Brown School Chorus Puts on a Shakespearean Comedy

The Brown School chorus wound up the school year with a performance of an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which included singing, dancing, and even three different Shakespeares.   Directed by Rosa Elena Rivera, a cast of thirty second through sixth graders starred in a production of the well-known, but nonetheless complicated, plot involving a mix-up of lovers, magic potions, fairies, and even a lion.  The three Shakespeares appeared at intervals to explain the confusion occurring onstage and offer humorous asides about the state of affairs.

Rivera, the music specialist at Brown, conducts the after-school choral program.  Typically the emphasis has been totally on singing, but last year she combined her effort with the drama program to put on a musical production.  For most of the kids this was their first experience in acting, and the final musical added to the excitement of the overall program. This year’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a condensed text of the Shakespearean original, plus eight original songs in varied styles from madrigal to rap written for grade school performers.

Against the backdrop of the upcoming wedding of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, the love affairs of another group of Athenians takes center stage.  Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius, her father Egeus’ choice of her husband, since she loves Lysander.  Demetrius, however, does love Hermia.  Egeus cites an ancient law that says his daughter must obey in this matter or face death, so Hermia and and her real love, Lysander, plan to run away and get married.  Mistakenly they tell their plans to Hermia’s friend, Helena, who was once engaged to Demetrius and still loves him, in spite of the fact he jilted her in favor of Hermia.  Helena tells Demetrius of the elopement, and he sets out into the woods after the pair.

In the woods are two other groups, a gathering of fairies, led by Oberon,  King of the Nymphs, and Titania, the Fairy Queen, and another bunch of craftsmen who are rehearsing a play they hope to perform for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Oberon, upset with his wife, sends Puck, one of the fairies, to find a special flower to create a magic potion which he will then spread on the sleeping Titania’s eyes so that she will fall in love with the first living thing she sees when she awakes.

Demetrius catches up with Hermia and Lysander, ignoring the declarations of love from Helena who has followed him.  Oberon sees that Demetrius has acted cruelly towards Helena, so he instructs Puck to track Demetrius down and spread some of the same potion on his eyes.  Puck finds a sleeping Athenian who he assumes is Demetrius, but is actually Lysander.  Helena comes across Lysander and wakes him while trying to determine if he is dead or alive, and Lysander, in spite of his devotion to Hermia,  then falls in love with Helena as she is the first person  he sees. Oberon realizes the mistake and decides to use the potion on Demetrius himself and fetches Helena to guarantee that she will be the person he falls in love with.  The rest of the play deals with resolving the mess of the two men loving the same woman and the second woman being left out of the picture.  Naturally as Shakespeare pointed out in another context, all’s well that ends well, and the play ends with a triple wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, Demetrius and Helena, and Lysander and Hermia, with the entertainment being provided by Peter Quince and his band of actors.

The packed Brown School library, complete with groundlings, thoroughly enjoyed working its way through the unbelievable plot. The students proved they were adept at using the archaic dialog of the sixteenth century as well as the modern musical accompaniment and choreography.