As You Like It is not a musical—but it’s pretty close. While the musical as we know it would not be invented for a few hundred years, song and dance was an integral part of the Elizabethan theatre-going experience. Shakespeare’s plays, especially the comedies, are full of music. Ariel in The Tempest sings a number of songs as he casts spells over the courtiers (who wash up on the island he shares with Prospero) and in Much Ado About Nothing soldiers are welcomed home from victorious battle with a song. However, the Bard takes things a few steps further by actually writing a musician as a character into As You Like It.
I never questioned the presence of the music—Duke Senior needs entertainment in exile—until I began my research in preparation for this production. Turns out Shakespeare had alternative motives for upping his musical game for As You Like It. Around the time he was working on the play, a competing theatre company, Children of the Chapel, began including more singing in their work. In order to say competitive, Shakespeare needed to adapt. It’s amazing to think of someone like Shakespeare—the most widely translated author in the English language—as a shrewd businessman, but he was. Good thing, too.
Children of the Chapel is not a household name, but I’m guessing most people have heard of Shakespeare.
The musical component of As You Like It is part of why it has long been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. You can imagine how excited I was when resident director of choral music Joshua Harper agreed to come on board for this production. We began with what Shakespeare’s gives us: a troubadour named Amiens who sings and plays guitar. Once my own director’s vision emerged, we quickly realized we would need to do some adapting.
Considering As You Like It’s setting (France), the play’s focus on fun, love, and joy, and our production’s 1930’s inspired look, I ended up pitching to Mr. Harper the idea of using Django Reinhardt Gypsy Swing in place of Amiens’ songs. Gypsy Swing is rustic, but full of the energy and passion that the play exudes. Luckily, he was game. Working with four outstanding student musicians, who will soon make their debuts on the Williston stage, Duke Senior’s band came to life. Learning a completely new style of music was a challenge they completely embraced.
While the band was learning Gypsy Swing classics like Belleville and Minor Swing, Debra Vega, our resident musical choreographer, taught the actors swing-inspired dance moves that they worked tirelessly to learn. Under her guidance, and with the help of dance captain Marie Innarelli ’15, the actors danced their way into the forest. It wouldn’t feel quite like Arden without exuberant, passionate, and spontaneous song and dance!
I had hoped to post some photos of the music and dance, but it’s been tricky to capture the fantastic choreography. This just means you’ll have to wait until the show to see and hear how incredible these kids are!
To purchase tickets for As You Like It visit our ticket website. Performances are April 16,18, 23, and 25 at 7:30pm and April 17 and 24 at 7pm with a talk-back following the show.