Stepping Out

'Richard II' headlines Hofstra's annual Shakespeare Festival

The story of power and plotting opens this weekend

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On Stage

Shakespeare Festival
The arrival of Hofstra’s annual Shakespeare Festival is a hopeful sign that we can soon look forward to spring. This year’s event features the rarely performed “Richard II,” a story of personal and political transformation, told through the fall of Richard II and the rise of his cousin, Henry of Bullingbrooke, better known as Henry IV. The play focuses on the last years of Richard’s reign — the exile of his cousin, Bullingbrooke’s return and Richard’s subsequent disposition. This is only the second time that Richard II has been performed on the Hofstra stage (the first was in 1972). As always, the main Shakespeare Festival play is accompanied the Festival Musicale, “The Earl of Essex, His Last Good-night,” a program of madrigals, lute songs, and instrumental works inspired by the tempestuous relationship between the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, and Queen Elizabeth I. There is also a companion play, “What Fools!,” a one-hour version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” an excellent introduction to to Shakespeare’s works, suitable for young theatergoers.
Thursday. March 5, 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, March 6-7, 8 p.m.; Sunday, March 8, 2 p.m.; also March 12-15. $12, $10 seniors and students. Hofstra University’s John Cranford Adams Playhouse, South Campus, Hempstead. (516) 463-6644.

Family Fun

The ‘Little Engine’ Chugs Along
The beloved classic, “The Little Engine That Could Earns Her Whistle,” comes to life on stage in a new musical adaptation. ArtsPower National Touring Theatre’s dynamic cast delivers a song-filled adventure for children of all ages. Little Blue Engine dreams of someday leaving the train yard to pull the big cars on the main line track. But can she convince Big Silver that she is worthy of being a main line engine? The upbeat musical is a charming portrayal if author Watty Piper’s timeless tale about hard work, determination, and the meaning of friendship.
Sunday, March 8, 3 p.m. $25, $15 children. Madison Theatre, Molloy College, 1000 Hempstead Ave., Rockville Centre. (516) 323-4444 or www.madisontheatreny.org.