“The greatest love. The greatest betrayal.”
A musical based on Shakespeare’s Othello.
A brilliant classic drama brought to life through music in the sizzling present day and told from the perspective of Shakespeare’s most famous villain—IAGO. You’ll love him.
The only thing that has evolved over the last ten thousand years is technology. Human passions—love, hate, the lust for power, jealousy—remain the same as they were in the Stone Age. And man remains just as defenseless against them. Whether armed with a fist or an automatic rifle with a laser sight.
In the history of world musicals, there has been only one successful attempt to retell Shakespeare’s Hamlet through music. Behind the project Hamlet: The Rock Opera stand Czech composer and lyricist Janek Ledecký and American director and playwright Robert Johanson. Hamlet embarked on its triumphant run in 1999 in Prague and, in addition to the U.S., has been racking up awards in Europe and Asia. The number of its performances is now approaching two thousand. And the number of audience members is nearing one and a half million.
That is also why it didn’t take much effort for Robert Johanson to convince Janek to embark together on a musical adaptation of another Shakespearean drama that has become a symbol of love, destroyed by diabolical intrigues and pathological jealousy at the same time.
William Shakespeare wrote the play Othello, the Moor of Venice for the Globe Theatre in 1603. Since then, Othello has graced the stage in hundreds of productions and thousands of performances around the world. It has also been adapted into six famous film versions. The only successful attempt to interpret Othello through music has so far been Verdi’s classic opera from 1887.
Janek Ledecký and Robert Johanson present an unexpected and highly compelling take on the classic, setting Shakespeare’s drama in the present day. In their version, Othello, a decorated veteran of the Gulf War, has left the U.S. Army. This is because his Arab heritage and faith prevented him from advancing further in the service. Othello thus commands special forces and, together with his new wife Desdemona, his aide Iago, and their closest friends and family, moves from Geneva on a mission to the Citadel fortress in the Middle East. A place where, to this day, infidelity is punished by stoning.
The world premiere of the international creative team’s musical IAGO, directed by Robert Johanson, was presented by the Nová scéna Theater in Bratislava on September 16 and 17, 2016. Jan’s lyrics were adapted into Slovak by Michal Kovalčík.
Iago was first performed in Czech on September 21, 2016, at the Hybernia Theater.
The final performance took place two years later, and the most recent performance to date was held in 2022 at Bratislava’s Nová scéna.
The final performance took place two years later, and the most recent performance to date was held in 2022 at Bratislava’s Nová scéna.
AUTHORS
JANEK LEDECKÝ
music, book, lyrics
ROBERT JOHANSON
book, direction
MICHAL KOVALČÍK
musical direction, arrangement
MARTIN ČERNÝ
set design