stage Comedy and musical genius Ken Ludwig,


by lisa lipsey


whoseBaskerville brought Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Watson to The Old Globe, is back with a brand new Globe-commissioned world premiere comedy about another iconic duo: Robin Hood and Little John! Under the direction of Jessica Stone (Arms and the Man, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) and packed with thrills, romance, laughs, with great characters like Friar Tuck and Maid Marian, all those merry men of the forest,Robin Hood!tells the timeless story of a hero of the people who takes on the powers that be. The theatre bills the production as one filled with swashbuckling fun!


The Old Globe announced the remaining productions in its 2017 Summer Season, including Ludwig’s Robin Hood! “Ken is back with the Robin Hood play he’s been wanting to write for years,” comments Artistic Director Barry Edelstein in a press statement “and it’s sure to be one of his funniest and most riotous works.” TheSummer Shakespeare Festival will include


Globe and television favorite, Robert Sean Leonard (the Globe’s Pygmalion, television’s House, M.D. on Fox) in the title role of Richard II, directed by Erica Schmidt. Shakespeare’s tragedyHamlet follows on the outdoor Festival Stage, bringing Shakespeare’s classic to life under the San Diego stars. Edelstein will direct one of the greatest plays ever written—revenge thriller, ghost story, psychological drama, political epic, family saga— all packed with unforgettable characters, theatrical masterstrokes and world-famous lines. Now, let’s get back to Ken Ludwig and


Robin Hood! Ludwig is a two-time Olivier Award- winning playwright whose work is performed throughout the world in more than thirty countries and over twenty languages. He has written twenty-four plays and musicals, with six Broadway productions and seven in London’s West End. His Tony-winning playLend Me A Tenor, was called “One of the classic comedies of the 20th century” byThe Washington Post. Other plays and musicals include Crazy For You (five years on Broadway, Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Musical), Moon Over Buffalo (Broadway and West End),The


68 RAGE monthly | JULY 2017


Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Broadway),Treasure Island (West End),Twentieth Century (Broadway), Leading Ladies, Shakespeare in Hollywood, The Game’s Afoot, The Fox on the Fairway, The Three Musketeers, The Beaux’ Stratagem, Baskerville andA Comedy of Tenors. His critically-acclaimed adaptation of Agatha Christie’sMurder on the Orient Express premiered this season to sold out houses at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton and his newest play is, of course, Robin Hood! Ludwig has received commissions from the


Royal Shakespeare Company, The Old Globe and the Bristol Old Vic, and he is a Sallie B. Goodman Fellow of the McCarter Theatre. His bookHow To Teach Your Children Shakespeare (Random House) won the Falstaff Award for Best Shakespeare Book and his essays are published by theYale Review.


When asked about what inspires him, Ludwig


says, “My favorite plays are virtually all comedies. They start with the great Shakespeare comedies and my favorites there are:Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream andMuch Ado About Nothing. Each one launched a separate tradition of comedy that exists to this day and each one is simply jaw- droppingly great. After Shakespeare, you have to jump to the late Restoration for any really great plays. From the 18th Century, it’s Goldsmith’s She Stoops To Conquer first and foremost, after Shakespeare I’d say it’s the greatest comedy ever written.” “Once again, there’s a big leap in years and for


me the next great comedy isDandy Dick andThe Magistrate by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero. Right after Pinero come the great Shaw comedies that I love so


OH THOSE MERRY MEN!


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