Medea Re-Versed

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Red Bull Theater is celebrating its 20^th anniversary season with the propulsive “Hip Hopera,” Medea Re-Versed by Luis Quintero. This new and exciting rap version of the Euripides tragedy is a co-production with Bedlam and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, all of whom are dedicated to adventurous reinventions of classic plays. This may be a first for Red Bull which usually stages original texts in adventurous productions, rather than new adaptations by modern authors. Co-conceived and directed by Nathan Winkelstein, associate artistic director of Red Bull and producing director of its Revelation Reading Series, Medea Re-versed is riveting theater even for those who know how the story will turn out.

However, Quintero who obviously knows his Greek plays and Greek mythology is extremely faithful to the original myth and to Euripides’ play. What he has added is a contemporary vernacular all in rhyme, music played by two guitars and a beatbox, and the odes of the chorus presented as song. This gives the 2,500 year old story a modern sensibility, often lacking in productions of Greek tragedy. Although Quintero has had a career as an actor, particular at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival the last five summers, what is most remarkable is that this is his first work for the theater, both as playwright and composer. Medea Re-Versed looks and sounds like the work of an experienced dramatist of many years standing.

The New York production is performed by the Hudson Shakespeare Festival cast of four actors and three musicians who join in the singing. Quintero has cast himself in the dual role of the Emcee and Chorus Leader, speaking directly to the audience. He begins by telling us the backstory of how Jason and the Argonauts came to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece which was owned by Medea’s father King Aeetes. Falling in love with Jason on sight, Medea, both a princess and a sorceress, aided him in his quest as well as killing her brother in order to help in their getting away so they would not be followed. Eventually they ended up in Corinth, where Creon is king. They have married and have two children.

Here in Corinth where we meet them, the ambitious and unfaithful Jason falls in love with the king’s daughter and leaves Medea so he and Creon’s daughter can be married. Medea loudly criticizing Jason and Creon is finally exiled by Creon who has no idea of her need for revenge. Medea then plots to get her revenge on Jason, Creon and his daughter in retribution like no other. It is not so much Jason’s ambition that gnaws at Medea but his ingratitude that she has given up homeland and father and murdered her brother all for him. The modern message of the play seems to be Beware of taking women for granted. There is a feeling of the #Me Too generation, not often part of productions of this play.

Regal in bearing, Sarin Monae West as Medea is impassioned and hot-blooded, setting the stage ablaze with all her appearances. As Jason, Stephen Michael Spencer is petulant, arrogant, egotistical and self-important, making us see him as Medea sees him. Jacob Ming-Trent plays three characters of authority, Creon of Corinth, Ageus of Athens, and the Messenger. Ironically he is most mesmerizing as the Messenger relating the incredible deaths of both Creon and his daughter brought about by Medea’s magic. Aside from his riveting delivery, this is partly due to sound designer Matt Otto keeping the theater entirely silent so that you could hear a pin drop. A good many of Quintero’s clever rhymes are lost either to the miking of the music which simply drowns them out or the speed at which the lines are delivered.

Quintero is both an amiable and charming emcee as well as a fine leader of the chorus. The music when needed is performed by Siena D’Addario on guitar, Melissa Mahoney on bass and Mark Martin on Beatbox, all of whom join in the odes as the Chorus. The use of a thrust stage by scenic designer Emmie Finckel gives the production both a Greek and contemporary feel. The three large gold and black M’s on the back wall behind the musicians add a touch of royalty to the event. Nicole Wee’s costumes combine ancient Greek robes and tunics as well as contemporary garb. The lighting by Cha See changes for each sequence in various colors and always focuses our attention on the speakers. Tiffany Rachelle Stewart is credited as movement director which adds to the ritual aspect of the play.

While Luis Quintero’s Medea Re-Versed is in contemporary parlance, it never forgets its source material referencing Dionysus, Zeus, Nike, Pandora and Helios, but always identifying these characters from Greek mythology for those unfamiliar with them.  The hip hop rhymes are both witty and surprising, requiring full attention and obtaining it. Nathan Winkelstein’s production and the lead performance by Sarin Monae West in the title role are spellbinding, causing the audience to never look away from the stage for fear of missing something. This is a terrific way to acquaint modern audiences with Greek tragedy, giving them the best of both modern and ancient theater.

Medea Re-Versed (extended through October 20, 2024)

Red Bull Theater and Bedlam, in a co-production with Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival

The Sheen Center Frank Shiner Theatre, 18 Bleecker Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.ci.ovationtix.com/2722/production/1210873

Running time: 90 minutes without an intermission