An Outstanding Production By All Accounts

The reviews are in, and the critics love HAMLET!  Below is the full text of reviews recieved to date; click the links to visit the individual websites.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:  Festival's 'Hamlet' is a gem

BY JUDITH NEWMARK - Near the heart-rending end of "Hamlet," the 10th annual production of Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, the Danish prince prepares to fence with another young gentleman of the court, Laertes. It's our last glimpse of the world of the play before its utter destruction, and director Bruce Longworth holds everything still for a moment, as if to freeze the memory.

Hamlet (Jim Butz) and Laertes (Justin Blanchard) stand face to face, blades gleaming, boots tall, the full sleeves of their white blouses billowing in the breeze. They are beautiful and, as we know very well, they are doomed. They look the way we always thought they did; they have stepped from our imaginations onto the stage.

That's the hallmark of Longworth's sterling production. It's very traditional — no updates, no gimmicks, no "concepts." The director and his excellent design team (all theater artists based in St. Louis) seem  to be working from two reasonable assumptions about the most important group in the theater, the audience. One: people have not seen this play so often that a traditional approach will seem old hat. Two: people can understand the play on its own, 16th-century terms, without bending over backwards for relevance.

The greatest play in our language is relevant no matter what the characters wear, what weaponry they use or how unusual some of their vocabulary may be. We don't need an update so much as we need a production that restores Shakespeare's drama to the images it created in our minds and hearts when we first learned its story. This, the Festival delivers with unselfconscious grace, both in its details and in Butz's eloquent portrayal of the prince.

Blessed with perfect weather, Friday's opening night performance drew about 2,800 theatergoers to the park, most arriving long before the play began. There was the customary mix: sophisticates with well-packed hampers who come to the festival every year, teens and 20-somethings enjoying very classy, very cheap dates, families whose kids made crowns at the arts-and-crafts table before the play and, in many cases, fell asleep before it ended, about 11 p.m.

Before the show, theatergoers enjoyed Green Show entertainment that included a short, simplified version of "Hamlet." The mini-play is performed nightly; other acts vary. People shopped for food and souvenirs. It was still light as they settled themselves into lawn chairs or on blankets for the tragedy.

The story centers on Hamlet, a prince home from college. His newly widowed mother, Queen Gertrude (Deanne Lorette), has married her brother-in-law, Claudius (John Rensenhouse), making him king. Hurt, angry and confused, the prince is stunned when his father's Ghost (Rob Krakovski) appears. Claudius murdered him, the ghost proclaims, ordering Hamlet to avenge the crime by killing his uncle/stepfather. Will he do it?

Plagued by doubts and conflict, Hamlet spends the rest of the play enduring an interior struggle unmatched in the literature of theater, an essentially exterior form. Butz, however, has the grace to give it lucid, physical form. Will he feign an "antic disposition"? You bet he will, hooking his arms over other men's shoulders and swinging in the air between them, like a toddler. Does he love the innocent Ophelia (Kimiye Corwin), or is he only toying with her? When he bends over her, hissing insults, you come to one conclusion; when he dives headfirst into her lap, you guess another. No wonder she goes mad (in a scene Corwin delivers with shivery persuasiveness).

Lithe and self-assured, Butz makes a prince in the romantic tradition, a heartbreaker whose heart is broken from the very first scene. The rest of the cast — which includes Whit Reichert as the First Gravedigger, Jason Cannon as Hamlet's friend Horatio and Anderson Matthews as Ophelia's father, Polonius — performs in the same adroit spirit.

Despite many cuts, it's a long play. Most of the changes are smooth, though it's not clear why Longworth moved Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy closer to the opening of the play. It's not exactly wrong, just disconcerting. (Didn't he think we'd wait for it? We would.) The designers' work — gorgeous costumes by Dorothy Marshall Englis, dreamy lighting by John Wylie and a castle set by Jim Burwinkel that seems to be saying "hello" to its big sister across Skinker Boulevard, Washington University — captures Longworth's romantic vision.

Can we believe it? Not literally. But at heart, it's another story, a beautiful one that we've known forever. This production makes it ours once more.

