User:AndyJones/The Tempest
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Popular culture adaptations
[edit]- The 1956 science-fiction film Forbidden Planet was inspired by the play, especially with regards to the motives (but not names) of several of the characters, but the story replaces Ariel with Robby the Robot and Caliban with a "monster from the id".
- "Full Fathom Five," the title of the first regular episode of the famous police television series Hawaii Five-O, came from a song by Ariel in Act I, Scene 2. In the teaser of the episode, the villain recites an altered version of Ariel's song, beginning with "Full fathom five thy father lies..." except changed to "Full fathom five the widow lies..."
- The 1969 Star Trek episode entitled "Requiem for Methuselah" was also inspired by the play.
- A Midsummer Tempest, by Poul Anderson, taking place in a fantasy alternate history recounts a quest to recover Prospero's books for use in the English civil war.
- This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart takes place on a Greek island, where one character hypothesizes the original inspiration for The Tempest came, and the novel is punctuated by many allusions to the play.
- Animated 1989 film Resan till Melonia (The journey to Melonia) by Per Åhlin with a strong environmental and perhaps marxist theme is loosely based on the play.
- In 1979 British filmmaker Derek Jarman delivered a visually lush screen version of the play which plays upon horror and goth film traditions.
- Also in 1979 animator George Dunning attempted a feature length animated version of The Tempest, but died before he could complete it.
- Paul Mazursky's 1982 film Tempest and was an overt and admitted adaptation of the play with modern setting and characters. The film features John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Raul Julia, Susan Sarandon and Molly Ringwald.
- In 1991, Peter Greenaway directed Prospero's Books, a film adaptation in which Prospero speaks all the lines.
- A stage musical adaptation entitled Return to the Forbidden Planet ran in London in 1990, merging the plot of the film with more Shakespearean characters and dialogue.
- In the early 1980s an Australian surf rock adaptation, Beach Blanket Tempest, was written by Dennis Watkins and Chris Harriott. It has been produced a number of times, mostly in Australia.
- In the early 1980's, Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont introduced a character named Caliban, a deformed but kind-hearted mutant who fell hopelessly in love with the character Kitty Pryde, who had been known as Ariel.
- The 1994 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Emergence", features Lieutenant Commander Data again working on his acting, portraying Prospero on the holodeck. Interestingly Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard in The Next Generation, has performed as Prospero on stage.
- In 1994 Garen Ewing wrote and illustrated a black-and-white comic strip adaptation of the story.
- Also in 1994, Tad Williams published the novel Caliban's Hour in which Caliban tracks a now-grown Miranda to her home in Italy and insists on recounting his own version of events and exacting revenge. Notable for its sympathetic presentation of Caliban and its representation of Ariel as a fallen angel.
- Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comic book series adapted The Tempest slightly in a 1996 epilogue, closing out the lead character's bargain with Shakespeare.
- In the 1998 version of Fantasy Island, Mr. Roarke (Malcolm McDowell), was assisted by a number of residents of the island, including a shape-shifter named Ariel and another named Cal.
- The Collector, by John Fowles, is another novel written with inspiration from The Tempest. The major characters call themselves Caliban and Miranda, due to their relationship of oppression.
- Joss Whedon's movie Serenity (2005) picked up many of the themes, and some of the names, of both Forbidden Planet and The Tempest, especially the exploration of the appropriate scope of control of other people.
- Dan Simmons wrote a pair of novels, Ilium and Olympos, which, among other works of fiction, are heavily based on The Tempest. Prospero, Ariel, Miranda (Moira in the novels), Caliban, Setebos, and Sycorax all play important roles in the novels.
- The Tempest has also been the frame for multiple social commentary plays including Aime Cesaire's Une Tempete and Philip Osment's This Island's Mine.
- The video game Manhunt 2 is said to have many allusions to "The Tempest". The line "What seest thou else/In the dark backward and abysm of time?" can be heard spoken in the first teaser trailer.
- The video game Fahrenheit a.k.a. Indigo Prophecy includes numerous references to "The Tempest"
Theatrical adaptations
[edit]- The Tempest or, The Enchanted Island. By John Dryden and William Davenant. 1670
Done
- The Mock Tempest or the Enchanted Castle. By Thomase Duffet. 1675
- Done
- The Tempest; An Opera. David Garrick. 1756
- The Shipwreck. Anonymous. 1780
- The Virgin Queen. Francis Godolphin Waldron. 1797
- The Enchanted Isle. William and Robert Brough. 1848
- Caliban. Ernest Renan. 1877
- L’Eau de Jouvence. Ernest Renan. 1879
- Une Tempête. Aimé Césaire. 1969
- Tempest. Paul Mazursky. 1982.
- Done
- This Island’s Mine. Philip Osment. 1988
- Return to the Forbidden Planet. Bob Carlton. Mid 1980s. A Rock musical. Originally billed as "Shakespeare's forgotten rock and roll masterpiece".
- The Tempest. 5-Boyer, Timberlea. 2000
- The Tempest.Peter Evans. 2006
The longest Broadway run of the play is Margaret Webster's 1945 production starring Arnold Moss as Prospero and Canada Lee as Caliban. It ran for 100 performances.
