HVSF veteran recasts tragedy as ‘hip-hopera’
In 2017, at the opening night cast party for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival production of Twelfth Night, troupe member Luis Quintero grabbed the microphone and busted out a rap delivered in character that made wry references to obscure lines in the text.
“The company fell over,” recalls Artistic Director Davis McCallum. “It wasn’t just Luis, it was Sebastian [his role in Twelfth Night], and he put it over in such a brilliantly funny and revealing way. Now, it’s a tradition every time we open a show.”
The response also led Quintero, 30, on a years-long journey to rework an ancient Greek play as a battle rap and compose a 200-page score for basic rock trio and vocals. He calls Medea: Re-Versed a “hip-hopera,” which McCallum rates on par with Hamilton.
“Luis is a generational talent, and it’s only a matter of time before fans of his work will be saying ‘We knew him when,’ ” says McCallum.
The world premiere in Philipstown is underway through Sept. 2. Ten days later, the production will move to off-Broadway in conjunction with partners Bedlam and Red Bull Theater in Manhattan.
Quintero modernizes the 2,500-year-old story of Medea — a fierce woman who demands respect but also commits terrible deeds — in captivating, downhill prose that shifts between forceful rap, frantic spoken parts and harmonic singing.
Propelled by beatboxer Mark Martin, guitarist Siena D’Addario’s spidery riffs interlock with the syncopated lines of bass player Melissa Mahoney, who sometimes bobs her head to the beat like a bird. As Medea lurches toward the avoidable yet inevitable final crime, the soundtrack subtly jumps to rap-metal and gooses the suspense.
In this guise, the title character, which became a feminist icon in the 1960s, is all-out fury. Played to the hilt by Sarin Monae West, she ignores the call of Quintero’s Chorus Leader to choose a different course than stabbing her children and taking her own life as she burns down the house.
At first, the narrator feigns disinterest: “I don’t know your pain, I just came to do the play.” But as the terror unspools, he implores her to stop. “Warn the children now get out of the house,” he says. “Medea, is this the right thing?”
Quintero equates this hero/villainess with Susan Smith and Andrea Yates — quoted in the script’s epigraph along with Duke Ellington — who turned reality into a horror flick by killing their kids.
Yet he does examine ethical ambiguities. “I like my villains nuanced,” he says. “People like Hitchcock and other scary movies because they go into darkness in a safe place with other people to open the door and see monsters in a controlled way. It’s an imaginative exercise.”
The taut 74-page script demands that actors remember a barrage of rhythmic phrases and render them with precision, bouncing words back and forth like jazz musicians soloing for a short bar or less. Cast members get a report card after every show and can be fined for blowing lines.
One of the nuanced work’s virtues is its stripped-down production: A small band and four players perpetrate the action. Stephen Michael Spencer as Jason, Medea’s adulterous husband and father of the murdered children, and Jacob Ming-Trent as Creon and Ageus, foils for the lead, round out the cast and switch between the comedic and dramatic with seamless flair.
At first, says Creon before banishing Medea: “I was open-handed/I offered you a pomegranate/Now I see you took these palms for granted/I’m here to crush the seedy thoughts/Your plans.”
The Duke Ellington quote in the script’s epigraph is apt: “Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: When it ceases to be dangerous, you don’t want it.”
HVSF is located at 2015 Route 9 in Philipstown. Performances of Medea: Re-Versed are scheduled this week for Sunday (Aug. 11), Wednesday (Aug. 14) and Aug. 17, and through Sept. 2. Tickets range from $10 to $100 at hvshakespeare.org.
Congratulations to all the cast and crew of Medea. There is something astonishing happening under the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival tent, and I encourage everyone reading this to experience it for themselves. I was crying, yelling, laughing and driven deep into thought during this exhilarating, short explosion of a show.
We are so lucky to have this organization at our doorstep and HVSF deserves our attention and support for what it’s trying to achieve. Fill a seat. You’ll be shocked at what awaits you under this tent in the corner of a golf course. Thanks and thanks and ever thanks for an unforgettable night.
Just saw Medea (after reading The Current’s article), and it was amazing. Go if you have the chance! [via Facebook]