St. Louis Eats & Drinks With Joe & Anne Pollack:  Hamlet

The calendar wants us to wait a few weeks, but we had our own Magical Midsummer Night in Forest Park last night. A glorious full moon, ideal temperatures for sitting in the Shakespeare Glen on Art Hill, passionate performances on the stage and maybe some under the trees and out of sight as well. It was the pluperfect setting for opening night of the 10th Shakespeare Festival  St. Louis and a highly entertaining "Hamlet," produced with all due respect for what is perhaps the world's most famous play.

Bruce Longworth's direction was dead-on, with a little more humor and a little more rage than is often seen. Jim Butz delivered a sensational performance in the title role, and Anderson Matthews' Polonius was perfect. Matthews easily brought out the humor in the pompous posing of Hamlet's would-be father-in-law, and his rich, luscious tones added all the necessary emphasis. And yet, when he summed up everything in his paternal advice column, the one that sums up with, "To thine own self be true. . . .," the pomposity disappeared in favor of the passion of parental love, as strong as that shown by Butz after a visit from his father's ghost. And when you think about it, it's pretty good advice. Butz' rage was visible, and he moved beautifully back and forth between fierce anger and the silliness of the poses he struck and language he used in order to hide his plotting behind a mask of craziness.

It was an evening that should make St. Louisans very proud. Most of the talent, both in front of and behind the (imaginary) curtain, was locally grown, trained or seasoned. Jason Cannon, Whit Reichert, John Rensenhouse, Gary Glasgow, Terry Meddows, Aaron Orion Baker, Butz and Matthews are familiar acting names to St. Louis theater-goers, as are technical talents like Jim Burwinkel (set), Dorothy Marshall Englis (costumes), John Wylie (lights), Robin Weatherall (music), Champe Leary (stage manager) and Longworth. All are deserving of high marks. And as usual, there was a lot of younger talent from prestigious schools and theater companies, like Kimiye Corwin, Justin Blanchard, Matthew Folsom and Deanne Lorette.

For its 10th anniversary production, and the first under new executive Rick Dildine, the theater went all out, and succeeded on every level. Inglis' costume for Ophelia (Corwin) was gorgeous, as were the white ones for the Players. Burwinkel's set of the castle at Elsinore was simple, yet had room for a variety of entrances and exits that seemed natural. At the same time, while the Gravediggers (Reichert and Cale Haupert) made a proper entrance through the grass at stage left, it was only a small tussle before imagination took over and they dug the grave in the middle of the stage so that Reichert could delight with a speech to his shovel before he found "poor Yorick" in the grave. Reichert popped up in drag as one of the Players and generally brought a light-hearted note to the proceedings.

Jason Cannon, as Horatio, was a good and loyal friend, and Rob Krakovski was strong in two roles, as the Player King and the Ghost of Hamlet's father, also named Hamlet, who could therefore be described as the Ghost of Hamlet Past. Corwin's Ophelia had some high spots, as did Lorette as Gertrude, who loved not wisely but too often in a small nation. Rensenhouse, as the villainous Claudius, was a man possessed and pursued by Evil, but as he found himself in deeper trouble as the play went on, his voice became whinier, like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar and not like someone who seduced his sister-in-law and poisoned his brother.

That last sentence shows how a play that features six murders and a suicide, with four different causes of death and lots of sex, violence, revenge, jealousy and all those other family values can be 500 years old and still going strong. Ripped from the headlines, indeed!

An outstanding production.

"Hamlet," by the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival in Shakespeare Glen (just east of the St. Louis Art Museum on Art Hill), through June 20, with performances nightly at 8 except Tuesdays and June 5. Free.  - Joe

Ladue News:  “Hamlet,” Shakespeare Festival St. Louis
by Mark Bretz

Play:  “Hamlet”
Group:  Shakespeare Festival St. Louis
Venue:  Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park
Dates:  Nightly through June 20 except Tuesdays and June 5
Tickets:  Free admission

Story:  While Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is away at school his father dies and his mother, Queen Gertrude, marries his uncle, Claudius, who becomes king.  Hamlet finds the brief period between his father’s death and his mother’s remarriage disquieting and suspicious, and his fears are verified when his father’s ghost reveals that Claudius murdered him.  Hamlet then reveals his quest for revenge to his friend and confidante Horatio.

