Inspiration


Love's Labour's Lost is a musical adaptation of the Shakespeare comedy of the same name. In 2013, composer/lyricist, Michael Friedman, and bookwriter/director, Alex Timbers, (creators of the Broadway musical, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), teamed up again to create Love's Labour's Lost for the Public Theater's Free Shakespeare in the Park program.

Love's Labour's Lost is one of Shakespeare's early comedies. Many modern scholars believe the play was written in 1595 or 1596, making it contemporaneous with Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is believed to have been written for a performance at the Inns of Court before Queen Elizabeth. It was first published in 1598.

Love's Labour's Lost began previews at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park on July 23, 2013. It opened on August 12, 2013, and closed on August 18, 2013. The production was directed by bookwriter, Alex Timbers. The show premiered as part of the Public Theater's Free Shakespeare in the Park Program.

The cast featured: Daniel Breaker (King of Navarre), Kevin Del Aguila (Dull), Colin Donnell (Berowne), Rachel Dratch (Holofernes), Andrew Durand (Boyet), Kimiko Glenn (Maria), Jeff Hiller (Nathaniel), Rebecca Naomi Jones (Jaquenetta), Justin Levine (Moth), Patti Murin (Princess), Lucas Near-Verbrugghe (Dumaine), Bryce Pinkham (Longaville), Charlie Pollock (Costard), Caesar Samayoa (Don Armado), Maria Thayer (Rosaline) and Audrey Lynn Weston (Katherine). The non-Equity ensemble featured Michael R. Douglass and Bradley Gibson.

Cultural Influence

• Love's Labour's Lost debuted as part of the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park Festival. This festival has had a significant place in the American theatre since in began in 1954. Many plays from the summer festival have gone on to Broadway. The festival has also attracted many well-known actors, such as Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Martin Sheen and Al Pacino. Approximately 80,000 people attend every year.

• William Shakespeare, the author of Love's Labour's Lost, upon which the musical is based, is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist.

• Before creative team, Michael Friedman and Alex Timbers, worked on Love's Labour's Lost, they had another show at the Public Theater, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which transferred to Broadway and was nominated for two Tony Awards.

• The Love's Labour's Lost cast album was produced and released by Sh-K-Boom Records. It was released digitally on July 3, 2014, and in stores on July 8, 2014.

Trivia

• The production of Love's Labour's Lost marked the first new Shakespeare-based musical to be produced at the Delacorte Theater since the Tony-winning musical, Two Gentlemen of Verona, premiered there in 1971, prior to a Broadway run.

• Love's Labour's Lost is one of only two Shakespeare plays with no obvious source for the plot; the other being The Tempest. The four main characters, however, are loosely based on historical figures.

• Co-stars, Patti Murin and Colin Donnell, fell for each other while working on Love's Labour's Lost and began dating.