By William Shakespeare

By William Shakespeare

Orsino loves Olivia (who won’t give  him the time of day).  Olivia loves  Viola (whom she thinks is a boy).   Viola loves Orsino (who doesn’t know she’s a girl).  Malvolio loves himself   (of course), and Sir Andrew, Sir Toby Belch, and Maria love life to its fullest (and its most outrageous).  It’s all hilarious confusion and rollicking laughs in this, one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies.

Shaw is at his witty and sparkling best as he gives us the story of Candida, who is comfortably married to the Reverend James Morell but bedazzled by the arrival of the young poet, Marchbanks.  Both men love her, and both believe they can influence her actions:  Marchbanks thinks she can choose between the two men;  Morell trusts that she is bound by marriage vows.  They both forget she is her own woman.

By William Shakespeare

Noble but hot-headed, Coriolanus has been well schooled by his forceful mother in the Roman lessons of honor, nobility, and class superiority.  But his devoted and sensitive wife sees, instead, arrogance, prejudice, and dangerous intrigue,  This monumental struggle of wills literally fills the stage in this rare play, as Coriolanus grapples to find his footing among the many seductions of ambition, love, and family.

The orchestra is warming up, the cast is abuzz, the curtain will soon rise—but wait!  Where is the world-renowned lead tenor?  Thus begins the Festival’s high=spirited and farcical world premiere based on Ken Ludwig’s award=winning play.  The show must go on, but how?  The answer sets the pace in this giddy screwball comedy of mistaken identity, hysterical plot twists, and rollicking confusion.

By William Shakespeare

Deluded by lies and flattery, King Lear, “fourscore and upward,” has sorely misjudged his daughters, placing himself into the cruel hands of his two ambitious children and spurning the youngest, the one who truly does love him.  Only when alone and driven mad on the English heath does he realize his epic, and fatal, mistakes in this, Shakespeare’s grandest and stormiest tragedy.

When Horace Vandergelder hires the widow matchmaker, Dolly Levi, to find a wife for him, the mathchmaker decides on a very unusual match for the eligible tradesman—herself.  This familiar and funny story is the inspiration for the musical Hello, Dolly! And is one of America’s greatest farces, filled with delightful surprises, multiple love stories, and fun for the entire family.

By William Shakespeare

A tale of magic and mystery, and of eventual wisdom an maturity, Shakespeare’s last romance will take you to a small island with the deposed Duke Prospero and his daughter, Miranda.  There, they face monsters and fairies, storms and spectacle, as they learn of harmony and humanity and struggle to find their place in a “brave new world” of intrigue, revenge, and romance.

Contemporary and comic, Art provides us with an interesting conundrum.  When Serge buys an outrageously simple modern painting for an outrageous amount of money, he and his friends have varying opinions regarding its value.  Is it art or just expensive doodling?  How does one define art, anyway?  Thus begins anew the ages-old argument, with Serge and his friends all defending their views, sometimes insightful, sometimes perplexing, and always funny.

Book, Music, and Lyrics by James McDonald, Robert Gerlach, and David Vos

This musical murder mystery is a zany and delightful spoof of British “whodunit” writers such as Agatha Christie.  Ten characters have come together at an eerie British estate when the lights go out, the bridge collapses, and there is no hope of escape.  Then the bodies begin to pile up in the library, killed one-by-one in cleverly fiendish booby traps.  Who’s the murderer?  And why?  Follow the clues and see if you can figure out the clever answers.