The Bard's Birthday Bash:
Shakespeare in Song
A cabaret in celebration of our beloved playwright featuring songs from the musical theater canon and newly composed songs inspired by Shakespeare paired with Shakespeare's text!
Apr 23, 2023 | The Green Room 42
Production Team
Conceived & Directed by Freddy Vaccaro
Music Direction by Max Caine
Assistant Directed by Spencer Gonzalez
Staged Managed by Veronica Hersey
Cast
Amber Gatlin, Ellie Kallay, Freddy Vaccaro, Isabelle Archer, Kai Justice Rosales, Maria Tramontozzi, Maya Cuevas, Sam Johns, Tyler Jessey, Yasmin Ranz-Lind
Original Song Composers
"If I Were A Man" by Annika Hoseth
"Blow Blow Thou Winter Wing" by Gavin Knittle
"I Hate" by Joseph Thor
Band
Max Caine (Guitar 1), Sam Swinnerton (Guitar 2/Keys), Jakob Messinetti (Bass), Brett Beiersdorfer (Percussion), Christian Cantrell (Piano)
Photography by Maria Victoria Polanco
Director's Note
The Bard’s Birthday Bash: Shakespeare in Song celebrates the best of musical theater's adaptations of Shakespeare’s text, characters, and poetry. This cabaret features songs from, The Boys from Syracuse (1938) inspired by The Comedy of Errors, Kiss Me Kate (1948) based on The Taming of the Shrew, West Side Story (1957) adapted from Romeo and Juliet, Hair (1967) with music inspired by Hamlet, The Frogs (1974) with music inspired by Cymbeline, all the way up to Reefer Madness (1998) with music inspired by Romeo and Juliet, Illyria (2002) inspired by Twelfth Night, and Something Rotten (2015) inspired by Shakespeare himself. And representing the decade we’re living in today, three new up-and-coming composer’s (Annika Hoseth, Gavin Knittle, and Joseph Thor) have written original numbers for this cabaret inspired by Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and Othello. Spanning just shy of 10 decades of musical theater and 9 different plays, The Bard’s Birthday bash pairs musical theater with pieces of Shakespeare’s original texts to allow both musical theater fans and Shakespeare fans to experience these songs and texts in a new light. So come “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” and celebrate The Bard’s Birthday with us this year at The Green Room 42!