Music, Republic of Letters

In Jazz: When Titans Return

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Not one, but two jazz albums that feature the return of long-absent titans have become instant favorites of mine in the past month. So never mind waiting until my usual end-of-year article; I had to share the news now! Listening links are embedded after each review; if you’re interested, purchase links are included in the artist/title listings.

Branford Marsalis Quartet and Dianne Reeves, Dedicated to You: Marsalis and his fellow masters team up with preeminent vocalist Reeves (on her first recording in 12 years), joining John Coltrane’s centenary celebration by reworking his 1963 duet album with Johnny Hartmann. Just listen to the playful opening track “Autumn Serenade”, the enticing “You Are Too Beautiful”, the stark, rhapsodic take on Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” – each tune showcases winning chops and character from Reeves, Marsalis, pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Reyes and drummer Justin Faulkner, all in service to gorgeously written songs and guided by a sublime sense of swing. There isn’t a duff take here: with her superb tone and keen interpretive skills, Reeves conjures up one quiet storm after another. And when Branford and his brotherhood go it alone on selections from Coltrane’s Ballads album and his broader catalog, listening hard to each other, the results are equally rambunctious and tender. It’s all warm, rich, glorious, never slavishly imitating Trane, but thoroughly in touch with his unprecedented technical depth and profound musical imagination. I’m glad I already grabbed tickets for this deft collaboration’s Grand Rapids concert next spring before it sold out!

Pete Roth Trio, Group Chat: the legendary Bill Bruford (who made his bones in multiple incarnations of Yes and King Crimson, then circled back to his first musical love in his bands Bruford and Earthworks) has returned to jazz drumming after an extended academic sabbatical, manning the engine room for this new trio on their debut CD/DVD set. German/British guitarist Pete Roth fronts a team of equals, with veteran bassist Mike Pratt completing the lineup as recorded live. Opener “Full Circle” sets the tone — a sophisticated, driving mix of jazz and rock that fizzes, fuses, bops and glides, as all three players swap musical roles at will. Then the Brubeckian blues “Part of the Charm” shows off devastatingly tight interplay; Roth shines in the spotlight and Bruford gently nudges his comrades onward with a restrained solo of savory, simmering invention. Along with more gnarly yet nice originals, a funky version of Gershwin’s “Summertime” and an invitingly abstract “Improvisation on the Largo from Dvorak’s Symphony #9” lay out the group’s range and ambition, stretching toward and often rivaling the vibe of classic trios led by Bill Evans, Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett. With about two-thirds of the album also duplicated on the bonus DVD, this album is unmissable for Bruford fans, and a fresh blast of unmistakable, enthralling cool in its own right.

— Rick Krueger

History

Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Committed Suicide

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I love reading about history, and the early 20th century is especially interesting to me. I’ve always wondered how Europe could commit itself to the extraordinarily destructive first world war, the “Great War”. Christopher Clark’s book, The Sleepwalkers is an excellent explanation of how France, Britain, Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Russia, delicately balanced in various alliances, “sleepwalked” into armed conflict.

As Clark states in his Introduction,

This book thus strives to understand the July Crisis of 1914 as a modern event, the most complex of modern times, perhaps of any time so far. It is concerned less with why the war happened than with how it came about. Questions of why and how are logically inseparable, but they lead us in different directions. The question of how invites us to look closely at the sequences of interactions that produced certain outcomes. By contrast, the question of why invites us to go in search of remote and categorical causes: imperialism, nationalism, armaments, alliances, high finance, ideas of national honour, the mechanics of mobilization. The why approach brings a certain analytical clarity, but it also has a distorting effect, because it creates the illusion of a steadily building causal pressure; the factors pile up on top of each other pushing down on the events; political actors become mere executors of forces long established and beyond their control.

By focusing primarily on the actual events (and taking advantage of a huge number of original documents and memoirs), Clark presents a dispassionate account of how Europe found itself at the end of diplomatic options and mired in the deadliest war in human history. In his telling, the causes of WWI don’t involve easily identifiable “villains” and “good guys”, but mere humans, prone to making errors in judgment and trying to adjust to quickly shifting events. In Clark’s telling, Germany and Austria aren’t militaristic aggressors, but countries competing for security with equally, if not more, powerful nations, each pursuing its own interests.

To continue reading, click here.

Republic of Letters

In Praise of Anika

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Here in 2026, we have seen a lot of bad headlines. Gas prices are up, multiple armed conflicts are ongoing, and the general mood of the public is more on the sour side. I could list many specific reasons, but I do not come here to make you, the reader, depressed. Instead, I come here to bring you something to make you happy.

