Two Gentlemen of Verona is a rock musical, with a book by John Guare and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot, based on the Shakespeare comedy of the same name.
The original Broadway production, in 1971, won the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical. A London production followed in 1973. The Public Theater revived the piece in 2005.
Synopsis
Proteus and Valentine, lifelong friends, each leave their rural hometown of Verona to experience life in the city of Milan. Valentine strikes out on his own, arriving first; he falls in love with Sylvia, and makes plans to win her hand. However, her father, the Duke of Milan, has betrothed her to the wealthy but undesirable Thurio. Antonio, a Veronese nobleman, then decides to send his son Proteus to the Duke's court in Milan, to experience a more well-rounded life. After his arrival in Milan, Proteus also sets his sights on Sylvia, disregarding his loyalty to both Valentine and Julia (his sweetheart back home). Valentine admits his own plans to elope with Sylvia. Proteus tells the Duke of their plans, gaining favor for himself - and causing Valentine's banishment from the court. Meanwhile, in Verona, Julia asks her maid Lucetta for help in deciding upon which of the two she should fall in love with. Julia disguises herself as a page named Sebastian so she can travel to Milan - accompanied by Lucetta, in the male guise of Caesario - to be reunited with Proteus. After arriving at court, she witnesses Proteus and Thurio wooing Sylvia.
While traveling to Mantua, the exiled Valentine is kidnapped by outlaws, who have been banished also. They demand that Valentine become their king, but if he refuses, they intend to kill him; Valentine accepts. In Milan, Julia (disguised as Sebastian) delivers to Sylvia the ring Proteus gave her, on his behalf (not realizing the page was actually his Veronese girlfriend). Sylvia enlists her friend Sir Eglamour to help her escape her betrothal to Thurio, and to find Valentine instead. However, while traveling through the forest, they are overtaken by a band of outlaws. Eglamour runs away, leaving Sylvia to fend for herself.
By then, the Duke, Proteus, and Thurio, along with the disguised Julia, organize a search party for Sylvia. Proteus wrests Sylvia away from the outlaws. Proteus demands that Sylvia give him some sign of her favor for freeing her, but she refuses. He tries to rape her, but the hidden Valentine emerges and stops him. Proteus apologizes, and Valentine offers to give him Sylvia as a token of their friendship. "Sebastian" (Julia) faints, revealing her true identity. Proteus decides he really loves Julia more than Sylvia, taking her instead. The Duke realizes that Thurio is a thug, and recognizes Valentine is much nobler and should marry Sylvia. Valentine asks for clemency for the outlaws, and suggests that his marriage to Sylvia and Proteus' marriage to Julia should take place on the same day.
Original cast and characters CharacterOff-Broadway (1971)"Lortel Archives" accessed 12/17/2024Broadway (1971)Playbill 1971 Bio Cast List accessed 07/14/2023West End (1973)Playbill 1973 Bio Cast List accessed 07/14/2023Off-Broadway (2005)Playbill 2005 Bio Cast List accessed 07/14/2023Off-Broadway (2024)Silvia Jonelle AllenB. J. ArnauRenée Elise Goldsberry Taylor Iman JonesProteusRaul JuliaRay C. DavisOscar Isaac Jin HaJulia Carla PinzaDiana DavilaJean Gilbert Rosario Dawson Alisa MelendezValentineClifton DavisSamuel E. WrightNorm Lewis Jordan DonicaLucettaAlix EliasVeronica Clifford Megan Lawrence Alysha UmphressLaunce Jerry StillerJohn BottomsBenny LeeDavid Costabile Coby GetzugEglamourAlvin LumMinoo GolvalaPaolo Montalban Sam SimahkDuke of MilanNorman MatlockKeefe WestMel Johnson Jr. Chuck CooperAntonioFrederic WarrinerTerence ConoleyRichard Ruiz-SpeedJose PerezMichael StaniforthJohn Cariani John-Michael LylesThurioFrank O'BrienDerek Griffiths Don Stephenson Kelvin Moon Loh
Songs
Act I Summer, Summer - Ensemble I Love My Father - Ensemble That's a Very Interesting Question - Proteus and Valentine I'd Like to Be a Rose - Proteus and Valentine Thou, Julia, Thou Hast Metamorphosed Me - Proteus Symphony - Proteus and Ensemble I Am Not Interested in Love - Julia Love, Is That You? - Vissi D'Amore Thou, Proteus, Thou Hast Metamorphosed Me - Julia What Does a Lover Pack? - Julia, Proteus and Ensemble Pearls - Launce I Love My Father (Reprise) - Proteus Two Gentlemen of Verona - Julia, Lucetta and Ensemble Follow the Rainbow - Valentine, Speed, Proteus, Launce, Julia and Lucetta Where's North? - Valentine, Speed, Duke of Milan, Silvia, Thurio and Ensemble Bring All the Boys Back Home - Duke of Milan, Thurio and Ensemble Love's Revenge - Valentine To Whom It May Concern Me - Silvia and Valentine Night Letter - Silvia and Valentine Love's Revenge - Valentine, Proteus, Speed and Launce Calla Lily Lady - Proteus
Act II Land of Betrayal - Lucetta Thurio's Samba - Thurio, Duke of Milan and Ensemble Hot Lover - Launce and Speed What a Nice Idea - Julia Who Is Sylvia? - Proteus, Tavern Host and Ensemble Love Me - Silvia and Ensemble Eglamour - Eglamour and Ensemble Kidnapped - Julia, Duke of Milan, Proteus, Thurio and Ensemble Mansion † - Valentine Eglamour (Reprise) - Silvia and Eglamour What's a Nice Girl Like Her - Proteus Dragon Fight - Dragon, Eglamour, Proteus and Valentine Don't Have the Baby - Julia, Lucetta, Speed and Launce Love, Is That You? (Reprise) - Thurio and Lucetta Milkmaid - Launce and Milkmaid I Love My Father (Reprise) - Full Company Love Has Driven Me Sane - Full Company
