The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

Spooky Tales and Music This Way Come

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison will present its popular fourth annual Something Wicked This Way Comes on Monday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. This one-night-only event kicks off Halloween week and will be held at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Ave.

Titled from a line in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Something Wicked This Way Comes is a 90-minute, ghoulish collage of dramatic readings from the classic canon of the macabre, including Shakespeare, Poe, Stoker, and Lovecraft. Directed by Brian B. Crowe, Something Wicked This Way Comes will feature actors from The Shakespeare Theatre company as well as guest artists.

"We combine talented storytelling and haunting music to create a wonderfully spooky atmosphere,” says Crowe. “The stories come alive in front of an audience."

Composer, musician, and one of the world's foremost theremin players, John Hoge will provide the music for this unique evening. The theremin was one of the very first electronic instruments, invented in Russia in the early 1900s by Lev Termen. It is the only musical instrument played without physical contact. The theremin was discovered by film composers in the first half of the 20th century, and its sound became an iconic signature of such scores as Spellbound and The Day the Earth Stood Still. It was eventually heard in hundreds of B movies. Now enjoying a resurgence in popularity, the theremin is used by rock bands and on the symphonic concert stage.

Hoge has performed with the New York Theremin Society and is the editor of ThereminWorld.com. He can be heard on Spellbound, the internet radio theremin show. He has played the theremin on stage in Looking for Limbo—part of the American Living Room Festival 2006—and in the New York Fringe Festival 2007. He has composed music and worked as sound designer for various theaters including The Public, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and Indiana Repertory Theater. For many years, he worked as an organist and conductor in New York City churches.

Tickets for Something Wicked This Way Comes are $33 and are now on sale. To purchase tickets, or for more information, call 973-408-5600 or visit www.ShakespeareNJ.org.

October 21, 2013

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