A headline that has emerged this year that is categorically good, particularly for the cohort of society collectively known as “Rush fans” (a group that includes myself and most of the other contributors to this blog), is that Rush is touring again. Most of us thought after their last tour, in 2015, that we would never get to see them play live again. And after the tragic death of Neil Peart in 2020, that line of thinking hardened into cement. But happily, we have been proven wrong, as Rush is once again touring to the delight of their fans everywhere.

In the wake of Peart’s death, the thought of Rush ever touring again was dependent on finding someone to fill his spot behind the drum kit. It’s not an overstatement to say that would be a daunting task. None other than Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater went so far as to say he was relieved that he wasn’t asked and that filling Peart’s shoes would be impossible. That’s a significant statement. Portnoy himself is an exceptional talent and one of the very few drummers that can even be mentioned in the same breath as Peart.

Portnoy’s statement underscores the point that, once they had decided they wanted to tour again, remaining Rush members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were not going to have an easy time finding a drummer to make it happen. It’s not hyperbole to say that Peart was a legendary talent. Mindful of their longtime fans and their own high standards, Geddy and Alex were going to have to find someone who would be sitting in the seat formerly occupied by a legend, someone that could play his drum parts to their exacting and stratospheric standards. And yet, they found someone who could do just that.

That someone was Anika Nilles. Hailing from Germany and from a family of drummers (her father, a cousin, and some uncles), Anika began drumming at age six. But while she had some YouTube notoriety, it would have been an overstatement to say she was a well-known entity. Thus, the question hanging over this tour was “will she be up to the task?”

Verdict? By now, we can answer that question with a most emphatic “YES!!”

Since kicking off the 50 Something Tour in Los Angeles on June 7, the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, as has the reception to Anika by the fans. We Rush fans are a merit-based bunch. We didn’t care how old or young she was, her gender, her credentials, or any of those things. We only cared if she could do the job. Night after night, she has passed that test with flying colors to the delight of everyone lucky enough to witness a show. If you closed your eyes and knew nothing about Peart’s death, you might think he’s still the one behind the kit.

For yours truly, my lucky night came on Friday, September 25 at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio. As they opened with the classic Xanadu, I could barely contain the overwhelming sense of gratitude I had for another chance to see this incredible band. And there was an extra helping of gratitude directed at Anika herself. She was the lynchpin that made this possible. This tour doesn’t happen without her. She was the one with the courage, the guts, to step into what might be the most demanding position in rock music, and to do so under immense pressure and scrutiny. Even with all that pressure and scrutiny, and with all the demands of playing some of the most complex, difficult, and demanding drum parts ever devised, she has executed, flawlessly. Rush’s 1984 release was entitled Grace Under Pressure. Anika exemplifies that.

Of course, I don’t want to give the short shrift to Alex and Geddy. They were (and have been throughout the tour), their usual flawless selves. The playing has been incredible. The setlists have been perfect, alternating different nights, playing the entirety of the Moving Pictures albums one night, while playing the 2112 suite in its entirety on the next night (it was Moving Pictures night at the show I attended). Even better, it was clear they were having fun, doing what they love again after an 11-year break. Anika, too, was having fun. For most of the set, she held a serious expression on her face. But there were many moments a smile broke through, with the exceptionally large grin as she, once again, nailed the drum fills coming out of the solo break on Tom Sawyer. And has been par for the course on this tour, the crowd roared their approval right back at her (there are already countless videos on YouTube of this).

So, Anika, from the bottom of my heart and that of Rush fans everywhere, thank you so very much for being willing to step into the breech and enable this tour to happen. And I’m sure Neil, somewhere in Heaven, is looking down and thanking you as well for honoring his legacy in the best way possible. In honoring his legacy, you are establishing your own, and what you have done for Rush fans will not be forgotten.

Before I go, there is one other woman I need to thank, namely my awesome wife, Miki. The pictures you are looking at were taken by her, and there are only an exceedingly tiny sample of the great shots she took (well over 1000 total). Thank you so much, Miki, for memorializing this incredible event. It means the world to me.

