“Two Gentlemen of Verona: The Musical” opens Thursday, Feb. 26 and runs through March 1 at Clemson University’s Brooks Center.
The musical won the 1971 Tony Award for Best Musical, and boasts a score by Galt MacDermot, the composer of “Hair.”
The play’s book was written by John Guare, better known for writing the award-winning play “Six Degrees of Separation.”
The creative team “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” a lesser-known work of the Bard, and used it as a way to write a love letter to New York and the diversity the Big Apple is known for, Charney said.
“It really celebrates diversity,” he said. “We’ve got a Spanish woman chasing an African-American man, an Asian person who comes to rescue a white woman from a Spanish guy.”
The show’s music reflects that diversity as well, Charney said.
“It’s a rock opera without the rock,” he said. “It’s more pop than it is rock. There’s a really strong section of Motown music in the play. There’s a heavy salsa latino influence.”
The play features 37 songs, Charney said.
“The story really kind of takes a backseat to the atmosphere,” he said.
Choosing a musical allows Clemson’s entire Performing Arts Department to take part, Charney said.
“The kids here love musicals,” he said. “It’s a show that brings the whole building together.”
“Two Gentlemen of Verona” tells a story that college students can really relate to, Charney said.
“It’s about two young guys who are trying to decide what they want to do with their lives,” he said. “One wants to stay in their little town, and the other wants to go off to the big city of Milan.
“I thought it was right for a college audience,” Charney continued.
The play also gives the community a chance to experience a work of Shakespeare that’s seldom performed.
“It’s never been performed in the state before, as far I can tell,” Charney said. “It’s a nice opportunity to bring a little-produced work to this area.”
For lovers of Shakespeare, the play provides an opportunity to fill the void left behind by Clemson’s annual Shakespeare Festival, which has been curtailed this year.
The show plays with the notion of hippie culture, he said.
“It’s really very sweet,” Charney said. “It’s not hippies with drugs, its hippies with big hugs.”
Anyone picturing naked hippies singing “Age of Aquarius” a la “Hair” shouldn’t worry — “Verona” is much more family-friendly.
“It’s about as risqué as ‘Grease,’ no more than that,” Charney said.
Evening shows begin at 8 p.m., and the Sunday matinee begins at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students. For more information, call 656-7787.
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