MUSE: The Shakespeare Mayhem Musical – Underbelly ★★★

Writers are often accused of playing God. They create people, assign them destinies and, in Shakespeare’s case, have a worrying habit of killing them. MUSE: The Shakespeare Mayhem Musical asks an intriguing question: what if those characters finally demanded an explanation? It’s a fitting premise for a show that began life as a student-created project at Interlochen Arts Academy. Young artists, finding themselves without the opportunities they wanted, decided to create their own. That rebellious spirit remains embedded in the musical’s DNA. Much like the characters it depicts, MUSE is determined to make itself heard. Before he becomes the Bard, Nate Janis’s Will Shakespeare faces an impossible choice. Only one play can be published, and suddenly Lear, Cleopatra, the Macbeths, Juliet and a host of other creations emerge to argue why their story deserves immortality. It is a premise rich with possibility, allowing the show to explore the relationship between artist and creation while…