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See this tiny set represented a 1920's movie house. An old romantic black and white was projected onto the screen and when over, was whisked away along with the theater chairs. Thus begins ATC's modern version of Two Gentlemen of Verona .
The story begins with two young bachelors more interested in keeping their single status rather than keeping a ball and chain. All that will change. Valentine caves in first, telling his pal, Proteus, that he is ready to let love take his heart with Silvia, originally the Princess of Milan, but in this ATC production, she is a high class movie star. Proteus bulks but soon is exchanging rings with fair Julia, a young woman from dear old Verona. Then the plot thickens.
Proteus goes off to Milan to meet up with Val and meets the Miss he so desires. Proteus is struck by her beauty and charm and deviously plots to steal her away. Julia secretly follows, disguised as a young boy, and is crushed when she finds her love pining for Silvia. Now, this being Shakespeare, you can probably guess that, in the end, all's well that ends well. Valentine and Silvia and Julia and Proteus end up happily in love with their destined mate.
Goldstein, who has done great work for ATC in the past making the Bard's work accessible, may have stretched his poetry license too far this time. While setting Two Gentlemen in the roaring 20's does work quite well, and placing the Milan setting in a Hollywood movie set was quite creative, many comedic and musical moments did not work. Working backwards, we are left with a Charleston type finale, the cast singing "One feast, one home, one mutual happiness" to a tune similar to "Let's Misbehave" that is cheeseier than nachos at an ASU game.
Through out the show, Lance, a clown thrown into the play for no good reason than to allow actors a longer quick change, was portrayed as all three Stooges wrapped into one. The Vaudevillian slapstick and over-acting did not appease the opening night audience. It was painful in those moments that should have been comedic to watch Jeff Steitzer try his damnedest to get a laugh from the crowd, but like Lance's dog, all he received for his efforts were silent yawns.
Oh, yeah. When Crab, aka Doolie the dog, staggered onstage, the audience waited in eager anticipation for what the dog might do. In fact, Doolie got one of the nights biggest laughs once looking in the audience, as if on cue.
All the actors did an outstanding job. Bob Sorenson played Speed and would steal every scene. In fact, it felt as though the audience wanted to applaud his every entrance. Stacy Ross, who played Julia, was suburb as the doe eyed girl AND the smart talking boy. One surprise I found after reading the cast bios is that Silvia is played by Sabrina LeBeauf who played the oldest daughter, Sondra, on "The Cosby Show."
ATC wrangled so many wonderful actors (21 plus Doolie) it is hard to single out just a few. Nicolas Glaeser was hilarious as the John Wayne talking outlaw. Benjamin Livingston was great as Valentine. Dan Hiatt as a Douglas Fairbanks-type Thurio was truly funny. Benjamin Stewart, longtime ATC alumni and audience favorite (remember him from The Importance of Being Earnest in 1989?), was wonderful in his part of the Duke of Milan. One tragedy of the production was the under-utilization of Apollo Dukakis, who barely had five minutes of stage time.
The only actor I could found any fault with was Sheffield Chastain. As Proteus, he graced the stage often and when he did, he audience fell asleep. I am not sure if it was his lines that bored me or his presentation. When he was being conniving, he was more interesting, but he just didn't seem to project much depth.
As for the play itself, I think there may be a reason most people haven't heard of it, let alone seen it. It is a retelling of Midsummer Night's Dream with an underdeveloped plot, no notable lines, and an unmotivated main character. Why did Proteus suddenly want Silvia? Why did he suddenly fall back in love with Julia so quickly after realizing she had known of his plans? This maybe why I had such trouble with Chastain's performance.
The costumes by Karen Ledger were glorious and authentic right down to the shoes. The sets were rather ordinary for an ATC show, except the Milan/Hollywood set. The acting, however, was fantastic. ATC probably spend most of their budget garnering the great talents of 11 equity actors, with long, prestigious resumes.
While I didn't fall for every ploy, Goldstein once again makes Shakespeare accessible to a modern audience. I'd recommend the show to the Shakespeare fan but would have some reservations for those with more contemporary tastes.
ATC's Two Gentlemen of Verona continues through October 26. Ticket can be purchased by calling 252-8497. You can check out ATC's Web site at http://www.aztheatre.com
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