Old Globe artistic chief Barry Edelstein helming a marriage of classical music and theater with L.A. Phil’s ‘Tempest’

A scene from the gala opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 100th season in September.

Nov. 7, 2018 5:30 PM PT

Just a few months ago, San Diego’s Old Globe staged an outdoor production of “The Tempest” as the opener to its annual Shakespeare Festival.

Now, the Balboa Park theater has a hand in a much different, even larger-scale “Tempest” that’s about to blow into town.

Not our town, though — Los Angeles.

On Thursday, the L.A. Philharmonic opens a three-day run of the Bard’s great, fantasy-laced work at the Disney Concert Hall, as staged by Barry Edelstein, the Globe’s Erna Finci Viterbi artistic director.

The production is conducted by Susanna Mälkki, the L.A. Phil’s principal guest conductor.

Why is a symphony orchestra doing a Shakespeare play? Because among the artistic responses to “The Tempest” over the centuries has been Jean Sibelius’ extensive incidental music to the play, which the Finnish composer wrote in 1925.

While a later, more condensed two-suite version of that music has often been performed by orchestras over the years, the L.A. Phil is going back to Sibelius’ original, infrequently performed work — and staging a full production of “The Tempest” along with it.

The occasion for the partnership with the Globe is the orchestra’s ongoing celebration of its 100th season, for which it has put together numerous collaborations.

And it’s doing this one in grand style. The cast includes two Tony Award nominees: Beth Malone (who’s playing the sprite Ariel), best-known for her turn in Broadway’s “Fun Home,” and Tom McGowan (Caliban), nominated for “La Bête.”

The Israeli stage and screen actor Lior Ashkenazi takes on the lead role of the banished sorcerer Prospero, a role that was played by Kate Burton at the Globe (under the gender-shifted character name Prospera). Audrey Corsa plays Prospero’s young daughter, Miranda.

The cast also includes Grantham Coleman (Ferdinand), who took on the lead role in “Hamlet” at the Globe in 2016; and the versatile San Diego-based actor Mark Pinter (Gonzalo), who’s had numerous memorable turns around town.

They’re joined by the actor-screenwriter Michael Genet as Alonso; the screen and stage actor Ruy Iskandar as Sebastian; the mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong, who shares the role of Ariel with Malone; the Broadway veteran Peter MacNicol (also of TV’s “Ally McBeal” fame), who shares the role of Stephano with the baritone Jarett Ott; the baritone Timothy Mix, who shares the role of Caliban with McGowan; and the film and TV star Cornell Womack as Antonio.

As Edelstein explained last month when the production was in rehearsals, the Globe partnership with the L.A. Phil came about after the orchestra’s executive director saw a performance of the 2016 “Hamlet” that starred Coleman here.

“Then I got a call saying, ‘Hey, it’s our 100th anniversary, and we’re doing all these crazy projects. One of the things we’re doing is this Shakespeare series, and the next one we’re going to do is ‘The Tempest.’ Would you like to do it?’”

He would. Edelstein subsequently spent a year preparing to direct the piece.

It’s important to note that this is not a symphony performance with a bit of Shakespeare tagged on.

“We’re doing a full production of ‘The Tempest’ — the whole play,” said Edelstein, a nationally renowned Shakespeare director and scholar.

“The difference is that normally when I do a production of Shakespeare with live music, it’s a composer I’ve commissioned, and it’s maybe two or three musicians.

“Here, it’s an existing score from 1925 – and 120 musicians!” (To be more specific: There are 80 musicians in the orchestra plus a choir of 40, along with the actors and opera singers in the cast.)

“So it’s a little different in scale. Not to mention that it’s being performed in a concert hall rather than a theater. But in a funny way in rehearsal, I feel a lot like I’m in (a normal) rehearsal – doing a Shakespeare play, which I know how to do.

“The wild card is the collaboration with the conductor and the orchestra. And so far it’s been a hugely wonderful, educational experience for me.”