Rodgers and Hart's The Boys from Syracuse - A free concert performance with music and dance at Boston Landmarks Orchestra and Commonwealth Shakespeare Company

Boston Landmarks Orchestra closes their 2016 Free Wednesday Concerts at the DCR Memorial Hatch Shell on August 31 (7 pm)* with another extraordinary collaboration with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC). A concert performance - with music and dance - of The Boys from Syracuse, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and a new adaptation of the George Abbott book by Larry (Lorenz Hart II, nephew of the lyricist/librettist and son of prolific Broadway and vaudeville comedic actor Teddy Hart) and his wife Jennifer Hart with consultation by 3-time Tony Award librettist (Annie, co-librettist of The Producers and Hairspray) Tom Meehan.

Landmarks and CSC have assembled an amazing cast to bring this ancient Grecian adventure to the Esplanade. They include Remo Airaldi* (Dromio of Syracuse), Jenna Augen* (Luciana), Justin Blanchard* (Antipholus of Syracuse), Larry Coen* (Dromio of Ephesus), Jennifer Ellis* (Adrianna), Liliane Klein* (Luce), Andy McLeavey* (Antipholus of Ephesus), DCR Commissioner Leo Roy (Sergeant) and Marc W. Soucy (Aegean). The ensemble includes Leah Carnow, Serge Clivio, Steven Del Col, Jerry Goodwin, Brittany Martel, Kate Penner, Brad Foster Reinking and Suzi Weisberg.

The creative team includes Music Director/Conductor Christopher Wilkins, co-directors Steven Maler and Adam Sanders, choreographer Yo-el Cassell and costume consultant Brooke Stanton.

Based on William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, The Boys from Syracuse is often considered the finest of all Rodgers and Hart creations. This ‘concert performance’ marks only the second professional performance of the inimitable 1938 Big-Band style original orchestrations by Hans Spialek. Familiar songs include ‘Falling in Love with Love,’ ‘Sing for Your Supper,’ and ‘This Can’t Be Love.’

Filled with two sets of twins, and women chased and chaste, The Boys from Syracuse was the first musical ever adapted from Shakespeare. Identical twins Antipholus of Syracuse and Antipholus of Ephesus were separated as children in a shipwreck. Both have manservants, also twins, both named Dromio. When the Syracuse set arrive in Ephesus, mishaps and mischief ensue as they are mistaken for their brothers by merchants, wives, and mistresses. Perplexed partners, disgruntled courtesans, and outraged constables are left in the duo’s wake before this show's tangled web is unraveled.