A talented mix of professional Equity actors and gifted Utah State students will present a musical version of the Shakespeare comedy ‘Twelfth Night’ starting on June 23. Pictured here (from left) are Herb Newsome as Orsino, McKenna Walwyn as Feste and Lisa Shoell as Viola (Image courtesy of Lyric Repertory Company).
LOGAN – The next offering in the Lyric Repertory Company’s 2023 season line-up is Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.
But you might not recognize the familiar tale – and neither would Shakespeare.
“The concept of this show came out of trying to imagine what would happen if the 1990s (romantic comedy) movie ‘Strictly Ballroom’ met Shakespeare,” says director and Lyric artistic producer Paul Mitri. “Then it kind of morphed into a Fred Astaire musical set in the Big Band era.”
The production isn’t just Mitri going out on limb, but rather a natural evolution of Shakespeare’s original concept for the comedic Twelfth Night.
The director is no stranger to Shakespeare’s works. Mitri was one of the founding members of the Seattle Shakespeare festival, a creative organization that is still going strong despite Mitri’s extended absence during stints as a theater professor at the University of Hawaii and Theatre Arts Department chair here at Utah State University.
“I don’t like ‘talking heads’ Shakespeare, where people just stand still and recite their lines,” Mitri confesses. “Our job at Seattle Shakespeare – where this concept first evolved – was to create exciting, accessible and unique versions of Shakespeare’s plays.”
To accomplish that goal, Mitri adds that he treats Shakespeare’s texts with great reverence, but not the settings of the Bard’s plays.
“I think to some extent is Shakespeare is like play dough and you can make it into whatever you want. Its whole purpose is, as the Bard said (in Hamlet) to hold a mirror up to nature to show us ourselves.”
Mitri is collaborating with musical director Luke Shepherd for original songs and with choreographer Mike Romney to breathe fresh life into Twelfth Night. But – like any show – this adaptation really stands or falls on the strength of its cast.
Here in Utah, the cast of Twelfth Night will be a mixed group of local talents and professional Equity performers.
The far-fetched story revolves around twins – Viola and Sebastian – who are separated in a shipwreck.
Viola disguises herself as a man to enter the service of Duke Orsino, who’s in love with the Lady Olivia. When Orsino sends Viola to woo Olivia on his behalf, the lady falls in love with the disguised Viola.
Then Sebastian shows up and things really get complicated.
The parts of Viola and Sebastian have been assigned to USU undergrad Sumner Jones Shoell and Equity actress Lisa Shoell.
Audience favorite Herb Newsome returns as Duke Orsino. The Equity actor was last seen in the Lyric’s 2022 productions of Fences, Fox on the Fairway and Freeman in Paris.
The role of the confused Olivia will be played by USU graduate Bailee Miner, whose previous stage credits include the recent productions Fox on the Fairway, A Christmas Carol, The Moors, Julius Caesar and Puffs.
Appearing as characters in Olivia’s household will be Equity actors Michael Doherty as Malvolio and Brandon Foxworth as Sir Andrew.
Foxworth is a veteran of the Lyric 2022 productions of Fox on the Fairway and Fences.
Doherty appeared in Utah Shakespeare Festival productions of The Foreigner and Big River in 2018 and performed in the one-man show Every Brilliant Thing that debuted there in 2019.
Other cast members include USU grads and student actors Kaia Fitzgerald as Maria, Jack Carter Roberts as Sir Toby Belch, Marin Robison as Antonia and the multi-talented McKenna Walwyn as the fool Feste.
Also hailing from USU will be Ollie Chieppa, Mia Gatherum, Andrew Moody and Preston Rowland as principal dancers.
“It’s a wonderful group,” says Mitri of that cast, “and they’re putting their own spin on the show.”
Twelfth Night will debut at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 23.
Additional performances are slated for June 24 and 29, plus July 5, 15 and 21.
All performances are slated for the Morgan Theatre of the Chase Fine Arts Center on the USU campus.