Henry Freytag ’24
The St. Andrew’s Players performed Ken Ludwig’s theater adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel. The tale follows main character D’Artagnan as he travels to Paris and attempts to become a musketeer in the King’s regiment. Along the way he meets and befriends Athos, Aramis, and Porthos, three skilled musketeers. Ludwig’s main change was adding the character of Sabine, D’Atragnan’s sister, who is looking to continue her schooling at a covenant in Paris. Faced with conflict between the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, Chief Minister of France, and Louis XIV, King of France, the five aforementioned characters somehow manage to avert disaster.
I personally attended the opening performance of the show, which was delightful. The performers delivered their lines with confidence, they fought nimbly, and they grieved genuinely. I specifically wanted to highlight the senior players, who took their last performance as a challenge, and made it their best. After completing opening night’s performance, Gabe said that his favorite part of the show was “the sword fighting” and that “there were a few hiccups, but we got through it in the end”. Lara Alarapon delivered an impressive performance as Rochefort, the leader of the Cardinal’s guard who boasts of battlefield prowess, while simultaneously allowing others to do the “dirty work”. Anwen Kelleher chilled the audience as Milady, the sly and effective assassin with a heartbreaking past. Lia Walton gives Treville, commander of the King’s Musketeers, his signature authority. Cecilia Deeney-Locraft played her most prominent role as the Queen of France, adeptly portraying the plight of a woman keeping a dangerous secret from the King. Gabriel Martinez played D’Artagnan himself, and was very witty and bashful as befitting an oblivious, innocent young recruit trying to prove himself to the King. Leah Facciobene took well to leading the three Musketeers as Athos, brushing off battlefield wounds and dragging injured comrades from the field. I caught Leah for a quick interview after the last show on Sunday where she said, “It was an amazing production to be a part of, the cast and crew were wonderful to work with, and everyone worked really hard to make it possible.”
As I am less adept than the most amateur of theater critics, you must forgive me for missing the finer points of the tech crew and everyone backstage. However, I specifically noticed the professional level makeup and costumes of the players, (personally I thought D’Artagnan’s hat was quite stylish). The mics and sound quality seemed close to perfect from my seat in the audience. My favorite scene was when D’Atragnan met Constance behind the Luxemburg, where the lighting was elegantly cast with hues of blue and pink that made the nighttime romance come alive. Junior Ian Sabin, who was a stage hand and one of the Cardinal’s guards, says he was “absolutely stoked” about how opening night had gone. I also had the opportunity to talk to Melissa Nugent, Stage Manager for the production, who had this to say,
Overall the play was very professional and the cast and crew have outdone themselves this year.