Music, Republic of Letters

Steven Wilson, “Requiem for a Village”

Narration by David Tennant (Doctor Who, Royal Shakespeare Company, etc.):

Swirl in a lark’s eye
Sparks alive are swooping slow
The Village is a tear in a quail-packed quilt
Fluffed and flattened farm gardens
Diced by dark-hedged crosswords
Hardened in the moon’s stare
Standing stone, laying stone
Sleep like the people
Who have calcified in the shade of the steeple
Market Day and a creaking dray
Wheel through the sky
Deliver the yawning sun from the bed of the dale
Splash awake their pale plate-faces
The Village is alive

More at https://requiemforavillage.com/, which includes the following listing:

6th November 2026 · village square

Autumn Festival

Gather in the square for refreshments, candlelight vigil, singing, and the ingathering!

— Rick Krueger

Music

Glass Hammer’s Black Light: A Groovy Prog Treat

Tad: Hello Brad! It’s been awhile since we’ve had the time to collaborate. We’re both educators, and summer is supposed to be a time to catch our breath, but it wasn’t for either of us this year, was it? Anyway, there’s a very good reason for us to get together, and that’s the announcement from Glass Hammer that they are releasing a new album! You and I both love this band, which is pretty much founder Steve Babb’s project now. We’ve been avid fans for many years, and they have never made a dud of an album in my opinion, even though they have recorded in an amazingly wide variety of styles. But that’s what I like about them: they aren’t afraid to try new things, and they never get stuck in a musical rut.

Their new album is Black Light, and I’ve listened to it four times back to back now. Musically and lyrically, it’s another big change from Rogue, Arise, and the Skallagrim Trilogy. My first impression is how lively and playful these songs sound. What do you think, my friend?

Brad: Hello, Tad.  Man, I’ve missed you, and I’ve missed our dialogues.  Admittedly, the summer got in the way–a daughter’s wedding, some writing, a vacation, a number of talks. . . but, still!  I missed you.  Glad to be connecting again, as always, my great friend.

Yes, I’m totally with you.  I’ve listened to Black Light twice now, and I’m very much in love with it.  Babb has always been a brilliant bassist, lyricist, poet, novelist, and song writer (there are no limits to the guy’s creativity and drive), but, with this album, he’s become something much greater than all of these things: he’s become a composer.  Truly, the composition of this album is just staggering.  The flow is immaculate, the intensity is everything a prog fan would want, and yet, somewhat like Frost*There is a bit of witty whimsy here, too.

Tad: Brad, I think your comparison to Frost* is quite apt; these guys sound like they’re having fun, and the concept itself is even a tongue-in-cheek wink at some of progressive rock’s pretentiousness: a young rock musician in 1979 sees an intriguing black light poster in his band’s rehearsal space, and suddenly he’s inside the poster! In this trippy, dayglo world, he meets up with characters from throughout the career of Glass Hammer, which makes for a delightful experience for us longtime GH fans. I read through the liner notes, and they are hilarious! For example: Part 1. Concept-Album Excess – It Begins (In which I find myself stuck in a psychedelic dreamworld, a fluorescent paradise. For reasons unexplained, I begin singing, and stuff happens!)

I think my favorite track is the second one, Lost Horizons, which is a twelve-minute minisuite containing several beautiful passages. I think the three vocalists, Christopher Galen, Trevor Laake, and Olivia Tharpe, are all outstanding throughout. 

There’s a definite ‘70s vibe to the melodies and instrumentation, and there are quite a few sections where the band just jams. If I had to describe it, it’s as if Jethro Tull, Boston, and Kansas all got together and created a hybrid band. Every song has a delicious hook, especially on Return to The Shadowlands, which is a funky Celtic rocker, if that makes sense. Ferran Ligero’s guitar work is outstanding here.

Also in his notes, Steve Babb tells of his recent surgery to remove a (thankfully) benign brain tumor. I think that experience must have liberated him in many ways. He’s even said that he believes the surgery has altered the way he approaches composing now. All I can say is how much fun and enjoyable this album is, and how thankful I am that Babb is creating such great art. Speaking of which, I am a sucker for good bass (Chris Squire was my favorite member of Yes), and Babb really cuts loose on the closing track, Kaleidoscope Skies. 

Brad: Tad, thanks so much for this.  An excellent synopsis.  As you and I have said many, many times–so many times it should be an iron rule of prog–a band is only as good as its bassist.  And, man, is Babb a brilliant bassist.  I love his bass lines.  So thrilling and so captivating.

