Hudson Warehouse Presents the World Premiere of THE THREE MUSKETEERS: 20 YEARS LATER

For Hudson Warehouse's 15th Season, they have announced The World Premiere of The Three Musketeers: 20 Years Later. This story is the follow-up to popular The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. While the first novel has been adapted for the stage and screen many times, no one has ever adapted the follow-up book, 20 Years Later, for the stage. The World Premiere presentation of this classic is a thrilling milestone for Hudson Warehouse.

Hudson Warehouse has taken on a four-year long series they've called "The Dumas Adventures." Over four years, they will present Alexandre Dumas's most celebrated works: The Three Musketeers, The Three Musketeers: 20 Years Later, The Man in the Iron Mask, and in 2020, what can be considered Dumas's masterpiece: The Count of Monte Cristo.

Starting this July 5th, The Three Musketeers: 20 Years Later performs until July 29th, Thurs - Sun. at 6:30pm at The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Riverside Park, on West 89th and Riverside Drive.

The story picks up after the disbandment of The Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan (Jake Lesh) the only one among them still in service. Queen Anne (Karen Collazzo) and her son, Prince Louis, (Samuel O' Sullivan) need protection from the uprising of the French citizens. She asks Cardinal Mazarin (Joseph Cordaro) to bring back D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers who protected her years before. Twenty years later, we find D'Artagnan still a Lieutenant. His difficult mission is to bring together his former friends Athos (Joseph Hamel), Aramis (Nicholas Martin-Smith), and Porthos (David Palmer Brown), with his trusty servant Grimauld (Samuel Shurtleff.)

Because of the new taxes imposed upon them by the Royal Family, the merchants protest in the streets and fight The Cardinal Guards. One of the protestors is the former Executioner of Bethune (David Arthur Bachrach) who wounded in the melee and young Raoul (Derek Martin), the ward of Athos, comes to his aid. Raoul seeks the help of a priest, who turns out to be Mordaunt (Ian Potter). By a stroke of fate, Mordaunt realizes he is taken to the very man who executed his mother, Milady de Winter, twenty years before. He forces answers from the Executioner and finds out that it was four Musketeers who took his mother's life. Now, motivated by revenge, Mordaunt hunts down these Musketeers and his uncle, Lord de Winter.

In England, King Charles (Griffin Stanton-Ameisen) is waging a 10 year war with Oliver Cromwell (Joseph Dalfonso) and facing the biggest battle of his life. His wife, Queen Henrietta (Lisa LaGrande), with their daughter Princess Henrietta (Deborah Bjornsti), are whisked out of England with the aid of Lord de Winter (Bob Wasinger) to the safe haven of France and where she asks her sister-in-law, Queen Anne, to help her husband.

Princess Henrietta rekindles her friendship with her cousin, Prince Louis and the newly arrived Prince Phillip (Patrick Leddy) and a dangerous triangle forms. In England, King Charles is betrayed by his allies, Scotsman Lord Leven (Justin Broido) and his two Chieftains.

After our July run in Riverside Park, Hudson Warehouse is taking this production into NYC jails. The Warehouse has taken Romeo and Juliet, Trojan Women, as well as other shows into the jails in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, helping fulfil our mission of giving arts to those for whom arts are inaccessible. Taking a swash-buckling show like this will be quite a thrill!

Nicholas Martin-Smith, the Producing Artistic Director of Hudson Warehouse, directs this production and also plays Aramis. "This is a world premiere. It's a once in a life-time opportunity to paint with broad brush strokes on an original canvas. To tell a story that's never been told before," says Mr. Martin-Smith. "After last year's production, I felt this show was going to be a little darker. Susane has managed to adapt a very challenging novel and also incorporate elements of next year's production, The Man in the Iron Mask." Mr. Martin Smith added, "15 years is a huge milestone and we wanted to give our audiences what they wanted, which are the classics. Romeo and Juliet is our June show and August is Hamlet, which is the directorial debut of our Associate Artistic Director, George K. Wells, who adapted the script and plays the title character.

"Twenty Years Later was a much more complex and difficult novel for me," says writer and adapter of the Dumas tetralogy, Susane Lee, who is also the Executive Director of Hudson Warehouse. "It's a story of revenge and political intrigue. We left last summer with Milady's assassination. This story picks up in Paris, with her son, Mordaunt, who is intent on avenging his mother's murder with the men responsible: The Four Musketeers. But it also had this other very involved story in England with King Charles. Moving between the two countries was tricky, but I hope the audience can appreciate the drama that unfolds between all the characters. It's really thrilling to present an original piece to our audiences. We also have the most amazing cast to tell this story! I'm also grateful to Nicholas who has given me this unique and incredible opportunity to write four plays based on Dumas for our summer playing space. As a writer, this is a golden gift."

The Three Musketeers: 20 Years Later, Written by Susane Lee, adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. Directed by Nicholas Martin-Smith.