The Comedy of Errors (musical)

Last updated

The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors.jpg
Music Guy Woolfenden
Lyrics Trevor Nunn
Book Trevor Nunn
Basis The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Productions1976 Stratford-upon-Avon
1976 West End
Awards Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical

The Comedy of Errors is a musical with a book and lyrics by Trevor Nunn and music by Guy Woolfenden. It is based on the William Shakespeare play, The Comedy of Errors , which had previously been adapted for the musical stage as The Boys from Syracuse by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and George Abbott in 1938. The London production won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 1977.

Contents

Background

While enjoying a holiday in Ephesus, Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse are mistaken for their long-lost twin brothers Dromio and Antipholus of Ephesus by Adriana, who is married to the latter. Certain her husband's wandering eye has noticed the many temptations awaiting him in town, she is determined to win back his undivided attention. Comic complications arise when she pursues the wrong Antipholus and tries to woo him home.

The theatre critic Irving Wardle said of the score, "It does not give you much to hum on the way out, but it supplies a springboard into dramatic song and dance." The original Royal Shakespeare Company production received generally good reviews and was described as "stylish, colorful, and rich in comic detail" by various critics. [1] Michael Billington observed later that "at first the music, with its mock-Theodorakis numbers and Zorba-like dances, seemed to impede the farcical momentum. But by the time the production reached the Aldwych in 1977, text and music were perfectly integrated". [2]

Productions

The Royal Shakespeare Company production, directed by Nunn, choreographed by Gillian Lynne, and designed by John Napier, opened at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on 29 September 1976. [3] [4] The cast included Mike Gwilym as Antipholus of Ephesus, Roger Rees as Antipholus of Syracuse, Nickolas Grace as Dromio of Ephesus, Michael Williams as Dromio of Syracuse, and Judi Dench as Adriana, with Francesca Annis, Richard Griffiths, Griffith Jones, and John Woodvine in supporting roles. [5] [6] [7]

The production later transferred to the Aldwych Theatre in the West End in London, where it won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 1977.

Philip Casson directed a television production based on Nunn's concept for ITV. With most of the original cast, the programme was broadcast on 18 April 1978. [8]

The Acting Company staged the musical at the Women's Project Theater in New York City in May 2001. It was directed by John Rando and choreographed by Joey McKneely. [9] [10] The production then toured the United States. [11]

Awards and nominations

Original London production

YearAwardCategoryNomineeResult
1977 Laurence Olivier Award Best New Musical Won

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal National Theatre</span> Theatre in London, England

The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. Internationally, it is known as the National Theatre of Great Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Shakespeare Company</span> British theatre company

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on tour across the UK and internationally.

Sir Trevor Robert Nunn is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas for the stage, like Macbeth, as well as opera and musicals, such as Cats (1981) and Les Misérables (1985).

<i>The Comedy of Errors</i> Play by William Shakespeare

The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. It has been adapted for opera, stage, screen and musical theatre numerous times worldwide. In the centuries following its premiere, the play's title has entered the popular English lexicon as an idiom for "an event or series of events made ridiculous by the number of errors that were made throughout".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Hall (director)</span> English theatre, opera and film director (1930–2017)

Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE was an English theatre, opera and film director. His obituary in The Times declared him "the most important figure in British theatre for half a century" and on his death, a Royal National Theatre statement declared that Hall's "influence on the artistic life of Britain in the 20th century was unparalleled". In 2018, the Laurence Olivier Awards, recognizing achievements in London theatre, changed the award for Best Director to the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director.

