All the world is a mall in the new musical at Gallery Players in Park Slope.
“Like You Like It,” which opens on Oct. 18, transforms Shakespeare’s classic into a musical comedy set in 1985 in Arden Mall.
But this is not just any Shakespeare adaptation. Windsor Terrace composer Dan Acquisto created his score by re-immersing himself in 1980s-era pop.
“I wanted the music to sound familiar, but be fresh at the same time,” Acquisto explained. “What was exciting for me was not that we were doing Shakespeare, but that I got to write ’80s pop music.”
And what was ’80s pop music if not a decade-long soap opera? As such, the love story of Rosalind and Orlando actually feels like a good fit to the gossipy mall culture of the “Greed is Good” decade.
“It’s not that we’re trying to be a referential ’80s musical where every joke is an ’80s throwback — it’s a play that takes place in the ’80s,” said Acquisto, an expert on such melodramas. “I went to high school then.”
— Sarah Portlock
“Like You Like It” runs Oct. 18–Nov. 9 at The Gallery Players (199 14th St., between Fourth and Fifth Avenues in Park Slope). Tickets, $18. Visit www.likeyoulikeit.com or call (212) 352-3101 for info.
