2007’s Complete Works was an All-Star cast!  Darren Bridgett, Jarion Monroe and Ryan Schmidt could not have been surpassed in their perfect execution of comedic timing, inflection, mannerisms… just everything… it was perfect!!!  Thank you!!!  Encore, Encore!!

To this day, when my children’s friends say “Oh I hate Shakespeare… we have to read Romeo and Juliet and blah blah blah….” My children respond ‘then you haven’t seen it performed as it should be”… like in Marin Shakespeare’s 2005 rendition with Andy Butterfield and Julia Motyka….and it’s not just because they were impressed at how long Andy could simultaneously hang from that balcony and play his lines so perfectly.  I admit that most of the kids we bring to the Shakespeare performances prefer the comedies, but all the preteens and teens who were with us at Romeo and Juliet understood every nuance, every sentiment of the play and enjoyed the whole thing!!!Thank you!!!

In 2005’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle,, you were amazingly hilarious!!! You all really captured how WIlliam Shakespeare was a living, walking, breathing pun! We brought lots of kids to that one and you turned them in to Shakespeare fans!!  Thanks again!

We all wish we could have seen last year’s performance of Amadeus over and over and over! All the actors played fabulously, but of course, there is no more perfect actor for the part of Salieri than William Elsman!! His performance brought even my 15 year old son back several times, but it was not enough…That play was perfect and we hope you bring it back for an encore performance some year soon!!! 

Marin Shakespeare’s rendition of The Importance of Being Earnest was so well directed, cast and performed that it was a LOL, ROFL, hilarious standing ovation experience that succeeded in portraying every bit of biting satire and irony the author intended and more!!! We had our children with us and our relatives who had just arrived from out of the country. Everyone laughed out loud AND experienced moments of deep contemplation of the philosophies presented in this great work! Even our family who does not speak English fluently could understand everything because of how well the performance is presented by all involved!!!!  The leads were ALL impeccable, in top form!!!  Also, it was great that there were no small parts AND no small actors!! Every player contributed to this all around Fabulous theater going experience!  Thank you so much!!!  Here’s to another 20 years!!!!

We saw “Twelfth NIght or All You Need is Love” last night. I am not a fan of musical theatre, was not forewarned, and would have walked out, except for the fact that it was directed in a very clever way and though I did not bend over from laughter, as about 12 others in the audience were, I was heartily amused during 9/10ths of it.  My complaints are: too much music allowed the Duke of Orsino’s character, to lack dimension. Although the actor is blessed with vast charisma, he seems to be reacting to the funny musical score and little else.  My freind V., who accompanied me to the play, thought the way that the way the Maharishi yogi was played was “stupid”. I thought the yogi appeared vacuous and because of this I was bored by that part of the performance.  If 2 or 3 of the shorter musical snippets were excised, even I, a person who up until I saw this play, hated all musicals, would have given it an A+, as it was played because of the extensive music which got in the way of the development of two characters, only an A. By the end of the first act I was surprised how much I loved it.  I also thought the Valentine dancers, and their costumes were superb.  Thank you Marin Shakespeare for surprising me, with a very cleverly directed play. p.s. you might forwarn others by advertising this play as ‘Twelfth Night’ played as a 60’s hippie musical.

12th night is my favorite Shakespeare play (excluding histories, tragedies and problem plays)–OK, it’s my favorite comedy since high school. I can cry when Helen Hunt as Caesario meets her brother–and I cried all night from laughing so hard.  Lesley and Bob, you are geniuses–and talented geniuses. I had my reservations about a 60-70’s version. I have seen 12th night about 6 times on stage–all traditional, and in some things I’m a purist (not a Malvolio Purist) but I thought your 12th night was the greatest. What else can I say?

It’s hard to sum up all of the great memories I have of MSC. We go back over 10 years now. I have enjoyed working for MSC and just being in the audience. I am really thrilled that my kids have been able to take the Summer camps and have such a great time. (My daughter has been in every summer camp now for 8 years!) I feel blessed to know the Curriers and have them be such a factor in our lives. Every production has been so wonderful. Every one has shown me something new, refreshing and enjoyable about a play I had seen before. I have made precious friends with several company members over the years and I’ve also had the chance to reunite or keep up older friendships with those I knew from the larger Marin theatre community. One of my fondest associations will be the summer that George Maguire joined the company. I read his bio in the program and realized I had known him from many years ago when I was 10 years old and tagging along with my father, who worked with George on a few Broadway productions. George in fact would babysit me from time to time, while we were on the road with a show. Here at MSC, my daughter’s love of theatre and acting was born. She loves every show and will always sit front center, completely mesmerized. She has benefited from having teachers such as Jonathan Gonzalez, Laurie Keith and Bill Elsman. And last, but not least, my son got his first crush a few years ago when Julia Motyka played Juliet. Thank you Curriers for helping Shakespeare and other great works thrive AND for helping to make my family’s lives so full!

THE WHOLE CAST did SUCH A GOOD JOB!  I thought THEY ALL DESERVED MAJOR KUDOS!