<i>The Boys from Syracuse</i> 1938 musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart

The Boys from Syracuse is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors, as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemporary rhythms of the 1930s. The show was the first musical based on a Shakespeare play. The Comedy of Errors was itself loosely based on a Roman play, The Menaechmi, or the Twin Brothers, by Plautus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Rees</span> Welsh actor (1944–2015)

Roger Rees was a Welsh actor and director, widely known for his stage work. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He also received Obie Awards for his role in The End of the Day and as co-director of Peter and the Starcatcher. Rees was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in November 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldwych Theatre</span> Theatre in London

The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster, central London. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Peacock</span> English actor (1931–2021)

Trevor Edward Peacock was an English actor and songwriter. He made his name as a theatre actor, including for his roles in Shakespeare. He later became known for playing Jim Trott in the BBC comedy series The Vicar of Dibley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forbes Masson</span>

Forbes (Robertson) Masson is a Scottish actor and writer. He is an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his roles in classical theatre, musicals, comedies, and appearances in London's West End. He is also known for his comedy partnership with Alan Cumming. Masson and Cumming wrote The High Life, a Scottish situation comedy in which they play the lead characters, Steve McCracken and Sebastian Flight. Characters McCracken and Flight were heavily based on Victor and Barry, famous Scottish comedy alter-egos of Masson and Cumming. Forbes also stars in the 2021 film The Road Dance, set on The Isle of Lewis as the Reverend MacIver.

Kevin Gerard Wallace is an Irish theatre producer.

Guy Anthony Woolfenden was an English composer and conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillian Lynne</span> English dancer, choreographer (1926–2018)

Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne was an English ballerina, dancer, choreographer, actress, and theatre-television director, noted for her theatre choreography associated with two of the longest-running shows in Broadway history, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. At age 87, she was made a DBE in the 2014 New Year Honours List.

Simon Coates is a British actor who has worked extensively with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, with whom he has appeared internationally, working with directors such as Sir Richard Eyre, Robert Lepage, Howard Davies, William Gaskill, Sir David Hare, Declan Donnellan, Tim Supple, Sir Tom Stoppard, David Farr, Lindsay Posner, Sean Holmes, Katie Mitchell, Indhu Rubasingham, Phyllida Lloyd, Thea Sharrock, Dame Vanessa Redgrave, Sir Trevor Nunn, Robert Icke, Simon Godwin, James Dacre, Rupert Goold, Gregory Doran, Blanche McIntyre and Sir Michael Boyd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Ashford</span> American stage director and choreographer

Rob Ashford is an American stage director and choreographer. He is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award winner.

Charles Kay is an English actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Caird (director)</span> English theatre director and writer

John Newport Caird is an English stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas. He is an honorary associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, was for many years a regular director with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and is the principal guest director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm (Dramaten).

<i>Privates on Parade</i> Play written by Peter Nichols

Privates on Parade: A Play with Songs in Two Acts is a 1977 farce by English playwright Peter Nichols, with music by Denis King. The drama draws upon Nichols' own experiences in the real-life Combined Services Entertainment, the postwar successor to ENSA, Entertainments National Service Association. The play is noteworthy for, inter alia, a series of musical numbers, performed by the male lead, parodying the style of such performers as Noël Coward, Marlene Dietrich and Carmen Miranda.

The Boys from Syracuse is a 1940 American musical film directed by A. Edward Sutherland, based on the 1938 stage musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, which in turn was loosely based on the play The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards; one for Best Visual Effects and one for Best Art Direction.

Michael Jibson is an English actor, director, writer and voice over artist.

References

  1. The Comedy of Errors (Vol. 26) at enotes.com
  2. Guy Woolfenden obituary, The Guardian, 24 April 2016
  3. ArielMusic.co.uk
  4. "Search | RSC Performances | COM197609 - The Comedy of Errors | Shakespeare Birthplace Trust". collections.shakespeare.org.uk. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  5. Miola, Robert S., Comedy of Errors: Shakespeare Criticism. London: Routledge 2001. ISBN   0-8153-3889-9, pp. 497-498
  6. Whitworth, Charles, ed., The Comedy of Errors: Oxford World's Classics. Oxford University Press 2003. ISBN   0-19-281461-3, p. 76
  7. Royal Shakespeare Company website
  8. The Comedy of Errors at the Internet Movie Database
  9. "The Comedy of Errors, 2001, Teacher Resource Guide" theactingcompany.org, accessed August 28, 2009
  10. Hampton, Wilborn."Theatre Review:A Little Shakespearean Traveling Music" The New York Times, May 19, 2001
  11. Goffstein, David."National touring company brings one run, two hits, including Errors, to Scottsdale" The Phoenix New Times, April 26, 2001