Overview
Synopsis
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a story of four interconnecting plots, all leading to the celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus and the Amazon Queen, Hippolyta. We see the fairy King, Oberon, and his wife, Tytania, quarrel; two young men who are put under a love spell for the same woman, who believes them to be tricking her; and a group of travelling performers practicing for their wedding performance. As everything goes wrong in the woods, the audience is left to enjoy the comical outcome of the characters’ plights. Benjamin Britten followed Shakespeare’s play as closely as possible, and Britten’s fusion of text, music, and comedic timing has made A Midsummer Night’s Dream a staple of the operatic repertoire.
Show Information
- Book
- William Shakespeare
- Music
- Benjamin Britten
- Lyrics
- Benjamin Britten , Peter Pears
- Libretto
- Benjamin Britten , Peter Pears
- Category
- Opera
- Age Guidance
- Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)
- Number of Acts
- 3
- First Produced
- 1960
- Genres
- Comedy
- Settings
- Unit/Single Set
- Time & Place
- athens in antiquity, woods outside athens
- Cast Size
- large
- Orchestra Size
- Large
- Dancing
- Some Dance
- Ideal For
- professional opera, colleges, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Adult, Young Adult, Mature Adult, Child, Early Teen Characters, Large Cast
Context
Plot
Characters
| Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Lead |
Male |
Tenor |
|
|
Lead |
Male |
Baritone |
|
|
Lead |
Female |
Mezzo-Soprano |
|
|
Lead |
Female |
Soprano |
|
|
Lead |
Male |
Tenor |
|
|
Lead |
Female |
Soprano |
|
|
Lead |
Male |
Countertenor |
|
|
Lead |
Male |
Bass |
|
|
Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Featured |
Female |
Alto |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Bass |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Bass |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Tenor |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Bass |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Baritone |
|
|
Ensemble |
Female |
Treble/Boy Soprano |
|
|
Ensemble |
Female |
Treble/Boy Soprano |
|
|
Ensemble |
Female |
Treble/Boy Soprano |
|
|
Ensemble |
Female |
Treble/Boy Soprano |
|
|
|
Either Gender |
|
Songs
Act One
- “Over Hill, Over Dale”
- “Oberon Is Passing Fell and Wrath”
- “Well, Go Thy Way”
- “How Now My Love?”
- “Be It on Lion, Bear, or Wolf, or Bull”
- “Welcome Wanderer!”
- “Is All Our Company Here?”
- “Fair Love, You Faint with Wand’ring in the Wood”
- “Through the Forest Have I Gone”
- “Stay, Though Thou Kill Me, Sweet Demetrius”
- “Come, Now a Roundel and a Fairy Song”
- “You Spotted Snakes with Double Tongue”
- “What Thou Seest When Thou Dost Wake”
Act Two
- Introduction: The Wood
- “Are We All Met?”
- “I See Their Knavery”
- “Be Kind and Courteous to This Gentleman”
- “Hail, Mortal, Hail!”
- “I Have a Reas’nable Good Ear in Music”
- “How Now, Mad Spirit?”
- “Flower of This Purple Dye”
- “Puppet? Why So?”
- “This Is Thy Negligence”
- “Up and Down, Up and Down”
- “On the Ground, Sleep Sound”
Act Three
- “My Gentle Robin, See’st Thou This Sweet Sight”
- “Helena! Hermia! Demetrius! Lysander!”
- “When My Cue Comes, Call Me”
- “Have You Sent to Bottom’s House?”
- “Now, Fair Hippolyta”
- “If We Offed, It Is with Our Good Will”
- “Gentles, Perchance You Wonder at This Show”
- “In This Same Interlude It Doth Befall”
- “O Grim-Look’d Night, O Night with Hue So Black”
- “O Wall, Full Often Hast Thou Heard My Moans”
- “You Ladies, You Whose Gentle Hearts Do Fear”
- “This Lanthorn Doth the Horned Moon Present”
- “Sweet Moon, I Thank Thee for Thy Sunny Beams”
- “Asleep, My Love?”
- “Come, Your Bergomask”
- “Now the Hungry Lion Roars”
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Monologues
Scenes
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