Shake and Bake: Love's Labour's Lost to Pair Shakespeare With Eight-Course Menu

Shake and Bake: Love's Labour's Lost, a new production of Shakespeare's comedy that serves an eight-course tasting menu to an audience of 50 every night as the play unfolds, will open in New York this fall at a newly created space in the Meatpacking District. The show will begin previews at a custom-built performance space on 94 Gansevoort Street on October 2, with opening night set for October 13. Dan Swern will direct the production, with movement by Victoria Rae Sook and a menu created by executive chef David Goldman.

The cast for this production will include Oge Agulué (The Book of Mormon national tour) as Longaville, Mary Glen Fredrick (Bondage) as Rosaline, Matthew Goodrich (Picnic) as Berowne, Rami Margron (Angry Young Man) as Maria and Costard, Charles Osborne (Spamilton) as Don Adriano de Armado and Boyet, Darren Ritchie (Wonderland) as King Ferdinand of Navarre, Victoria Rae Sook as Princess of France, Alex Spieth (Blank My Life) and Alan Trinca (Friends! The Musical Parody) as understudies, and Joe Ventricelli (Sleep No More) as Chef.

The show is described as follows: "In Love's Labour's Lost, the ailing King of France owes the King of Navarre money. Unable to make the trip himself, France entrusts his daughter to go negotiate the settlement. But just before she and her ladies (Rosaline and Maria) arrive, Navarre and his men (Berowne and Longaville) make a pact to swear off women, eat only six meals a week, and sleep only three hours a night so that they can spend the rest of their time devoted to study. By the time the women arrive the men are exhausted, hungry, and lonely. Nonetheless, Navarre sticks to the plan and tells the women that they may not enter the gates and must instead camp outside in the field. The women, having none of it, hatch a plan to outsmart the men."