“Shakespeare’s favorite hits.”
That’s Elizabeth Crawford’s way of enthusiastically summarizing the unusual program playing this weekend at the Durango Arts Center.
“Shakespeare: Sing Me a Scene” is a collaborative project between the San Juan Symphony Chamber Singers and Durango Arts Repertory Theatre. The show opens at 7 p.m. Saturday and runs again at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Durango Arts Center. It’s the brainstorm of Crawford, music director of the Singers.
If you go
WHAT: “Shakespeare: Sing Me a Scene,” San Juan Symphony Chamber Singers, Music Director Elizabeth Crawford, works by Bernstein, Porter, Williams and others.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave.
TICKETS: Adults $25, students $5. Available at www.durangoconcerts.org or www.sanjuansymphony.org.
MORE INFORMATION: Call 247-7657.
“I was thinking about other collaborations by arts organizations in town,” she said. “Last year’s Bach Festival collaborated with 20 Moons, the dance company. So, why not music and drama?”
Crawford called Monica DiBiasio, DART managing director, and was overjoyed at her response: “Monica immediately was up for it. So, we sat down and chose Shakespeare’s favorite hits.”
The two concocted a list of scenes from comedies and tragedies for which composers have been inspired to write music.
Narrator Susan Bennett will guide the audience through nine scenes, and there will be one intermission. Dressed in black, DART players will use minimal props to enact the scenes, each followed by a musical selection. Songs, mostly by contemporary composers like Ralph Vaughan Williams, Cole Porter or Leonard Bernstein, will alternate with a few operatic selections.
Crawford’s program notes outline each scene, and in one case, Ophelia’s farewell aria, sung in French by soprano Gemma Kavahagh, will have a printed translation. The aria comes from Ambroise Thomas’ 19th-century opera “Hamlet.”
Expect to hear Broadway tunes such as “Tonight” from “West Side Story”’; as well as a very contemporary interpretation by a young Finnish composer, Jaakko Mäntryjärvi, from the opening scene in “Macbeth,” the Three Witches’ “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble.”
Three of Durango’s finest will serve up Shakespeare’s famous trio of nasty cooks: Linda Mack Berven, Shaunibah Morfin and Wendy Ludgewait.
And the music? “It’s by far the most difficult piece I have ever had to conduct,” Crawford said.
The Singers have survived through interesting times and other directors. Crawford has placed them securely under the wing of the San Juan Symphony. During her tenure, she has presented compelling concerts with a variety of themes. She has always encouraged superlative singing and, not unexpectedly, developed a loyal following.
“This is my last performance as director,” she said. “Amy Barrett will take over from here. She will bring new energy and innovative programming to the ensemble.”
Godspeed, Elizabeth.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