Tad, if you don’t mind, I have to recount my history with the band.  I was at a conference many, many years ago now, and one of my favorite colleagues in the history field, Amy Sturgis, knew how into music and especially prog I was.  She mentioned knowing two guys from Tennessee in the prog band, Glass Hammer, who had just released an album called LEX REX.  I had never heard of them or the album, but, of course, true to form, I immediately bought LEX REX, and I fell instantly in love with it.  I couldn’t believe the mixing of music with the profundity of the lyrics.  And, they weren’t afraid to be counter-cultural, especially in their embrace of tradition and Christianity.  But, it was an intelligent and artful Christianity, not an over the top in your face evangelicalistic propaganda which I find so deeply troubling.  If we really love Christ, our music doesn’t need to be about Christ, but we very much need to use the gifts Christ has given us in the music.  Glass Hammer did exactly this.

As I had done with my hero worship of Greg Spawton, I decided to take a chance and email Steve Babb to strike up a friendship.  Amazingly enough, he reciprocated.  When chance had it that I was to lecture in Tennessee, Steve and I met for dinner–the first time we had met in person.  I liked him instantly, and I think he felt the same.  Even though I’m a historian and he’s a musician, there was a definite kinship right away.  I thank God for that meeting and his friendship.

Being totally and unabashedly OCD, I immediately ordered all of Glass Hammer’s back catalogue, including a live concert DVD–which made me love the band even more–after I first heard LEX REX.  And, on one of those DVDs, Steve’s amazing and beautiful wife, Julie, showed up.  I was blown away by how extremely cool and normal Steve and his family were.

Admittedly, it doesn’t hurt that Steve and I view much of the world in exactly the same way–which, of course, make me love his music all the more.  Plus, the guy is an entrepreneur, a dad, a husband, a poet, and a novelist.  Is there anything he can’t do?

All of this leads me to Black Light.  As I mentioned previously, there’s something immensely special about Black Light.  This is not just another prog release, but a prog moment.  The album is equally parts intense, whimsical, creative, and brilliant.  Steve is so clearly having the time of his life.  As you mentioned, Tad, he’s just come out of major brain surgery.  You’d never know it except to say that Steve is so very, very happy to be alive.  It comes through in every note of Black Light.

Tad: Brad, I love hearing the back stories of how you first encounter different groups. I got into Glass Hammer because of your recommendation. Perilous was the first CD of theirs I bought. I then picked up Cor Cordium, and I assumed Jon Davison was their consistent vocalist. As I acquired more and more of their albums, I soon realized that Glass Hammer is more of a collective, organized around Steve Babb and Fred Schendel – a lot like Steely Dan was centered on Donald Fagan and Walter Becker. 

Anyway, I think we both enthusiastically give Black Light our “thumbs up”. It is one of Babb’s best efforts, and I am really excited to see the direction he is taking his music.

You can order Black Light directly from their store at https://glasshammer.com/. Support independent music and buy physical media!

Music, Republic of Letters

Tedeschi Trucks Band & Alabama Shakes in Concert: Dreaming of Future Soul

The Tedeschi Trucks Band with Alabama Shakes, Acrisure Amphitheater, Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 25, 2026.

Taking our places on the lawn of our city’s new outdoor concert shed, my wife and I were hyped up by the crowd that had gathered. Used to a maximum capacity of 2,000 at Grand Rapids’ other outdoor venue, it was pretty exhilarating to see at least twice as many folks gathered on the grass around us – and even more than that in the covered seats up front! About 10,000 folks, both locals and fans who’d obviously made a pilgrimage from elsewhere, all in place for an evening of rootsy music.

I wasn’t sure what openers Alabama Shakes had in store; neither of their albums had impressed me, and they’ve only been back together for a couple of years following a lengthly hiatus, touring in anticipation of their comeback album I Must Be Dreaming. What we got, though, was a generous helping of langorous psychedelic soul that easily exceeded my expectations.

Looking and sounding for all the world like Sister Rosetta Tharpe returned, Brittany Howard commanded the stage from the start, her gospel-soaked vocals a thing of wonder, her stinging rhythm and searing licks on a foam-green Gibson SG going straight to the gut. Long-time bandmates Heath Fogg on guitar and Zac Cockrell on bass hail from the “less is more” school of down-home Southern music; set off by laid-back stage drummer Noah Bond (playing so far behind the beat he seemed to be in a different time zone), even with double keyboards and a backing vocal trio there was plenty of space for Howard to strut her stuff. And while Alabama Shakes’ songs can sound undercomposed and overfussed-with on record, they clicked live; focusing on their more experimental second album Sound and Color, the band mixed in enough new material (and the upbeat hits from their shorter, snappier debut Boys and Girls) to keep the audience spellbound and wanting more. Ultimately they stretched out for more than an hour, bringing a well-deserved co-headline set to a savory, simmering boil by the end.

