A Night of Symphony and Shakespeare

A great time was had by all last night at the Keith Albee Performing Arts Center as the Huntington Symphony teamed up with Marshall University's Department of Theatre for a night of music and Shakespeare. You can read more about it in this story, or enjoy these comments sent in by my pal Ryan Hardiman:

Tonight was indeed a great evening of Shakespeare and Symphony! The musical selections (inspired by the Bard's greatest hits) were peppered with monologues and scenes performed by current and former MU Theatre students Mike Murdock, Chris Ferris, Mike Naglee, Kristen McCabe, Leah Turley and Mary Williams, fully decked out in Elizabethan couture by Joan St. Germain and directed by Jack Cirillo.

I won't launch into a full review here, but it was an inspiring evening, complete with a beautiful vocal performance by Laura Evans. When we spoke during intermission, she said that she had the flu, but onstage there was no evidence of that. She sang like a nightingale.

I love it when actors are able to interpret Shakespeare and deliver the language in a way that sounds completely natural, accessible and "non-actorish." MU Department of Theatre did not disappoint, and also delivered more than a few funny moments. Bravo!

The orchestra was in top form and capped off the performance with a stirring medley from West Side Story, the Bernstein and Sondheim adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

I had to fight the urge to launch into "America" on the way out. An urge I was able to suppress until we got into the car.

Ha! Thanks for the recap, Ryan! I should also mention that in today's paper, there was a typo identifying my pal Mike Naglee as "Maglee." Sorry about that, Mike!