All the World’s a Stage
By Kylee Miller
All the World’s a Stage… A Shakespearean Jukebox Musical was written by Toby Knutson and directed by Mitchel Groote. Seniors Groote and Knutson put on the musical for the public October 9 through 11 at 7 p.m. at the University of Sioux Falls. The musical was part of their theater degree. Knutson wrote the script for the musical and Groote directed and wrote the music. This tag team has put in countless hours casting the roles, running rehearsals, and finally putting on a show during the fall semester. The show took place in the Jones Black Box Theater and it was open not only for the university students but also for the public.
The inspiration for this show came about when Knutson was chatting it up with a few of his friends after a Shakespeare class with University of Sioux Falls English Professor Dr. Kevin Cole. They were discussing what song Hamlet and Ophelia would sing if they did musical theater. From there he took that idea and ran with it. He started writing toward the end of his sophomore year and finally finished it the summer before his senior year.
Knutson said, ”I just wanted it to be a fun show, not a thought-provoking show, just one where people could watch it and have some fun and to forget about the worries of their life and get lost in the world of theater for a little under an hour.”
He tied the crowd in by picking relatable songs the crowd would recognize and get excited about. He did parodies for each of the songs and with help from his co-writer Groote they rewrote the songs with their own lyrics. He also added an in-person band at the live performance instead of an audio track.
The songs included “Gosh, I Hate Shakespeare” based on the original song “God, I Hate Shakespeare”, “Dead Dad” based on the song “Dead Mom”, “Shakespeare Tango” based on “Cell Block Tango” and many more. Knutson worked to make sure each song related well with the characters in the musical by discussing with others and really thinking about what would make the most sense but still relate to his audience.