Then, as the sun went down and the air took on a chill, the Tedeschi Trucks Band brought some welcome fire, complete with an encouragement on the video screens to stand up and dance! Susan Tedeschi’s gorgeous, gritty singing (with great vocal interjections from keys man Gabe Dixon) and Derek Trucks’ imaginative, heartfelt slide work set the pace across the up-tempo Motown jump of “Playing with My Emotions”, the straightforward drive of “Made Up Mind” and the Quiet Storm R&B of “I Got You” (from fabulous new album Future Soul) and “Midnight in Harlem”, as Tyler Greenwell and Isaac Eady laid down a flowing, bubbling bed of double drum work.

But it was on their thrillingly eclectic selection of covers that the 12-piece ensemble showed themselves a true band of equals. Tedeschi bragged and purred with both voice and guitar on Muddy Waters’ “Got My Mojo Working”; second vocalist Mike Mattison worried and wailed through Chuck Willis’ “I Feel So Bad”; after Trucks had brought Eric Clapton’s “Keep On Growing” down to a hush, trombonist Elizabeth Lea brought it all the way back up! Vocalist Mark Rivers, trumpeter Emmanuel Echern and sax man Kebbi Williams had their moments to shine too.

And the high point was yet to come: first TTB combined with Alabama Shakes’ backing singers for Sly Stone’s “You Can Make It If You Try”; then Brittany Howard tore it up duetting with Tedeschi on Stone’s transcendent “Everyday People”. That got the entire crowd on their feet, staying up as the band played right through to the city curfew, taking the set out with The Allman Brothers’ chugging “Stand Back”, original “I Want More” and a furious coda of Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice.”

“I’m building a kingdom in my soul/Where the fires first burned let flowers grow” were the first words from Brittany Howard’s mouth Tuesday night. “Hope your future’s got soul in it” is the chorus from that fine new Tedeschi Trucks Band album’s title track. Alabama Shakes and TTB have gone their separate ways for now; but if you want to build that kingdom of future soul inside you, seeing one or both of these bands would be a great way to start.

— Rick Krueger

For Alabama Shakes tour dates, click here.

For Tedeschi Trucks Band tour dates, click here.

Alabama Shakes setlist:

  • Tea Time
  • Guess Who
  • Rise to the Sun
  • Hang Loose
  • Shoegaze
  • I Feel Hope Coming
  • Dunes
  • Future People
  • Hold On
  • This Feeling
  • Joe
  • Sound & Color
  • Gimme All Your Love
  • Don’t Wanna Fight
  • Another Life
  • Always Alright

Tedeschi Trucks Band setlist:

  • Hear My Dear
  • Playing With My Emotions
  • Got My Mo-Jo Working (Muddy Waters cover)
  • I Got You
  • I Feel So Bad (Chuck Willis cover)
  • Keep On Growing (Derek and the Dominos cover)
  • Take Me as I Am
  • You Can Make It If You Try (Sly & the Family Stone cover – with Alabama Shakes back-up singers)
  • Everyday People (Sly & the Family Stone cover – with Brittany Howard)
  • Made Up Mind
  • Midnight in Harlem
  • Stand Back (Allman Brothers Band cover)
  • I Want More /Soul Sacrifice outro (Santana cover)

Music

New Glass Hammer Album Announced

Glass Hammer, the progressive rock vehicle of founder and multi-instrumentalist Steve Babb, announces the release of Black Light for November 6th.
Created in the months after Babb underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor, Black Light marks one of the most personal and stylistically distinct entries in Glass Hammer’s long catalog.
Centered around a quirky, surreal story of a young prog-rocker drawn into a 1970s black-light poster, the album explores themes of nostalgia, longing, and the dual worlds of artistic inspiration.
Black Light features an updated lineup and a vibrant, psychedelic sonic palette while remaining rooted in the band’s symphonic progressive style.

The updated lineup includes:

Christopher Galen – Lead & backing vocals
Trevor Laake – Lead & backing vocals
Olivia Tharpe – Lead & backing vocals
Ferran Ligero – Lead & rhythm guitar
Ken Kristiansen – Drums
Oliver Day – Acoustic guitar
Steve Babb – Keyboards, bass, percussion and
backing vocals


The album will be available on CD and digital platforms. Run time is 56 minutes.
Pre-order information and further details will be available at www.glasshammer.com.