† This number was replaced in the original London production by the song "Howl",Two Gentlemen of Verona - Original London Cast, 1973 due to concerns that the lyric to "Mansion" was too New York-centric, with references to rent control, sublets, and other uniquely urban concerns. For 1971 Broadway audiences, which were more New Yorkers than tourists (the reverse of Broadway audiences today), these references would have been both commonly understood and very funny in this faux-Shakespearean context. Theaters producing the show now have a choice between using "Howl" or "Mansion."Inside Two Gents by Scott Miller
Productions and history After tryouts at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in the summer of 1971 and twenty previews, the Broadway production, directed by Mel Shapiro and choreographed by Jean Erdman replaced by Dennis Nahat for Broadway and London productions, opened on December 1, 1971 at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 614 performances.Two Gentlemen of Verona Internet Broadway Database, accessed January 16, 2009Kenrick, John. "History of The Musical Stage, The 1970s: Part I" Musicals101.com, The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film, accessed January 16, 2009/Green, Stanley. The World of Musical Comedy, p. 348 (1984) La Lupe had been cast in the role of Julia but was replaced in previews. Jeff Goldblum and Stockard Channing both made their Broadway debuts in the ensemble, understudying the roles of Eglamour and Lucetta respectively; Channing went on to play Julia.
The musical won two Tony Awards including Best Musical over such shows as Grease and Follies.Tony Awards official site , accessed January 16, 2009
The original Broadway cast album was released on ABC Records in the US at the time; through merger and acquisition over the years, the Universal Music Group now owns the rights. The master tapes were restored for digital release through the Decca Broadway label in 2002.
An Australian production was presented at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne, opening on March 31, 1973. The production featured John Waters, Gilbert Price, Gail Boggs and Judd Jones.
A West End production was mounted at the Phoenix Theatre beginning on April 26, 1973 and ran for 237 performances. Mel Shapiro directed with Dennis Nahat staging and choreography.Over the Footlights listing of 1973 West End musicals http://www.overthefootlights.co.uk/1973musicals.pdf
The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival revived the piece in 1996, directed by Robert Duke and starring Philip Hernandez, Dana M. Reeve, and Keith Byron Kirk.Klein, Alvin. "A Most Fitting Maiden Voyage into Musicals", The New York Times, June 2, 1996
The musical was revived by the Public Theater in their Shakespeare in the Park series for a limited run, from August 28, 2005, to September 11, 2005, at the Delacorte Theater. Kathleen Marshall directed and choreographed."'Two Gentlemen of Verona' 2005" Internet Off-Broadway Database, accessed April 3, 2022
A one-night concert version of the show was presented at Symphony Space by Red Bull Theatre and directed by Zi Alikhan. Jordan Donica starred as Valentine opposite Jin Ha as Proteus and Chuck Cooper as Duke of Milan.Gans, Andrew Jordan Donica and More Join Lineup for Two Gentlemen of Verona Concert Playbill, November 22, 2024
Critical reception In his review for The New York Times, Clive Barnes wrote, "What I really love about Two Gentlemen is its simplicity. Beneath all the multicolored gimmicks and extravagances, there are real people living and loving, and this I find very moving."
Critic Ben Brantley, in The New York Times, compared the 2005 revival to a "festive production" to "a fruity sangría", praising the cast but concluding that the work has not held up well. He wrote that the play's "wayward" characters were "not without parallels among the lotus-eating youth of the post-Woodstock years – a comparison that Messrs. Shapiro, Guare and MacDermot made canny use of. They also scaled down Shakespeare's passages of poetic pain for an approach that emphasized an easygoing, multicultural exuberance over wistful poetry and nonsense over sensibility.... [But] MacDermot's songs... lack the variety of his score for Hair.... And the lyricism Mr. Guare is known for as a playwright is rarely in evidence in his clunky work here as a lyricist".Brantley, Ben. "Shakespeare in the Park Review; Enter 'Two Gentlemen' For a Sexy Sip of Sangría", The New York Times, August 29, 2005
Awards and nominations
Original Broadway production Year Award Category Nominee Result 1972 Tony Award Best Musical Best Book of a Musical John Guare and Mel Shapiro Best Original Score Galt MacDermot and John Guare Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Clifton Davis Raul Julia Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical Jonelle Allen Best Direction of a Musical Mel Shapiro Best Choreography Jean Erdman Best Costume Design Theoni V. Aldredge Drama Desk Award Outstanding Book of a Musical John Guare and Mel Shapiro Outstanding Performance Raul Julia Jonelle Allen Outstanding Director of a Musical Mel Shapiro Outstanding Choreography Jean Erdman Outstanding Lyrics John Guare Outstanding Music Galt MacDermot Outstanding Costume Design Theoni V. Aldredge Theatre World Award Jonelle Allen New York Drama Critics' Circle Award Best Musical Galt MacDermot and John Guare
References
External links
Centre Stage (Baltimore, MD) production The Guide to Musical Theatre Two Gentlemen of Verona