "Born Yesterday" last year, returns this summer as Aaronetta, one of the four sisters.
"In our own somewhat crass culture, it is pure joy to encounter these sisters, their husbands and nephew," Conlin says.
"I just bet -- and, in fact, it is my fervent wish -- that we leave this play with our hearts opened."
Conlin's festival credits go back to "The Lion in Winter" from 1999, "The Cherry Orchard" from 2000, "The Tempest" from 2001 and "Born Yesterday" from 2003.
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