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What Makes Shakespeare Musicals "American" |
Excerpted from Irene G. Dash, "Shakespeare and the American Musical," Shakespeare in American Life exhibition catalog. Folger Shakespeare Library, 2007.
(Page 2 of 3) Yet another expression of the meaning of "American" appeared in the preface to the adaptation of Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971), by John Guare and Mel Shapiro. They stressed the importance of the megalopolis that forces races, colors, and cultures to come in constant contact with each other and ultimately to celebrate each other. The varied accents of the performers reinforce this emphasis on human variety, while the preface helps explain the introduction of some Spanish outbursts in the text, the use of calypso rhythms, and even the reference to other countries: "We wanted this English play set in Renaissance Italy adapted from a Spanish source to stand as a metaphor for life in New York City in the 1970s."3
But then the authors clarify their intention—to capture the essence of American life. They explain the importance of multi-cultural casting—the actual appearance of the actors, the sounds of their voices, and the assumption that the native sounds in their speech would not be overridden by a uniform English accent. No longer is it merely the language, or the songs, or the beat of the music, but casting too must help produce an American musical.
For the original production, we cast a Puerto Rican for Proteus and Speed, a Cuban for Julia, Valentine and Silvia and the Duke and occasionally Lucetta were played by Blacks, Launce was originally done in Yiddish, then went country western in a cast change, Eglamour was Chinese, Thurio was an Irishman, Lucetta a Russian-Danish girl. The chorus was every color under the sun.4
Guare and Shapiro advised future producers of their musical to "look around their city and say who lives here and get them upon this stage," because, they concluded, "In the megalopolis of the 70's, it's so easy not to be noticed, but no longer can anyone be ignored."5
3 John Guare and Mel Shapiro, adapters, Two Gentlemen of Verona typescript. December 1, 1971. New York Shakespeare Festival Archives at the Public Theater.
Raul Julia, Carla Pinza, and Jerry Stiller in the 1971 musical Two Gentlemen of Verona. NYSF/Photofest.
Raul Julia, Clifton Davis, and Jose Perez in Two Gentlemen of Verona. The score was by Gail MacDermot, who also wrote the music for Hair. NYSF/Photofest.