Republic of Letters

At the Stratford Festival: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a surefire box office winner. It’s long been considered one of Shakespeare’s most approachable plays, due to its appealing characters, humorous plot complications, and language that rings the changes from rustic simplicity through witty aristocratic banter to lyrical flights of supernatural fancy. As such, it’s typically considered actor-proof; say your lines, hit your marks and you’ve done your job.

Director-proof, however, can be another story; from Max Reinhardt’s 1930s outdoor spectacular at the Hollywood Bowl through Peter Hall’s 1960s “white box” chamber version with the Royal Shakespeare Company, to recent decades’ fad for gender-bending within the core romances, Shakespeare is frequently swallowed up in directors’ need to Get Our Attention And Make A Statement. The first time my wife and I saw the play at Stratford in 2004, Leon Rubin’s production conceits (“The enchanted wood’s like a — a rain forest! So we’ll set the whole thing in South America! Oh, and the fairies are acrobats too!”) proved an active turn-off; the characters and humor were all but smothered by the bells and whistles of distracting costumes, scenery and spectacle.

In his program note, director Graham Abbey threatens full-on Regietheater, making opaque noises about reveling in disorder and the necessity of rebellion. But fortunately, Abbey’s basic trust in Shakespeare. along with his solid dramatic instincts, carry the day. This is by and large A Midsummer Night’s Dream as veteran admirers know it and those encountering it for the first time should.

Abbey’s biggest tweak is setting the action in late Victorian England, and that works – because arguably, Shakespeare’s original human characters are pretty doggone universal across cultures, no matter their Athenian names. So Evan Buliung’s Theseus is appropriately pompous yet engaging, whether wooing Ijeoma Emesowum’s reluctant but not adamant Hippolyta or throwing up his hands at the young lovers’ relationship hassles. Vivien Endicott-Douglas is a wonderfully straight-up Hermia, gushingly in love; Jessica B. Hill grabs the majority of the laughs as a dryly funny yet vulnerable Helena; Jordin Hall and Thomas Duplessie start out bland and interchangeable as Lysander and Demetrius, but put clever props (a ukelele and a deerstalker hat, respectively) to good use opening up their characters. The rustic mechanicals – morphed to traveling circus players in this version – are, as usual, winningly earnest and hopelessly out of their depth from top (Sarah Dodd’s flustered dramaturge Rita Quince) to Bottom (Nick Spencer-Davis in an appropriately bravura comic turn).

And of course, when all and sundry wander into the enchanted wood of Shakespeare’s fairies Oberon (Andre Sills, seasoning his usual power and magnetism with sly humor), Titania (a spellbinding Sara Topham, whose every line and gesture compel attention) and Puck (Mike Nadajewski, energetically committed to maximum disruption) — mayhem breaks loose, with the audience quite literally in the midst of it. As fairies troop down the theatre aisles to the thrust stage of the Tom Patterson Theatre (pulsating with subtly immersive digital projections and surround-sound effects) and Nadajewski persistently breaks the fourth wall, playing to the crowd with sneaky pranks and Phil Collins-style party tricks, we wind up every bit as loopy as the lovers, as bemused as Bottom and company. And Abbey’s second-biggest tweak – unwinding Oberon’s curse on Titania through mutual forgiveness instead of further deception – puts us in the same boat as everyone else exiting the wood; not quite certain of our footing, but ready for a breather via The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe (enacted by the mechanicals with eager flair, organic pratfalls and a hilarious pastiche soundtrack of classical/Romantic chestnuts, courtesy of pianist Michael Man’s Robin Starveling).

To sum up: most (though not all) directors’ theater versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream stutter and stumble trying to make their point. Though Abbey’s take on the play is portentous on the surface, the loose, fantastical staging and slapstick comedy of this production issue directly from Shakespeare’s characters and situations, given fire and vibrancy by a first-rate cast where the young players step up to the level of their veteran Festival colleagues. The few tiny hiccups here are vastly outweighed by a real devotion to the absurdity and the grace baked in by the poet himself. From Row G of the theatre, this was an utterly enjoyable vision of the Dream, one that brings to life Theseus’ Act 5 summation of the night:

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold:
That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.
The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to
heaven,
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.

— Rick Krueger

A Midsummer Night’s Dream plays at the Stratford Festival’s Tom Patterson Theatre through September 26th. For information, schedule and ticket sales click here.

Music, Books, Poetry, Film