Illyria

From the first time I heard about this show--a musical version of Twelfth Night? that keeps most of the original language?--I was intrigued. Last night I finally got to see for myself, and the show was nothing if not funny. The Director's Notes claims that "I wanted Illyria to be a magical, almost mythical place, not unlike Disney's animated feature Aladdin. As a writer I was intrigued by Disney's use of multiple song styles; and so Aladdin became the model for Illyria." Perhaps he shouldn't have told us that, because it was then very easy to hear the love songs as "Disneyfied" (though perhaps the use of only a synthesizer rather than a pit or even a piano exacerbated that reaction). However, by the end of the show when they launch into "Stay-O" (yes, to the tune of "Day-O), it seemed more like the director looked at Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and said, hey, I can do that! The songs work best when they use the original language and/or are used to emphasize the comedy, such as Feste's number to Orsino delivered as a Country Western lament while Orsino and Cesario become progressively drunker and end up sharing a kiss, which is promptly regretted on the duke's part. Malvolio was excellent, delivering a stirring blues song while locked in the dungeon, but the show emphasized the comic aspect of the trick and left out much of the other subtle undertones. The best visual gag was when Toby, Mariah, Fabian, and Sir Andrew are watching Malvolio read the letter (of course this too was put into song), Andrew keeps drinking out of a strangely elongated flask and every time Malvolio turns around, the four of them pose as a statue with Andrew spouting water from his mouth. It was really funny. The moving set for the shipwreck and subsequent stage dressing was impressive and a great opening number. On the whole, I thought the show was really funny and some of the songs were great, but it's just not at the same level as the Bard wrote.

Total books read this month: 8. Back up to my standard; or maybe just evident of how much more procrastinating I've done this session.
Total books read this year: 58