If one had to come up with a soundtrack for “Hamlet,” one could certainly do worse than the music of Pearl Jam. Both the play and the Seattle band”s music have a good measure of material about tortured souls and miscreants.
Well, someone thought of that. Here, a New York City art space, has mounted a production of Shakespeare”s “Hamlet” set in the ’90s with Pearl Jam”s music as the backdrop. The songs are performed live by a cover band. In what must be wonderful or horrible, “Hamlet: A King of Infinite Space” takes Hamlet and turns him into a college boy who returns home to the Lower East Side to discover that his uncle had married his mother and wants to turn their apartment building, The Elsinore (get it?), into modern condos.
If you want to see it, move quickly: The production only runs through July 21. No word from the members of Pearl Jam on how they feel about this appropriation of their music. Since the play isn’t using the original master recordings, as long as Here pays royalties to the appropriate performance rights society, they probably don’t need Pearl Jam’s permission. We scanned online for some reviews from opening night, but, alas, could find none.