Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella (2012)

Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella

  • April 18 - November 3, 2012
  • Adapted and directed by Bill Rauch and Tracy Young | From the plays by Euripides, Shakespeare and Rodgers & Hammerstein
Overview
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Run Time:Two hours and 54 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission

A three-ring tour de force

A jealous wife sends an unthinkable message to her cheating husband. A lord, urged on by his aggressive lady, murders his king. A mistreated stepdaughter engages with magic for love and happiness. Three plays from two millennia of populist theatre—Greek tragedy, Elizabethan drama and American musical comedy. But you will be astonished by how these separate stories of ambition interweave into one revelatory whole that builds to an unexpected climax. Haunting, funny and filled with surprises, it’s a one-of-a-kind musical adventure you won’t want to miss.

Audience notes: Strobe lights and theatrical mist are used in this production.

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Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella weaves together three iconic stories, usually with all happening at the same time. At key points, however, the entire company joins together to give full attention to one story or another.

  1. Medea, a sorceress from Colchis, used her magic to save the life of Greek hero Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece, and became his wife. But when he brought her back home to Corinth, Jason abandoned her to pursue the daughter of Corinth’s King Creon. When Creon announces the banishment of Medea and her sons from Corinth, she pleads for one more day to prepare. Medea then plots to kill Creon’s daughter by giving her poisoned wedding gifts, hoping that Creon and Jason will embrace the dying princess and be poisoned as well. She also plans to kill her sons as the ultimate way of hurting Jason. She learns that Creon and his daughter succumbed to the poison. And after agonizing about her ultimate decision, she murders her own sons, then presents them to the grief-stricken Jason.

  2. After a battle, three witches greet the Scottish thanes (or earls) Macbeth and Banquo with some good news: Each will receive a series of titles, culminating for Macbeth in the crown, and for Banquo in fathering a line of kings. Both are immediately rewarded with the first of the promised titles, spurring Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to hasten their ultimate fate. When King Duncan visits their home, Macbeth murders him in his sleep and assumes the crown. He soon sends murderers after Banquo, whose ghost accusingly haunts Macbeth at a banquet. Mean-while, the rival Lord Macduff and Malcolm, Duncan’s son, join the English in resisting Macbeth's rule.

    While Lady Macbeth sleepwalks guiltily, Macbeth consults the witches again: They assure him that no man “born of woman” can beat him and that his castle won’t be taken until Birnam Wood itself moves toward it. When the advancing English take down branches of Birnam Wood and advance with them as shields and then Macduff—whose wife and children Macbeth had cold-bloodedly slaughtered—announces that he was “ripped untimely from my mother’s womb” (by Caesarean section), the jig is up for Macbeth, who dies by Macduff's sword. Malcolm as-sumes his rightful throne.

  3. The poor, fatherless Cinderella waits on every whim of her unloving stepmother and two stepsisters. When the King and Queen announce a ball to select a bride for the Prince, the stepfamily plots to make the most of it, while Cinderella only dreams “in her own little corner” about a better future. After the stepmother and stepsisters head to the ball, Cinderella’s dreams turn to wishes, and her Fairy Godmother arrives to make the impossible come true: A pumpkin becomes a coach, kitchen mice become horses and Cinderella is draped in a gorgeous gown. The God-mother warns that the spell ends at midnight.

At the ball, the Prince is bored, not least by the attentions of the stepsisters, until the beautiful Cinderella arrives. He monopolizes her on the dance floor, and the two fall in love. Walking with the Prince in a garden, she nearly misses the midnight deadline. She rushes off, leaving a glass slipper behind. The Prince searches the entire king-dom for a woman to fit the slipper but finds no one until he discovers Cinderella.

The way these three disparate stories of ambition, jealousy and royalty are interwoven is the mystery and magic of M/M/C.

