BTC was the youngest age group to do Illyria. Our group was from about 8-14 years old. As a bonus of working with the show's creatior, Peter Mills and Cara Reichel, we were able to have a talkback with them after the Saturday show.
They talked about adapting the show a bunch. I think their most sailient point was about the link to modern times. The adaptation was going on when 9/11 happened, and the play is about family, at its roots. When he "dies," Viola lives as her brother, Sebastian (in Shakespeare's original, she becomes Cesario). Being him "helps [her] think that in a way, [he's] still alive." Many people, as we know, lost loved ones in 9/11. At that time we, as a nation, were in mourning, as Viola is. Her living as her brother keeps him alive in her memory and aids in the healing. Olivia is also in mourning for her brother. Because they are nearly identical, in every respect, save one, confusion arises. Orsino thinks that he has fallen for a man (it's Viola as Sebastian) doesn't know what to say or do anymore. This is they type of confusion that appeared after 9/11 as well. I was 7 at the time and I know that I was very confused--of course, I was 7 and was confused by a lot of things. People asked why it had to happen. Ultimately, it was fate and although 9/11 is extremely tragical, has pushed the dominoes and undoubtedly made for some good things. In the play, for example, Olivia and Sebastian and Orsino and Viola marry--although Malvilio is rather ill-fated.
I got to ask them a question as well. I wanted to know what it was like to adapt it because it was the work of such a great writer. How it was to work under the pressure of living up to its original. They said that is was, of course, difficult because they had that pressure, but also the fact that Shakespeare did not write a musical helped them, too.
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