Musical adaptations
[edit]- In the year he died (1791), Mozart was considering writing an opera based on the play. [1]. This would have been an interesting parallel to his The Magic Flute, also circa 1791.
- According to Anton Schindler, Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17 was inspired by the play, though the veracity of this claim is in doubt. Nevertheless, the sonata is commonly referred to as The Tempest. [2]
- In 1821 Frederic Reynolds staged an operatic adaptation of The Tempest at Covent Garden, with music by Sir Henry Bishop.
- Tchaikovsky wrote a fantasy overture inspired by The Tempest.
- "Prospero's Speech", the final soliloquy by Prospero in The Tempest, is sung by Loreena McKennitt in her 1994 album, The Mask and Mirror.
- Arthur Sullivan wrote incidental music for a production of the play in 1861. See The Tempest.
- Jean Sibelius, as one of his last compositions, wrote incidental music for a production of the play. Two suites were published.
- Swiss composer Frank Martin wrote an opera based on Schlegel's German translation of the play between 1952 and 1955.
- In Sir Michael Tippett's opera The Knot Garden the characters enact a charade based on The Tempest.
- Paul Chihara wrote the ballet "The Tempest", which was premiered by the San Francisco Ballet in 1980. The ballet is notable for being the first full-length American ballet.
- Michael Nyman's opera-ballet, La Princesse de Milan (1993), also known as the opera Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs is a 70-minute edit of Shakespeare's play, sung with a large orchestra and saxophones. The roles of the play are shared up between a soprano, contralto, and tenor, but any and all sing any and all parts at various times in the opera. When staged as an opera-ballet, the dancers indicate who is speaking, the singers tend to indicate more the mood of delivery. It was released as an album in 1995, featuring Catherine Bott, Hilary Summers, and Ian Bostridge. The singers at the premiere were members of the dance company.
- Thomas Adès's opera, The Tempest, was written for the Royal Opera House in London and premiered in 2004. With a libretto by Meredith Oakes, the density of the original text was reduced to paired couplets. The opera was given its American premiere by the Santa Fe Opera in the summer of 2006 and will be revived by the ROH in 2007.
- Ronaldo Miranda's opera "A Tempestade", with a libretto by the composer himself, in Portuguese language, premiered on September 22, 2006 at the Theatro São Pedro in São Paulo.
- Laurie Anderson's song Blue Lagoon, from the Mister Heartbreak album, quotes Ariel's Act I song "Full fathom five" almost in its entirety in telling the story of a woman shipwrecked on a deserted island.
- Track 2 of The Decemberists' album The Crane Wife "The Island" appears to be a retelling of the story of The Tempest, with references to Sycorax's exile to the island, and the rape of a "Landlord's Daughter." [1]
- The former band October Project recorded a song called "Ariel," which is a song in first person from the point of view of Ariel.
- Celtic Woman group member Méav Ní Mhaolchatha recorded "Full Fathom Five" for one of her solo albums.
- Experimental sludge metal band Harvey Milk recorded the song "Where the Bee Sucks, There Suck I," whose lyrics and title are taken from words spoken by Ariel after he is set free by Prospero.
- Used as an album name for the Insane Clown Posse.
Portrayals
[edit]- John Gielgud called Prospero his favorite role, and played it in stage productions in 1931, 1940, 1957 and 1974 as well as the film Prospero's Books. He said that when he played it on stage, the only thing that he did consistently in all four theatre productions was never to look directly at Ariel.[3]
- When Frank Benson played Caliban, he was famous for hanging upside-down in a tree with a fish in his mouth.[4]
Moved from The Tempest 22 Nov 07
[edit]The title of the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is also taken explicitly from Miranda's dialogue in this play:
- O, wonder!
- How many goodly creatures are there here!
- How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world
- That has such people in't! (V.i.181-4)
The Decemberists' song cycle "The Island: Come and See; The Landlord's Daughter; You'll Not Feel the Drowning" (from their album The Crane Wife) is based on The Tempest.
Moved from The Tempest 3 Dec 07
[edit]The Ilium/Olympos duology by Dan Simmons uses many themes and characters from The Tempest.
Moved from The Tempest 9 Jun 08
[edit]Full Fathom Five is also recited within the song Blue Lagoon by urban spiritual odyssey composer/artist Laurie Anderson, on the 1984 album titled Mister Heartbreak. She recites most of the poem and then replaces the last part with "And I alone am left to tell the tale. Call me Ishmael", blending in the opening of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick".
Moved from The Tempest 21 Nov 08
[edit]In 2006, a new musical version of The Tempest, with book and lyrics using Shakespeare's original words, premiered at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City. The Tempest Musical featured songs by Daniel Neiden and a book adapted from the original play by Ryan Knowles and Daniel Neiden, based on a concept by Thomas Meehan.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ Eisen, Cliff, New Mozart Documents, Stanford, 1991: 65-67 (document no. 106), quoted in Cairns, Mozart and his Operas
- ^ Barry Cooper, gen. ed., The Beethoven Compendium, Ann Arbor, MI: Borders Press, 1991, ISBN 0-681-07558-9.
- ^ John Gielgud, Acting Shakespeare, Charles Scribner's Sons (1991)
- ^ John Gielgud, Acting Shakespeare, Charles Scribner's Sons (1991)