The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival 2024 season kicks off with a production of “As You Like It,” written by William Shakespeare more than 400 years ago and brought to a modern stage at the direction of Nancy Bell. The cast and crew are at work rehearsing for their debut on May 29 at the Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park.
“As You Like It” centers around Rosalind, who has been banished from society and forced to make a new society in the forest of Arden. From there, Shakespearean hijinks ensue.
Tom Ridgely, producing artistic director of St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, told St. Louis on the Air that the beloved location of the Shakespeare Glen serves as the perfect backdrop for the comedy. “Seeing Shakespeare, not in the theater, but in this beautiful natural environment — a very picturesque spot in Forest Park where you’re surrounded by grass and trees and nature. It’s especially poetic,” he said.
One of the constants since Shakespeare in the Park’s first production in 2001 is the inclusion of talent with roots or connections to the St. Louis region, both onstage and off. This year, Webster Groves native Caroline Amos plays the protagonist Rosalind, and singer-songwriter Beth Bombara will make her acting debut as Amiens the minstrel.
Bombara composed original music and put her own twist to Shakespeare’s songs for “As You Like It.” An example audiences can look forward to is during the scene when the character Jaques hunts for survival in the song “What Shall He Have That Killed the Deer?”
“When I sat down to work on it, I was thinking about this bittersweet feeling. I was trying to capture that emotion with the music and I added lyrics that talk about the deer, which weren't in Shakespeare's original lyrics,” she said. “I felt like focusing a little bit more on the deer — [this] majestic beast of the forest sort of helps convey those feelings.”
Ridgely said Shakespeare in the Park is the largest outdoor Shakespeare festival between the coasts, and, “on a given night the audiences can be the largest for Shakespeare anywhere in the world” — drawing more than 5,000 people.
“This is the 24th year that the festival will have put this on,” Ridgely said. “Which is extraordinary, but I think it does speak to both the enthusiasm that St. Louis has for Shakespeare and for the power [of] his plays to continue to speak to us.”
For more on “As You Like It,” including the different approach Beth Bombara took to writing music for the stage play and the cast — which includes a local professional wrestler — listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube; or click the play button below.
Related Event
What: Shakespeare in the Park: “As You Like It”
When: May 29-June 23
Where: Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park (6604 Fine Arts Drive, St. Louis, MO 63110)
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Roshae Hemmings is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
