Witches, Wizards, Spells and Elves: The Magic of Shakespeare

Witches, Wizards, Spells and Elves: The Magic of Shakespeare ran ONE WEEKEND at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. Plus a couple of weeks ago and fortunately I was able to take my children.

Taking your children to live theater can be a wonderful experience. My children love to attend live theater and are seasoned at sitting through the performances. The key to taking your children to the theater is choosing age appropriate performances.

Being home schooled  gives my children a bit of an advantage I think. We can take the morning or afternoon off any time I feel like it will fit into our schedule and attend a theater show. Most children's, community, and commercial theaters are conveniently located and easy to obtain tickets. 

Theaters are fascinating places. I always use the performance as a unit study. I always let my children know what it is we are going to see and what it is about. We discuss the sets that we saw, the lighting and we review the program for other fascinating information. I always ask the favorite and least favorite part of each performance and what could have been changed.

I've been taking my children to live theater literally since they were toddlers. But, whatever age you start taking your children to the theater, remember to build them up as you go. If you start with shows they like, chances are good you're growing up a theater fan. In our family, we found a great place to start was taking young kids to local shows. We are fortunate to live in an area where there is always a play somewhere around us.

I passionately believe in introducing children to art. I love musical theater, and I’m glad that my children love it as well. Frequent visits to the theatre may bring out the budding thespians in your little ones. 

Witches, Wizards, Spells and Elves: The Magic of Shakespeare at Chicago Shakespeare Theater by Bruce Adolphe.

This hour-long musical journey through Shakespeare's most magical stories, featuring The Chicago Chamber Musicians and CST actors, gives children the opportunity to discover, up close, the excitement of a live performance.  Young and old will delight in this interactive combination of theater and classical music.

In Witches, Wizards, Spells and Elves: The Magic of Shakespeare, children are given the opportunity to witness actors and musicians creating theatrical magic as they perform excerpts from the texts of Shakespeare’s most magical plays. A trumpet, horn and trombone transform into Macbeth’s three witches; The Tempest’s wizard Prospero turns into a cello; and A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s four fantastical fairies become a flute, an oboe, a bassoon and a marimba, to name just a few of the musical characters created for young audiences. This piece is an excellent way for children to experience Shakespeare’s magic and to come to recognize different musical sounds.

Our Thoughts: This was a great one-hour show. Perfect for the little ones. My girls each play the violin so they loved watched the string instruments. They impressed their violin teacher with naming the Double Bass! Witches, Wizards, Spells and Elves: The Magic of Shakespeare was a great introduction to Shakespeare. The stories, characters and props were excellent but more importantly, it showed us once again how enjoyable it is for the entire family to attend live theater. We were all captivated by the performances of the actors delivering their pieces followed by the music performances. The actor would deliver his piece after an introduction from the narrator and then the music would follow. My children were treated to wonderful Shakespearian performances. The favorite of the children was Puck ( Steve Haggard, A Midsummer’s Night Dream) and I especially enjoyed how realistic the witches looked (Penelope Walker, Charin Alvarez, and Susan Shunk, Macbeth).