Annie DiMartino put on a CD in the rehearsal hall on a Wednesday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. It was for the soundtrack of her upcoming youth production of The Taming of the Shrew. When the first song came on – it was The Doors – DiMartino literally jumped for joy. She and Carol Taubl, the musical director, would laugh and chatter about particular songs when they would come up – U2, Jason Mraz, Ani DeFranco, Vanilla Ice. They were excited at the prospect of melding these slices of pop culture with Shakespeare’s timeless language.
In a new twist on Shakespeare’s vibrant characters, Kate is a tough rocker – think Ani DiFranco, Pat Benetar or Alanis Morissette. Bianca is a sweet pop musician in the vein of Miley Cyrus or Taylor Swift. Baptista, Bianca’s manager, says that the only way he will allow Bianca to sign a record deal is if the producer takes the rough-hewn Kate as well. Enter Petruchio, a down-on his luck record executive. Having managed globally dominant bands, it’s a bit of come down to teach Kate the ways of the music world.
DiMartino and Taubl were spending the week auditioning students from across the area for the show, sifting through over 50 auditioners to find the right 16 people. They were impressed with the talent of the performers – what they were looking for, people who could sing rock music, play an instrument and handle the poetic complexities of Shakespeare’s language, is not easy to find.
A blonde girl came in to audition, a potential Bianca if there ever was one. She chose one of Viola’s monologue from Twelfth Night, showing a fine command of the language and an appeal on stage presence. “Can I have you do your monologue again?” DiMartino said, urging her to her Viewpoints training to physicalize her work. “How do you use the architecture to your advantage?”
The girl repeated the monologue, sitting down. A few simple gestures brought another layer of life to the speech. She then goes on to sweetly sing a Taylor Swift tune, meeting with approval from DiMartino and Taubl. “Thank you! That was fabulous. Nice job,” Taubl said.
“Do you know what the show is about?” DiMartino asked the next auditioner.
“Shakespeare meets pop meet rock,” the girl said.
“Exactly,” replied DiMartino.
Over an extraordinarily brief period the cast, led by Jeremiah Taubl of New Haven as Petruchio and Allison Frank of Trumbull as Kate, coalesced into a fine repertory company, and is currently getting ready for this Friday’s opening. The performances will take place on Aug. 20-21.
The New Haven Independent came to a rehearsal last week and wrote about their experience here:
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/teen_shrew_debuts_at_long_wharf/