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Shakespeare in American Life

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Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder: Shakespeare and jazz
Duke Ellington conducting during the recording session for Such Sweet Thunder. © Don Hunstein.
Shakespeare and Beyond

Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder: Shakespeare and jazz

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Shakespeare & Beyond

It’s been 60 years since Duke Ellington recorded Such Sweet Thunder, a jazz suite based on Shakespeare’s plays. Eleven songs are linked to Shakespearean characters like Othello and Lady Macbeth, and the final number is a tribute to Shakespeare himself.

What makes Shakespeare musicals 'American'
West Side Story
Shakespeare and Beyond

What makes Shakespeare musicals 'American'

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Shakespeare & Beyond

While Shakespeare musicals borrowed plots, characters, and situations from England’s best-known poet, they remained essentially “American.”

This whimsical Shakespeare atlas takes you around the world to the places in his plays
Shakespeare and Beyond

This whimsical Shakespeare atlas takes you around the world to the places in his plays

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Esther French

This 1934 Shakespeare atlas from the Folger collection contains 19 hand-drawn maps of places (both real and imaginary) from scenes in Shakespeare plays.

Orson Welles and the Voodoo 'Macbeth' that launched his directing career
Shakespeare and Beyond

Orson Welles and the Voodoo 'Macbeth' that launched his directing career

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Esther French

That’s a hot ticket! (Photo Credit: Library of Congress) Can you feel the feverish excitement in the air? This photograph from April 14, 1936, shows the crowded streets outside the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem on opening night for the Federal Theatre…

Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, and the president's assassination
Abraham Lincoln
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, and the president's assassination

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Esther French

Abraham Lincoln. Copyright 1894 by H.W. Fay. Folger Shakespeare Library. Growing up on the frontier, Abraham Lincoln had few books to read in his early days—but among them were the works of Shakespeare, which Lincoln cherished throughout his life. The…