Fred C. Adams
Fred C. Adams lives and breathes Shakespeare – probably more so than anyone else in Utah. So the founder and executive producer emeritus of the Utah Shakespeare Festival was the logical choice to be one of the narrators when the Utah Symphony performs Felix Mendelssohn’s complete incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream Feb. 25-26 in Abravanel Hall.
“It’s going to be fun and kind of different,” Adams said in a phone interview from his office in Cedar City. “Different” because Adams has never done the play with music before. “It’s definitely going to put a different perspective on the play.” But he certainly likes the idea – so much so that when the Utah Shakespeare Festival starts its 50th anniversary season in June, it will open with A Midsummer Night’s Dream with music.
Adams loves the incidental music Mendelssohn wrote. “He has a wonderful way in pulling out the essence from certain moments of the play.” The transparency of the story comes through in the music, he said. “The play is gossamer and Mendelssohn’s music has a filminess and an incandescent shimmer to it.” He’s thrilled that the concert will spotlight the music. “I’m excited that this performance will focus on the music, and how music spawns words.”
While the bulk of the incidental music was written at the request of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in 1842, Mendelssohn wrote the overture as a teenager some 16 years earlier as a stand alone piece. “It was a birthday present for his sister,” Adams said. “He was only 17 when he wrote it. This just blows me away.”
Adams said that Nicholas McGegan, who will conduct the performances, chose the texts that will accompany the music. “The maestro selected the reading passages, and the whole story will come out. It will be interesting for the audience to see how Mendelssohn translated the words into music. And it will be a good introduction for youngsters into the world of Shakespeare.”
Joining Adams in the readings will be the current artistic director of the Utah Shakespeare Festival Brian Vaughn and actors Kymberly Mellen and Michael Don Bahr. Also taking part will be sopranos Angela Theis and Kate Tombaugh, both members of Utah Opera’s Ensemble Program, and the women of the Utah Symphony Chorus.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is without question one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, but contrary to what one might think, it’s not the work that’s staged the most often. That distinction goes to Hamlet. “Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most produced work,” Adams said. “But A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been done quite often as film, opera, operetta and ballet. And Romeo and Juliette has been adapted the most into other forms.”
Adams is very happy that the Utah Symphony is interested in working with other Utah arts organizations. “The symphony is a landmark in our state, and the fact that they want to join in celebrating the golden anniversary of our festival and kick starting it says so much for the current (symphony) administration and for (music director) Thierry Fischer. They’ve demonstrated that they are a real Utah symphony.”
CONCERT INFO:
Location: Abravanel Hall
Time and Date: 8 p.m. Feb. 25-26
Tickets: $15-$50 ($5 higher when purchased on day of performance)
Phone: 801-355-2787 or 888-451-2787
Web: www.utahsymphony.org
ALSO: Austad Auditorium, Val A. Browning Center, Weber State University, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24, $14-$34, 801-399-9214, www.symphonyballet.org.