The troubled prince also is attracted to Ophelia, the daughter of Claudius’ advisor Polonius, but his melancholy nature jeopardizes their relationship.  Even as Hamlet is intent upon uncovering Claudius’ guilt, the king plots to dispatch his nephew with the assistance of Hamlet’s treacherous schoolmates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and the willing involvement of Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, who seeks revenge for deeds against his own family.

Highlights:  At its inception, the folks behind the birth, nurturing and development of Shakespeare Festival St. Louis vowed to produce the Bard’s greatest work, “Hamlet,” for its tenth anniversary season.  Under the leadership of its new executive director, Rick Dildine, and the masterful, carefully calibrated brush strokes of director Bruce Longworth, Shakespeare Festival has mounted a rousing and passionately convincing presentation of Will’s enduring tragedy.

Anchored by a riveting and richly textured performance by Jim Butz in the title role, Longworth’s “Hamlet” provides a theatrical feast for eyes and ears, a cornucopia of haunting dialogue by the principals, raucous comic moments with earthy gravediggers and chilling, supernatural elements in the form of the ghost, accompanied by the ethereal sound design of Ann Slayton that incorporates the brooding, atmospheric music and effects by resident composer Robin Weatherall.

Other Info:  This 10th anniversary presentation is awash in the achievements of a primarily local cast and crew.  St. Louis native Butz’s portrayal of the “melancholy Dane” is crisp, clear and cogent, capturing Hamlet’s sharp intellect as well as his troubled psyche and runaway emotions.  The character’s famous soliloquy on existence, “To be or not to be,” in Butz’s interpretation clearly establishes the choices and subsequent results that Hamlet deduces from any future actions.

The top-notch supporting cast features a wealth of high-caliber performances, marred on opening night only by the bizarre second-act cadence of John Rensenhouse as Claudius.  For whatever reason, his presentation of the king’s machinations seemed off-kilter in delivery and failed to match his firm grasp of the character’s complexities in the first act.

Anderson Matthews offers a delightful interpretation of the pompous, opportunistic Polonius, while Jason Cannon’s convincing Horatio is valiant, true and dedicated in his friendship to Hamlet.  Whit Reichert’s First Gravedigger is a model of comic efficiency and his Marcellus epitomizes loyalty.  Mark Kelley is both a dapper and deadly Rosencrantz and teams seamlessly with Matthew Folsom as the scheming Guildenstern to demonstrate the duo’s duplicity.

Deanne Lorette and Kimiye Corwin are marvelous as the troubled Queen Gertrude and the confused Ophelia, respectively, while Rob Krakovski is imposing as the Ghost and ingratiating as the Player King, who leads his entourage in Hamlet’s famous “Mouse Trap” skit designed to get a rise out of Claudius.  Others providing dependable portrayals include Justin Blanchard as the fiery Laertes, Aaron Orion Baker, Cale Haupert, Terry Meddows, Cameron Jamarr Davis, Lindsey Warren, Gary Glasgow and Aaron Sitrick.

Paul Dennhardt’s expert fight and movement direction gives the sword scenes a sense of gritty reality.  John Wylie’s precise lighting draws attention both to moments of individual clarity as well as the grander scenes that play out on Jim Burwinkel’s imposing set that epitomizes the impressive scope of Elsinore Castle.  Costumes by Dorothy Marshall Englis evoke the Elizabethan era of the setting.

If you like, check out the mini-version of “Hamlet” titled “Trippingly Hamlet” prior to the 8 p.m. performance.  Adapted by Michael Perkins, Robin Weatherall and education director Christopher Limber, this brisk exercise in Shakespearean theatricality is smoothly directed by Robert A. Mitchell and designed to whet the appetite of patrons, as well as area students as part of the Shakespeare Festival Education Tour.  Perkins and fellow artists Khnemu Menu-Ra, Daniel John Kelly, Elana Kepner and Megan Cone, with the contributions of tour manager Anna Blair, act out the Bard’s ultimate tragedy in a tidy 20 minutes or so with exuberant flair and exhaustive energy.

Additionally, the Festival’s traditional Green Show, featuring “Juggling” Jeff Koziatek and Josh Routh, the “Sword-Swallowing Clown,” plays nightly beginning at 6:30 p.m.

All in all, the 2010 Shakespeare Festival St. Louis presentation is a sumptuous smorgasbord of tasty theatrical treats, and it’s all absolutely free.

