Sunday, August 5, 2012

Merry Wives of Windsor

Last Wednesday night, I was saw Merry Wives of Windsor. It's performed in the outside Shakespeare theatre. Every night before the show there's a Green Show [free!] outside of the theatre, so Cass and I went over early to see the Green Show, too. 


The stage for the Green Show. The theatre is behind it. 
The Green Show was great. The characters are gypsies, and they sing, dance, and tell/act out some stories. It was really great. Cass knew one of the actors, so it was fun to see him. I really liked the gypsy girls dancing with their skirts. I love dancing in big swishy skirts!  After the Green Show, Cass's first mission president and his wife came up to say hi; they brought their grandson down to see the show. It was great to see them and catch up. 



My seat was great, about six or seven rows back. I had a great view for a great show. If you're not familiar with Merry Wives, it's about this trickster, Sir John Falstaff, who decides to get himself some money by turning two women into his lovers. Falstaff, thinking Mistress Page and Mistress Ford like him, sends them identical love letters, hoping to make cuckolds of their husbands and steal their wealth. Unfortunately for him, the women show each other the letters and make their own plans. Meanwhile, it's time for Anne Page, Mistress Page's daughter, to be wed, and three men would like to be considered: Slender, Dr Caius, and Fenton. 


As with any Shakespeare play, this was given a "content advisory" since Merry Wives contains "a small amount of the Bard's usual innuendo and double entendres." So, of course, I found it hilarious! All the actors and actresses were great. Anne Page and Fenton were a little dry, but they also had the least amount of stage time, so that makes it difficult. It may, in fact, be the way  that Fenton and Anne were written and not  the actors. I really enjoyed Mistress Quickly (Kymberly Mellen), Falstaff (Roderick Peeples), the Pages (Andy Nagraj and Melinda Pfundstein), and the Fords (Jacqueline Antaramian and John G Preston). They were all amazing!


If you have the chance to come down to Cedar to the Shakespeare Festival, I highly recommend this show! Just bring a blanket or a coat so you don't get cold, and then catch a cold, like I did! 

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