The lights dim. The programs shuffle. The curtain rises for the 36th season of the Virginia Shakespeare Festival.
Except this is not the Bard you remember from high school English class. The words are Shakespeare’s, but they are accompanied by music and dance numbers more typically found in a Broadway production than at the Globe Theatre.
Kicking off this year’s VSF is “Illyria,” a musical version of the play “Twelfth Night” that keeps the text of a story — a tale of shipwreck, hidden identity and, eventually, happy marriages — but adds 14 musical numbers. The songs range in style from early 1960s rock to country-western to the blues.
Christopher Owens, producing artistic director of the state’s oldest and official Shakespeare festival, said the numbers are a “creative anachronism” — he likened them to a Disney movie.
“Illyria” has a special place in the heart of VSF, as this version of the show premiered there in 2006. It delighted audiences then, Owens said, and he is hoping many come back to see it again this year.
The show, with music by John Briggs and Eric Frampton, did present a casting challenge. Owens, who holds auditions locally as well as in New York City and Washington, D.C., needed to build a roster who could be Shakespearean actors as well as belt out a musically demanding score.
“Trying to find actors with those musical theater abilities and those Shakespeare chops at the same time … that’s a lot of different demands,” Owens said.
Adding to the challenge, actors who appear in “Illyria” also perform double duty with roles in the second show of VSF this year, “Julius Caesar.”
Owens was surprised to find the tragedy has not been put on by VSF since 1993.
“I don’t know why it’s been that long, for one of the shows that’s considered one of his greatest hits in that world,” he said.
Owens thinks it might because of the size of the production, as lots of scenery and actors on stage make for an expensive endeavor.
Having served as producing artistic director since 2005, Owens is eager to be the one to bring Caesar back to the Phi Beta Kappa Hall stage.
Production for both shows overlap, with the company of about 55 juggling costumes, stage managers and the building of large set pieces. Rehearsals started for “Julius Caesar” before the opening of “Illyria” this week, with performers having to keep lines from one show out of their heads while acting in the other.
“It’s a challenging, and for most actors, a really wonderful thing to have two things going on here,” Owens said.
When he started with the festival in 2005, it functioned on a repertory production schedule, with a different show staged each night. While it allowed a tourist audience to catch a range of shows over the course of a short stay, Owens said the program limited the visuals for any show.
Big set pieces could not be moved in the space of a day in between shows, so the festival used minimalist scenery — what Owens called a “pseudo Globe Theatre set” — for everything.
Now VSF runs one show for a few weeks before switching to a different production.
“It’s allowed us to have much more elaborate and different scenery than was possible before,” Owens said.
“Illyria” opens Wednesday and runs through July 6. “Julius Caesar” starts its run July 10 and closes July 20.
The festival, which receives 35 percent of its funding from donations and grants, and almost the entire remainder from ticket sales, will host a Musical Benefit Night on July 15. The “pay what you will” performance features the VSF company breaking from their Shakespearean repertoire to present favorite show tunes and other vocal or instrumental works. For many years, performers have included members of crews, those not on stage for the festival, taking the spotlight.
Tickets for VSF are on sale now. To purchase, visit the William & Mary Box Office online ticket site or call 221-2674.
For more information, visit the VSF website or follow the festival on Facebook for updates and behind-the-scenes looks at the productions. The video below shows the process of creating the elaborate “Illyria” backdrop.
