I've been waiting 11 years to see a Guthrie production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
11 YEARS.
I had the chance to see it twice in high school.
TWICE.
Both chances were disrupted by danceline.
When we were in 7th grade Abby, Sarah and I had the chance to go with the senior College Prep class on their trip to THE BIG CITY. To see a PLAY. At THE GUTHRIE. But of course, the State Danceline Competition was that same day/weekend. It just wasn't going to happen. Sarah got to go see A Midsummer Night's Dream. Abby and I didn't. And really, we didn't know what we were missing, at least I didn't. After Sarah told us about it, I knew it was something I wanted to see. And after seeing my first Guthrie play in 8th grade (10 years ago, Much Ado About Nothing), I defiantly knew I had to see A Midsummer Night's Dream.
9th grade rolls around. The Guthrie has A Midsummer Night's Dream on tour. They were actually coming to Grand Rapids. Sweet! Abby's dad buys us tickets knowing that we missed it the first time. Guess what? Its the same time as our Danceline end of the year Kicks for Kids performance. We have to miss it again. But of course I get to hear ALL about it from my boyfriend of the time. Brent.
So over the years its been in the back on my mind, on my "Things To Do List".
About 6 months back I had an urge to check the Guthrie Schedule. Knowing that I hadn't seen a play at the new and improved theater I thought now would be a good time to see what would be showing over the next season. Guess what was going to be playing?!?!
A Midsummer Night's Dream
By the end of the night I had charged 7 tickets to my credit card for a June 8th matinée. Abby and I would finally get to see it! (Along with Sarah, Troy, Sam, Chris, and Manda.)
The play was fantastic. We had great seats, dead center. If any of you are familiar with the old Guthrie Theater thrust stage, the new Wurtele Thrust Stage looks pretty much the same. Not a bad seat in the house, but I still wouldn't recommend sitting on "The Slope". Of course the Guthrie put a different spin on the classic shakespeare play, adding quirky song and dance numbers which sound lame, but really did work. The costumes and stage design are always my favorite parts and these were no exception. While the "modern day mortal" costumes and setting were kind of drab, the "fairy world" was fun and the costumes were great. I was able to "borrow" a few pictures from the interweb.
I will say that I was a little disappointed that the giant flower didn't make a comeback in this production. That's all Brent could talk about when it was on tour in Grand Rapids, how the entire set was this giant flower. So I was kind of hoping that they would do something along those lines. But with fairies dropping in from "heaven" on ropes doing Cirque du Soleil acrobatics, I quickly forgot about that tired, 11 year old flower.
Incase you couldn't tell, or didn't know, The Guthrie Theater has always been a special place for me. Seeing my first play there 10 years ago, and continuing to see many more plays throughout the coming school years and summer workshops, getting to meet the actors and work even work with them. I was sad to see the old theater go, Abby and I even went and saw Hamlet a few summers ago, the last show that ran at the old theater, to say goodbye. But the new one has much more room and is pretty spectacular with great views of the river.
I'm glad the first show that I saw at the new theater was A Midsummer Night's Dream.
It may have even been worth the 11 year wait.
I must admit that I am a bit jealous right now. Just a teeny weeny bit jealous... The Guthrie has also been a special place for me too in thanks to a couple of English teachers who were willing to make the trek from DR and bring students down to Minneapolis. I, too, was suppose to see this play, but my plans got a bit diverted this year. The whole seventh grade class made their trek to the Guthrie while I was on my adoption leave with Anthony. I could complain; however, there is no way I ever would. Getting him will always be better than anything else! Like you said, it is worth the wait and hopefully I won't have to wait eleven years like you did to see my next production of this play!
ReplyDelete