Showtunes With a Side of Shakespeare

Broadway came to St. John's Episcopal Church on Sunday, in the spirit of Shakespeare, as part of the Sound Shore Shakespeare Festival.

The lively performance highlighted many well-loved Broadway show tunes that have been inspired by Shakespeare’s plays. The church’s pews were packed to full capacity, replete with local music lovers eager to hear singers Andrew Keltz and Emma Rosenthal pay a spirited homage to the musicals William Shakespeare’s work directly influenced.

The duo, who were accompanied by pianist Brandon Magid, interspersed their show tune renditions with explanations of which particular Shakepeare play influenced what show.

Rosenthal and Keltz kicked off the afternoon’s performance with an introductory explanation of the parallels between modern day musicals and Shakespeare’s dramas.

“If Shakespeare were around today, he would have loved musicals,” said Keltz. “Musicals today in America are the really the vernacular, the way that Shakespeare was in his day, writing for the people. It was an art form for the people, and I think that’s what musicals are in America, and what the art form has really done.”

“Shakespeare laid the foundation in terms of dramatic structure, conflict and character creation," Rosenthan said. "A lot of his stock characters translate to the musical theatre world."

The first song of the afternoon was from a musical called The Fantasticks, which was loosely inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a drama that deals with the theme of “star-crossed lovers.”

Rosenthal, Keltz and Magid then segued into a tune from West Side Story, a musical with a similar story structure to Romeo and Juiliet.

The audience was in for quite an unexpected surprise when "Hakuna Matata" from The Lion King was performed.

“What does the Lion King have to do with Shakespeare?” Keltz asked. “Well, it’s Hamlet!”

Keltz went on to elaborate on the character parallels between Shakespeare’s classic and the modern day Disney story.

Next on the agenda was a dramatic medley of tunes from Kiss Me Kate, a musical influenced by Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.

The afternoon’s performance was concluded with a series of songs from The Boys from Syracuse, based on Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors.

After the performance, everyone was invited to stay for refreshments, which included “Shakespearean Sweets” courtesy of Barbara Davis, the community relations coordinator of the New Rochelle Public Library.

Rev. Rusty Hesse of St. John’s expressed his appreciation to the performers. “Since you sang so well and we have food next door, you sang for your supper,” joked Hess, referencing a song called "Sing for Your Supper" from The Boys from Syracuse.