Review of American Players Theatre

4 years ago

June 23rd, 2012

June 23rd, 2012
APT has gone the way of the Chicago sell out. Forget about Shakespeare in the Woods; for as one of their core cast members stated last night after the show It s American Players Theater, not American Players Shakespeare Theater!" - Colleen Madden. I was at APT back in 1979 and fell in love with it. Since then though I've travelled, I always tried to make it back and support what I considered one of Wisconsin s treasures (Shakespeare unblemished in the woods). Over the past several years I've seen less and less of true Shakespeare on the billing, and like last night when a play is presented, huge liberties are taken by the director and cast. I understand that each director and troupe would like to put their own small spin on the play, but Director James DeVita CUT OUT an hour and a half of the play! (Again from Colleen Madden who was beaming about this) What was presented last night was not Richard III, but a Reader's Digest version. Why take the time to do anything correctly? Don't let the audience decide if they want to view an entire play, chop it down to what is considered optimal viewing time like at the movies. So much for theater being the last refuge from rampant commercialism; let s turn it into the movies. And don't look for the better known plays. They only rotate them through about once a decade or slightly sooner due to their marketing department deciding that is the optimal timing for selling tickets. I'm not sure how they figured this out, but if they had talked to theater lovers like me, then they would have heard that we would be willing to see these great classics every two to three years instead of the eight to ten year rotation that they have set.

APT is now DEAD TO ME. I feel that I have lost an old and dear friend that has been so for 33 years. R.I.P. APT