Hamlet - Carriage House Players | 6.5.26

Photo Credit: Me!

Carriage House Players is currently producing the widely known William Shakespeare play "Hamlet" from May 23 to June 12, backdropped by the uniquely warm and inviting Vanderbilt Mansion on their Courtyard Stage. This space is beautiful! Seeing theater outdoors is always an exciting experience and with a setting like this, it sets the perfect environment for an enjoyable summer night out.

Off to a great start!

I attended this performance with the intention of just being a supportive friend as Shakespeare has always alluded me – it never mattered how much attention I would pay, I could never understand what was going on. This time around, there was a synopsis in the program and that helped quite a bit. I was able to read what the story was about ahead of time, refer to it as needed, and truly enjoy the show! I'm glad I made it to this one. There were lots of familiar Long Island theater faces, like Scott Hofer as the Ghost/Player King/Gravedigger who gave a chilling performance as the Ghost, silently tormenting Hamlet and providing smiles and laughs as the Player King and Gravedigger. I think any production with Hofer is automatically elevated and I always enjoy seeing him. Equally enjoyable is Emily Nadler in the role of Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. There's a reason why we see Nadler as Long Island theater royalty and this role fit her wonderfully as she moved across the stage with elegance and confidence. The range of emotions she displayed in Act 2 was a roller coaster, executed perfectly.

Christina O'Shea was in the role of Laertes and I was pleased. My experience with her (for what I can remember off the top of my head anyway) has only been in the ensemble of various productions so it was a real treat to see her act. Wow! I was thoroughly impressed. O'Shea gave a strong performance as Laertes and I loved the depth she gave the character. Pamela Shapiro (playing the role of Ophelia) and J. Kelly Caldwell (in the role of Claudius) are two others who were new to me, but I want to see more of. Their ability to emote during such lengthy, wordy monologues was a joy to watch and gave everyone else in their scenes plenty to work with.

With all of that being said – Scott Hofer said it best post show – the night truly belonged to Jae Hughes and their incredible portrayal of Hamlet. Wow, wow, wow. Now listen…I know very little about what it takes to pull a Shakespeare production off, but I was amazed at what I saw and the feedback from company members and the audience was aligned – they were fantastic. I couldn't believe that I felt and understood the emotion behind so many words I didn’t know and that is a true testament to their talent.

Special shout out again to the synopsis! :D

But with all seriousness – to be able to take a behemoth of a role like Hamlet and move so effortlessly through each scene and monologue was fascinating to watch. Congratulations to Director Evan Donnellan and the rest of the cast and crew of “Hamlet” on a fabulous production that even somebody new to Shakespeare like me could enjoy! "Hamlet" is running at Carriage House Players at the Vanderbilt Mansion in Centerport until June 12th and tickets can be purchased at carriagehouseplayers.org.

Cast:

Hamlet - Jae Hughes

Claudius - J. Kelly Caldwell

Gertrude - Emily Nadler

Ophelia - Pamela Shapiro

Polonius - Gene Connor

Horatio - Mary Peterle

LAertes - Christina O’Shea

Rosencrantz - Lindsay Cariello

Guildenstern - Heather Legnosky

Ghost/Player King/Gravedigger - Scott Hofer

Player Queen/Attendant - Amy Connor

Marcellus/Third Player/Priest/Soldier - Tom Ciociari

Barnardo/Captain/Servant/Attendant - Steph Wallack

Francisco/Fourth Player/Messenger - Melina Roussis

Osric/Cornelius - Taylor Fritz

Voltimand/Ambassador/Attendant - Andy Laloudakis

Fortinbras - Nick Torres

Creative Team:

Director - Evan Donnellan

Stage Manager - Indy Johnson

Fight Choreographer - Heather Legnosky

Costumes - Mary Caufield