American University’s Department of Performing Arts presented Shaina Taub’s musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, “As You Like It,” on Oct. 17-19.
Shakespeare’s comedy “As You Like It” is considered a pastoral work which focuses on the everyday life and freedoms of those working as shepherds of farmers.
In Shakespeare's original play, the story centers around the power struggle between Duke Frederick, Duke Senior and those they have exiled in the forest of Arden, in France.
Taub’s adaptation of “As You Like It” focuses instead on exploring the more pastoral, personal everyday struggles of Shakespeare’s characters. Her rendition explores how the characters grow emotionally while in the magical forest of Arden, the forest being a metaphor for life. Taub shines a light on love, fear, freedom, confronting the past and emotional maturity. Her musical uses love as a way to educate the characters and change their outlook on the world around them.
The focus on pastoral themes in Taub’s version of the show play into the Department’s vintage reimagining, with the free-roaming and exiled shepherds of the whimsical forest of Arden being interpreted as “flower children” to expertly convey the 1960s retheme.
The 60s setting is conveyed at first through the scenery on stage with a large disco ball that lights up the entire theater during the finale.
The set during the scenes in the forest of Arden also reflects influences from the era with purple and blue cloth drapes and large bean bags to create the forest. The actors also act as the trees, using their bodies to twist into trunks and branches.
The theme is also accentuated through the actors’ costumes, which feature bell bottoms, vivid colors and large beaded necklaces.
The plot of “As You Like It” is funny yet emotional, featuring royal wrestling matches, cheesy love songs, melancholy songwriters, picnics in the woods, bad disguises, Shakespearean situationships and an entertaining dose of miscommunication.
It’s a classic case of mixed-up lovers and couples, brothers fighting for a crown, women disguising themselves as men and falling in love and a lovable sidekick, Touchstone, who is played by Max Burchell, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and Kogod School of Business.
Throughout the show’s songs, the cast uniquely switches from on-stage ensemble members to musicians in the live band.
Co-Music Director Manny Arciniega was featured in the live band throughout the show, donning a flower crown and playing both the bongos and xylophone as the cast sang below.
The song “All the World’s A Stage” functions as both an opening and finale, focusing on the most iconic line of “As You Like It” and is sung both times by the same character: Jacques, who is played by CAS senior Katherine Zimmerman.
In Shakespeare’s original comedy, Jacques is an old, wise man who is characterized by his cynicism and personal philosophy on life. In this version, Jacques is not an old man deciding what the world is now that he has lived it, but a young songwriter trying to make sense of the world around her.
“All the World’s A Stage” is both the first line the audience hears and the last. Taub’s full lyric in the song goes “All the world’s a stage / and everybody’s in the show / nobody’s a pro.” During the song’s introduction in the opening, the audience might interpret the line at face value. It could be taken as a funny fourth-wall break or the actors being comedically self-aware.
The same lyrics appear in the finale, and yet now the audience can interpret the deeper meaning. After watching the miscommunication, exile and struggle for love, the audience can more deeply connect to the sentiment of trying to make sense of the world around them.
The Department of Performing Arts’ next musical, “Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea” by Julia Izumi, will be presented at the Katzen Studio Theater from Nov. 19-22. Tickets are available here.
This article was edited by Jessica Ackerman, Marina Zaczkiewicz and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks and Emma Brown.