Rating:  A 4.5 on a scale of 1-to-5.

Broadway World: Shakespeare Festival St. Louis Presents Exceptional Production of HAMLET

by Chris Gibson -When the weather cooperates as sweetly it did on opening night (May 28, 2010), there's nothing that can compare to the experience of sitting under the stars in Forest Park and watching an ensemble of top notch performers and technicians take on the task of staging one of William Shakespeare's classic works. Shakespeare Festival St. Louis is presenting Hamlet this time around, and it's a splendid production that will provide attendees with the opportunity to catch a performance of what may well be the most famous play in history. It's certainly Shakespeare's finest hour, and you're certain to encounter a veritable plethora of familiar phrases that have become part of our own creative language as you listen to his sparkling dialogue.

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is filled with a brooding mix of anger and despair since his father was murdered, and the throne, and his mother, usurped by his Uncle Claudius. He has his own ideas about the nature of his father's death, and a meeting with his father's ghost confirms his suspicions, setting him on a ruthless and cunning course of vengeance. He utilizes a traveling troupe to perform a piece for the King and Queen that mimics the circumstances surrounding his father's murder in order to provoke a guilt-ridden response from Claudius, and his relative outrage provides sufficient enough proof for Hamlet to decide to continue with his plans to kill him. But, there are further bloody twists ahead, and by the end, there will be few left standing in the wake of the events that transpire.

As the center of attention, Jim Butz gives an excellent performance as Hamlet, and carries the show forward with his enthusiastic portrayal. There is a madness in his method to be sure, but he brings an intensity and focused energy to the role that keeps him resolute in his determination to see justice served, no matter what the cost may be. His Hamlet isn't still and withdrawn, but emboldened with a vibrancy and sense of purpose that just makes his ultimate fate seem all the more tragic.

Considerable support is provided by a talented cast that includes: John Rensenhouse as the despicable Claudius; Kimiye Corwin as the confused and heartbroken Ophelia; Jason Cannon as Hamlet's friend and sympathizer, Horatio; Deanne Lorette as his duplicitous mother, Gertrude; Anderson Matthews as the sneaky Polonius; Rob Krakovski as the creepy, ghostly visage of the dead King; and Aaron Orion Baker as the very fortunate Fortinbras.

Bruce Longworth directs with a sure hand, skillfully guiding the actors through the familiar machinations of Shakespeare's plot, while keeping the action engaging and lively. He's aided by Jim Burwinkel's functional multi-level set, as well as John Wylie's moody and atmospheric lighting, and Robin Weatherall's original compositions and sound effects. Dorothy Marshall Englis contributes period perfect costumes, and Paul Dennhardt's neatly choreographs the swordplay.

Shakespeare Festival St.Louis has put together an exceptional production of Hamlet (running through June 20, 2010), that's definitely worthy of your attention.

KDHX: Hamlet

Reviewed by Andrea Braun - I have an idea for growing St. Louis theatre audience. Present all plays outside. St. Louis loves to go to outdoor events, be they ballgames, The Muny, neighborhood and street festivals, parades, picnics and backyard barbeques, no matter how hot, wet or chilly it may be, if you build it, in the open air, they will come. Shakespeare Festival St. Louis has done just that, and they are coming. In droves. It is beautiful to see small children and great-grandparents alike sharing a 410 year old play, and Hamlet at that, the greatest yet arguably densest of the tragedies.

And what a show the crowd got! Years ago, at an outdoor event, a cheer was directed at a relief pitcher named Bruce Sutter. Cries of "Bruuuuce! Bruuuce!" echoed through the old Busch stadium when he sauntered to the mound. That chant would have been entirely appropriate ringing through Shakespeare Glen last night, only the "Bruuuuce" here would be Bruce Longworth, who has made this masterwork his masterpiece. It's nearly seamless in execution.

Now that I've said all that, I think the opening is a bit weak. Jason Cannon as Horatio sounds awkward at first, and Whit Reichert's Marcellus (one of his several characters) seems to have wandered onto the battlement from Yiddish Theatre. But Cale Haupert (Bernardo) and Aaron Orion Baker (Francisco) enter ready to play. People laughed at the ghost of Hamlet's father (Rob Krakovski) at first, but everybody settled down quickly, the actors dug in, and we were swept off to Elsinore, crying babies and groups chatting all around falling away in the magic of the night. The Ghost tells his son a terrible tale of murder by poison being poured in his ear by his jealous brother Claudius (John Rensenhouse) who coveted his throne and his wife, both of which he gained. The method and means of Hamlet Senior's death create a powerful symbol.

