Unsung Heroes: A Musical Romp Through Shakespeare

Synopsis: Sound recording of stage musical. A musical comedy by Paula Rosen featuring eleven original songs derived from three Shakespearean plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, and Macbeth. The musical is propelled and narrated by three "previously overlooked characters" from the three plays; the Love-in-Idleness flower, Gloucester’s Eyeball, and the Damn’d Spot. The three characters provide easily understood synopses for the plays so making accessible Shakespeare’s plots for elementary and high school age children studying Shakespeare’s plays.

The song exploring the relationship between Lady Macbeth and her husband summarises the situation thus as Lady Macbeth sings, "If my hands are getting grubby I do it all for hubby".

The musical score of the production reveals key characterisations, plot devices, and themes. Additionally, it embeds further knowledge about background information related to the plays and furthers debate on how the characters feel about their portrayal, conflicts, and roles within their respective plays’.

Choral arrangements by Iwan Edwards who also conducts. Piano arrangements by Margaret Wada.
Language: English
Country: Canada
Medium: Audio
Year of release: 2005

Notes: Audio clips at: http://www.uoguelph.ca/shakespeare/multimedia/audio/a_paula_rosen.cfm (accessed 10/2011)
History: `Unsung Heroes’ was first performed in its entirety as a musical on April 15-16, 2005 by Le Choeur des Enfants de Montreal at St. George’s Anglican Church in Montreal. Many of the songs were first performed at a local school in Montreal as musical accompaniment to Ann Lambert’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays

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