The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey opens their 57th season with a grand, swashbuckling adventure, The Three Musketeers. The play is an adaptation written by Ken Ludwig of Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale first written in 1844. This production moves smoothly with exciting sword fighting scenes, dialog well peppered with humorous tones, and an amazing variety of characters who will astound you. Add to that a generous helping of female characters who match their male counterparts both with swords and cunning and you have one fabulous production.
Background
Rick Sordelet directs The Three Musketeers. Mr. Sordelet is renowned as a fight director. He also is an accomplished writer and director. In his Director’s Notes, he gives a interesting background on how the tale came to be. He writes, “Dumas is said to have based his marvelous story on manuscripts he had discovered in the Bibliotheque Nationale while researching King Louis XIV. He became fascinated by the adventures of the King’s Musketeers and based his story on historic figures who lived during the 17th century.”
Ken Ludwig was commissioned by England’s Bristol Old Vic to adapt the very large story of The Three Musketeers into a two-hour play. In his writing, Mr. Ludwig decided to introduce the character Sabine as D’Artagnan’s sister. He describes her as being “Like a 17th century Wonder Woman.”
The Story Chronicles a Journey
Some very universal themes guide this story of The Three Musketeers. Themes like love of family, shifts of power and what people will do to maintain it, as well as heroic journeys prevail. The concept of the heroic journey ties in with the title Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey has given to this season: Incredible Journeys.
An incredible journey describes what happens to young D’Artagnan as he strives to become a Musketeer. The show opens with a sword fight between D’Artagnan and his father. It’s a good one though because the father is preparing his son to leave home. D’Artagana’s father, who was at one time a Musketeer, encourages him to go to Paris and seek out the squad and join them. D’Artagnan is very excited until he hears he must take his younger sister, Sabine on the journey. Arrangements have been made to enroll her at a convent school in Paris.
After they leave their parents’ home, Sabine makes it clear to her brother that she can handle herself well and isn’t really looking forward to the convent school. As they travel, they encounter trouble along the way. Eventually, they meet up with the Musketeers and the quest of helping the King becomes a center focus of the story.
Encounters between the Musketeers, D’Artagnan and the Cardinal’s guards allows several, very well choreographed sword fighting scenes to take place. You will be amazed to see the skill which the actors use to act out these scenes. There is a lot to like about this show, and these scenes are definitely part of that.
The Three Musketeer Characters
The characters are memorable in The Three Musketeers. Good versus evil is well represented as well as characters being tempted to go to the dark side. Some of good ones include all three of the Musketeers: John Keabler plays Athos, Paul Molnar plays Porthos, and Alexander Sovronsky plays Aramis. The actors who play these characters display good diversity in their portrays as they indulge is a lot of the sword fighting and rescue scenes. However, but they also have some interesting quirks. Porthos is interested in fashion which makes for some humorous moments. Aramis wants to become a priest. But the most intense is Athos who hides the facts about a previous love in his life which becomes critical to the finale.
The evil doings are done through the “bad” characters. Bruce Cromer leads the pack as Cardinal Richelieu. It’s hard to imagine that there is a good bone in his body as he plots and schemes to attain power. Jeffrey M. Bender plays his main henchmen, Rochefort with Patrick Toon playing his sidekick, Ravanche. Both are dressed in black leather with Rochefore sporting an eye patch. The scenes with the Cardinal supposedly choking Rochefore are humorous after awhile; almost like just do it and get it over with. All three of these actors play their respective roles very well.
But the most despicable of all is a woman. Anastastia LeGendre does a superb job portraying Milady, the Cardinal’s niece. She makes Cruella deVil look like an amateur when it comes to evil doings.
Central to the play is D’Artagnan. Playwright Ken Ludwig says, “D’Artagnan is youth, he is hope, he has all the traits you would expect of a young hero, and he’s rebellious enough to make them interesting.” Cooper Jennings plays D’Artagnan and he more than fulfills the expectations of an actor playing this role. He is a joy to watch on stage. Sabine is D’Artagnan’s high spirited young sister. Courtney McGowan plays the part and does a fine job of bringing out the youth of her character and the enthusiasm she has for life. Also representing the youth is Billie Wyatt playing Constance. She is another strong female figure. Her character development is so solid that the you will morn her at the end.
Additional Characters Critical to the Story
It is difficult to know where to put these next three characters as they fall into good at times, bad at times. Michael Stewart Allen gives a fine performance as King Louis XIII. The King is narcissistic and always concerned about keeping himself as the center of attention.
His wife, Queen Anne is played by Fiona Robberson who swoons with love and very nearly gets herself in big trouble. Ms. Robberson is especially effective in the swooning sections of the play as her love interest, the Duke of Buckingham flits around the stage. Clark Scott Carmichael does an outstanding comedy interpretation of his character.
Tickets and Performances
The Three Musketeers plays at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey now through July 7, 2019 at the F, M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Avenue (at Lancaster Road), Madison, New Jersey located on Drew University’s campus.
Tickets and information are available: Call 973-408-5600 or visit ShakespeareNJ.org .
Performances run Tuesday – Sunday evenings with matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
Audience Enhancements for The Three Musketeers
Captioned Performance: Thursday, June 20 at 8:00 p.m.
Audio-Described Performance: Thursday, June 27 at 8:00 p.m.
Post-Show Symposium Performances: Tuesday, June 18 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 22 at 2:00 p.m.; Saturday, June 29 at 2:00 p.m.
Know the Show: Thursday, June 20 at 7:00 p.m.; curtain at 8:00 p.m.