Live Theater - Special Events
Elizabethan Madrigal Feast
A Queen Size Celebration
Christmas arrives each year with a certain excitement and magic. On even-numbered years, Brazosport Center for the Arts & Sciences’ Elizabethan Madrigal Feast transports guests to the enchanting Yuletide of Renaissance England. As she has for nearly three decades, Queen Elizabeth I will arrive with all the pageantry expected of a royal to the small coastal town of Clute, Texas. The Queen and her Court will make their biennial visit in 2020 as part of an elaborate and courtly feast in our recreation of the Great Hall of Warwick Castle. Join the Earl of Warwick, a rag-tag cast of Shakespearean actors, dancers and singers as we feast on a three-course gourmet meal, immerse ourselves in the spectacle of period costumes and light and, together with friends and family, Welcome Yule!
Originally proposed as a cultural development event in 1988 by event Chairman and designer Cheryl Fowler, the Feast has evolved as a major Fundraiser for the Brazosport Center for the Arts and Sciences.
The production, which is held every other year, is the intricate and exquisite creation of educator, astronomer and theater director Judi James. Along with an extended committee, James creates a Yuletide evening plucked straight from the late 1500’s, accurate to the period in every way agreeable.
The evening features an elegant dinner with a European flair befitting the Christmas season with a modernized and easy to follow Shakespeare comedy. Costumed actors serve the three-course meal, interacting with guests to draw them into the evening’s entertainment.
Along with the 168 ticket-holders attending each night of the three-weekend event, historical characters populate the guest list. Actors bring to life the royal court, nobility, explorers, scientists, and adventurers from exotic lands. Waits, who were the paid singers of the time period, musicians, dancers and theatrical players decorate the space that is modeled after the main hall of Warwick Castle, the home of Sir Ambrose Dudley.
The costumes add a palatable sense of pageantry. Cheryl Fowler, an award-winning designer with a degree in clothing construction, oversees the army of volunteers that spend many hours building the elaborately detailed costumes by historical design. Women’s hips and rear ends are padded. Men show off their legs while the women do not. Fashionable men who lack their own beer belly are padded just as they were in Elizabethan times to give the impression of wealth.
Queen Elizabeth loved every kind of music: formal court music, Church music, country song and dance tunes. She had her own orchestra. The Arts flourished through her support. This year’s production will have a lot of beautiful music selected by Angleton High School Choir Director, Tony Stewart, the music director for our production.
Come to this elegant, riotous, time travel experience with dinner. It is a night fit for a queen, it is an experience not to be missed.