Jim Butz is from a large, talented St. Louis family, and I believe he's the one they bred to play Hamlet. Regular local theatergoers know Butz had to drop out of a 2008 production because of vocal problems, but that might not be such a bad thing in retrospect. There aren't a lot of actors like Junius Brutus Booth who travel about the country playing Hamlet in the provinces for years on end anymore. Most actors who take on Hamlet now do it as a kind of rite of passage marking having reached the major leagues, then they move on. Butz should be the exception here; his articulate, athletic yet indecisive, and of course, melancholy Dane should be seen by as many people as possible. He simply owns the role.

Butz is nearly matched by the reliable Anderson Matthews. His Polonius is the classic old ditherer, here wearing Merlin's beard and delivering his pronouncements with comic gravity. When he is telling his son, Laertes (Justin Blanchard) about how to navigate the outside world, he is wise. When he tells his daughter, Ophelia (Kimiye Corwin) to play hard to get with Hamlet, he's wrong. But whatever he's saying, I hang on every word. Matthews is an amazingly versatile actor, and I always look forward to his performances. He's a past master at his craft, and a scene stealer too.

King Claudius and Deanne Lorette as his smitten new wife, Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, are a well-matched power couple. They are more overtly sexual with each other than I've seen in other versions. Their little bits of "slap and tickle" are effective. I was happy to see that Longworth didn't trot out Oedipus in Hamlet's bedroom scene with his mum. They are very much mother and son, and he controls the scene with just enough feigned madness to scare her, but not enough that the audience isn't in on the fact that he is entirely aware of what he is doing, just as he is when he rejects his fiancée, Ophelia. He is angry, certainly, but not insane.

And yet, Butz's performance does create a lack of certitude about Hamlet's stability. It's just under the surface, but it is there. Hamlet is genuinely sorry that he killed "the good old man" when he thought the King was lurking behind the tapestry, yet some of his lines are delivered in a rather flip manner. Gertrude here, as she often does, strikes me as dense. How can she not know what's going on? This observation is not a reflection on Lorette's performance, but on the character.

The guilt-ridden Claudius is played large by Rensenhouse. He is most effective in the scene where he tries to pray and Hamlet decides not to kill him because his soul would be shriven at the time of death and would go straight to Heaven while the murdered King still walks the earth waiting for revenge that his indecisive son seems unable to extract. The play-within-a-play where the traveling troupe has been advised by Hamlet (who also gives acting tips) to add some lines to make the plot fit his uncle's crime is fine, and Krakovski as the Player King (a traditional and dramatically effective double with the ghost) has an excellent turn in "The Mousetrap." Claudius can't even sit through to the end, as he flees the gallery to the bewilderment of his Queen.

By the inevitable end, all the actors are playing at the top of his/her game. As the death of Polonius sets the fatal events in motion and Ophelia's mad grief over her father and Hamlet's mistreatment leads to her drowning, the play has become mesmerizing. A glass of red wine spilled on Ophelia's nightdress presages the bloodshed to come.

The tragi-comical graveside scene with the 1st Gravedigger (Reichert—much more comfortable with this part) and remains of "poor Yorick" set us up for what is to happen in what will be Opelia's final resting place (as a few other skulls and bones are shuffled about). Cannon has found his groove too, but except for getting to say "Goodnight, sweet prince," etc., Horatio is onstage a lot, yet it is kind of a thankless part. Further able support is added by Terry Meddows, especially in his role as a disapproving priest; Cameron Jamarr Davis, Lindsey Warren, Aaron Sitrick, and festival regular Gary Glasgow as the foolish courtier, Osric.

It always looks silly to me when Laertes leaps into his sister's grave and pops up with her lifeless body in his arms, but at least Hamlet doesn't do it too. Duels are arranged and rigged, the Queen dies, the King is murdered by Hamlet at last, and the erstwhile friends reconcile as they both die from the effects of a poison-tipped sword provided by Claudius to Laertes. By the time Fortinbras (Baker) arrives to close the play and restore order in Denmark, we are spent, but happily so.