Artistic Team

Co-Director
Bill Rauch
Co-Director
Tracy Young
Medea Composer/Lyricist
Shishir Kurup
Choreographer
Sabrina Peck
Music Director
Matt Aument
Scenic Designer
Rachel Hauck
Costume Designer
Deborah M. Dryden
Lighting Designer
Christopher Akerlind
Sound Designer
Darron L. West
Medea argmt/add'l music
David Markowitz
Mask Director
Jared Sakren
Associate Music Director
Co-orchestrator/Arranger
Andy Einhorn
Phil Killian Directing Fellow
Nelson T. Eusebio III
Dramaturg
Lydia G. Garcia
Voice and Text Director
David Carey

Cast List

Macbeth/Ensemble
Jeffrey King*
Lady Macbeth/Ensemble
Christopher Liam Moore*
Macduff/Ensemble
Al Espinosa*
Banquo/Ensemble
Ted Deasy*
Duncan/Ensemble
Armando Durán*
Malcolm/Ensemble
Daniel Molina*
First Witch/Ensemble
Daniel T. Parker*
Second Witch/Ensemble
U. Jonathan Toppo*
Third Witch/Ensemble
Eddie Lopez*
Fleance/Ensemble
Tasso Feldman*
Usher/Ensemble
Mark Bedard*
Prince/Ensemble
Jeremy Peter Johnson*
King/Ensemble
Robert Vincent Frank*
Medea/Ensemble
Miriam A. Laube*
Cinderella/Ensemble
Laura Griffith*
Chorus Leader/Ensemble
Kate Mulligan*
Nurse/Ensemble
Dee Maaske*
Jason/Chorus/Ensemble
Lisa Wolpe*
Tutor/Creon/Chorus/Ensemble
Robynn Rodriguez*
Medea's son
Gahl Falkner
Medea's son
Jada Rae Perry
Godmother/Ensemble
K. T. Vogt*
Stepmother/Ensemble
Robin Goodrin Nordli*
Portia/Ensemble
Nell Geisslinger*
Joy/Ensemble
Kate Hurster*
Queen/Ensemble
Vilma Silva*

Musicians

Conductor/Piano
Darcy Danielson
Woodwinds
Lori Calhoun
Bass, Tambura
Bruce McKern
Cello
Michal Palzewicz
Drums, Percussion
Jacob Phelps-Ransom
Violin
Arlene Tayloe
* Member of Actors' Equity Association (AEA)
**AEA Professional Theatre Intern
  • Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella

    Sneak Peek

    Get a sneak peek of our 2012 production of Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, directed by Bill Rauch and Tracy Young.

  • Bill Rauch

    The Story

    Director Bill Rauch talks about Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella.

  • Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella

    Know Before You Go

    Co-directors Bill Rauch and Tracy Young talk about Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella.

  • Deborah Dryden

    Artist Profile: Deborah Dryden

    In this OSF Artist Profile, Resident Costume Designer Deb Dryden talks about her design for OSF's 2012 production Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella.

  • Tracy Young

    Know Before You Go: Tracy Young

    Co-director Tracy Young talks about OSF's 2012 production of Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella. (Part 1 of 2)

  • Tracy Young

    Know Before You Go: Tracy Young

    Co-director Tracy Young talks about OSF's 2012 production of Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella. (Part 2 of 2)

  • Oregon Live

    “Rauch and Young have created a sophisticated cut-and-paste combination of dialogue that manages to move all three stories along while highlighting and even commenting upon the parallel plot and thematic developments. And the staging and subtly color-coded costumes create an ingenious swirl that sometimes sets the stories in three separate spheres (for instance, Macbeth on the main level of the stage, Medea on a curving ramp, and Cinderella in an upper-level throne room), but often blends action and even props. One moment, impending transformations are juxtaposed across the stage as Medea holds aloft her vial of poison, Macbeth determines to poison Banquo, and a glittering gown and carriage magically arrive for Cinderella. The next moment, the stories are one, as Cinderella’s callous stepmother waltzes with Banquo’s bloody ghost.” -OregonLive

  • Daily Tidings logo

    Ashland Daily Tidings

    “M/M/C is a roiling witches' cauldron, bubbling over with ambition, love, hatred, transformation and, of course, magic. In it, the three famous stories with their iconic characters are performed onstage simultaneously. Think three-ring circus, but with a big budget, beautiful costumes and a strong musical score. Yes, it's a musical, too.”

  • Mail Tribune logo

    Mail Tribune

    “Medea kills her children to avenge her husband's betrayal, Macbeth kills King Duncan to gain the crown, and Cinderella gets an assist from her Fairy Godmother to win the heart of the Prince. These are some of the best-known stories from 2,500 years of theater. Who'd have thought they had so much to say to each other? In 'Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella,' Bill Rauch's improbable mashup of Euripides, Shakespeare and Rogers and Hammerstein, the three plays run simultaneously in a sort of metaplay. After a while the stories blend together in some dramaturgical kaleidoscope where themes and images and shards of meaning collide and tumble over one another to reveal new things.”