Musical Shakespeare...

Variety critic Toby Zinman notes that while director Tina Landau's musical take on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Matthews Theater at McCarter Theater Center in Princeton, New Jersey) is "fun", it ultimately misses the mark on tone, style and delivery. The lyrics (mostly lines from the play) are apparently "often difficult to understand over the loud music." Reading this, I could see why the production would receive a negative response, for the words are the thing with Shakespeare, and if they're overpowered by music or garbled by shaky mics, then why even use the Bard's lines at all? Based on Mr. Zinman's review, I'd say that this "highbrow musical" has attempted to transform timeless eloquence into commercial pop, and not surprisingly, come away the lesser for it. (Music by GrooveLily.)