This is a fine adaptation of the script, still quite long—a tad over three hours, but it goes by reasonably quickly. The set is a solid-appearing castle with one crumbling decorative arch, symbolizing the fall of the House of Denmark. Little furniture is used and then just when it's absolutely necessary for someone to sit. The castle stairs are also used for seating. Even Gertrude's chamber is marked only by a bench. Elsinore is an impressive structure, but the lighting is what makes it all work. The play begins before sunset in the Park, but as darkness gradually falls, the lights reflect various illusions depending on mood and action. It's beautiful. In a another nod toward simplicity, the characters don't have many wardrobe changes, but everything they wear is appropriate to the period (refreshingly, the year 1600) with Hamlet in his customary black. Jim Burkwinkel designed the set; John Wylie, the lights, and Dorothy Marshall Englis, costumes.

Sound design seemed a bit iffy on opening night—occasionally a bit too loud, but overall, Ann Slayton and Robin Weatherall (original music and sound effects) have done well. Stage manager Champe Leary and her assistant Danny Maly play a big part in the successful pacing of this production.

"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so," Hamlet tells the duplicitous Rosenkrantz (Mark Kelley) and Guidenstern (Matthew Folsom) his university friends who have become pawns of the King. I've often thought that line was generally true, but not here. This Hamlet is good, no thought required, and new Executive Director Rick Dildine has much to be proud of with this 10th Anniversary production.

Hamlet is presented by Shakespeare Festival St. Louis in Forest Park through June 20, nightly, except Tuesdays, and Saturday, June 5. Admission is free. You can buy refreshments or pack your own with your lawn chairs and/or blankets. Alcohol is allowed on the premises. For information, visit www.shakespearefestivalstlouis.org.

Riverfront Times:  The Shakespeare Festival scores a bull's eye with Hamlet

By Paul Friswold - It was a beautiful night for a tragedy. Temperature in the mid-60s, squirrels rustling in the branches overhead, a quartet of ducks winging through the grove seemingly just out of reach, a robust crowd of families and couples on blankets, young men with wispy facial hair roaming the hillside in the time-honored pursuit of [women] — Shakespeare would have loved this assembled mass of humanity, varied and lovely and familiar.

Shakespeare most likely would also have greatly enjoyed Bruce Longworth's direction of his blockbuster, Hamlet. This is as uncluttered and straightforward a production as you could want. Set on a multilevel representation of Castle Elsinore (well conceived by Jim Burwinkel) with a cast garbed in Elizabethan-era attire, it is a classicist's ideal of the play with the emphasis firmly on the language and the plot.

Jim Butz's Hamlet is clear-voiced and speaks said language with a remarkable fluency; this is a gift not to be taken lightly, especially if you're not sitting in the first ten rows. Even at the back of Shakespeare Glen where the actor's faces are indistinguishable, Butz conveys Hamlet's moral and intellectual quandary through his musical voice. Rage, despair, uncertainty, a sense of amazement and more come through his delivery — there isn't a bad seat in the house for this performance. But Hamlet is not all well-cultured speech; Butz goes full-berserker on Polonius (Anderson Matthews), dragging the man across the stage as he punches his dagger into his victim's torso again and again, and he worries Ophelia like a terrier with a rat when he confronts her.

As Hamlet's usurping uncle, Claudius, John Rensenhouse counters with a quavering voice that is ingratiating and wheedling. Claudius is compromised morally — he has killed his brother and married his former sister-in-law in order to gain the throne, after all — and Rensenhouse captures this slippery character with his desperately needy tone. His bargains and plots reveal a man who grasps endlessly for more, even when praying.

As with any outdoor performance, there are uncontrollable distractions. As Hamlet contemplates with awe "the undiscovered country" in his ageless "To Be or Not to Be" soliloquy, the band at the nearby Boathouse fires up some R&B — Butz's performance is undeniably better. Hamlet ruthlessly harangues Gertrude (an excellent Deanne Lorette), and the full moon claws its way above the trees almost simultaneously with the appearance of Hamlet Senior's ghost, bathing all in silver and shadow. These are the sorts of happy accidents that enhance a wonderful evening and prove that there are few entertainments finer than three hours of Shakespeare under the stars with your fellow St. Louisans.