Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Shakespearean comedy at its highest level. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

By BroadwayWorld.com

A wonderfully delightful MUCH ADO at Great Lakes Theater

By Roy Berko

Boy hates girl. Girl hates boy. Boy overhears that girl is secretly in love with boy; girl hears vice versa. Other boy and girl love each other, but something gets in the way of their happiness. That's the basic premise of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, which is now on stage at Great Lakes Theatre. Throw in a couple of interesting subplots, including an idiotic sheriff, a phony death, an irrational lover (is there any other kind?), and a vengeful half-brother, and you have the makings of one of William Shakespeare's best comedies. In fact, the fifth best of all of the Bard's plays, according to a renowned Shakespeare expert.

MUCH ADO, first published in 1600, was first performed during the winter of 1612-13 during the festivities preceding the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick Palatine. It proved to be a sublime battle of wit and will, much like the Bard's other superb comedy, TAMING OF THE SHREW.

What makes the script very welcoming to North American audiences is that the majority of the text is written in prose, rather than in traditional Shakespeare rhyme. This allows for an ease in understanding the language. GLT's production goes one step further and uses basic Midwestern pronunciation, to further aid.

The story, which Shakespeare set in the sixteenth century in Messina, Sicily, concerns two parallel love stories. One, between Beatrice, she of quick mind and sharp tongue and her love/hate relationship with Benedick, who also verbally thrusts and parries with Beatrice. Their match makes for one of the comic tracks of the script.
Then there is the match between handsome Claudio and the beautiful Hero, who fall in love and are to get married. Unfortunately for the duo, the villainous Don John slanders Hero with a false tale of sexual infidelity. The planned wedding turns out to be a shameful disaster when the prospective groom reveals his repulsion for his bride-to-be's lack of chastity.

A fake death, uncovering of the nefarious plot against Hero by a quartet of bumbling police, Beatrice and Benedick overcoming their need for being the winner in their battle of wits, and a happy-ever-after ending, brings the play to a happy conclusion.
In this script, Shakespeare's attitudes toward courtship, romance, social realities, marrying for social betterment to ensure inheritance, and female chastity, all roll out.

What makes MUCH ADO intriguing is that it combines many of Shakespeare's best writing styles...farce, comedy and drama. This is also what makes the play so difficult to produce. Few directors and casts can pull off all of the various performance levels. Fortunately for area audiences, director Sharon Ott has razor sharp control of all the elements, and her cast and production crew are up to their end of the task. She nicely transforms the plot into the 1920s. This image is aided by Esther Haberlen's period-correct costumes, Hugh Landwehr's fragmented artistic scenery and designs, and Rick Martin's lighting.

Ott has clearly separated the dramatic reality, the comic elements and the over-the-top farce...a hard thing to do. Her cast understands the differences and paces, pauses and stresses to create the right effects.

The staging is aided by the creative choreography of Martin Céspedes. He uses Charleston dance moves of the '20s, combined with some hints of Shakespearean attitudes. Even the scene changes and exits and entrances have choreographic images. The classically trained actors look at ease doing dance steps, which, for most of them, my be a performance stretch.
Cassandra Bissell is spot on as the sarcastic Beatrice. She is balanced by J. Todd Adams (Benedick), who matches her barb for barb, in spite of a distracting fake beard. Their interactions are like watching well choreographed verbal sword fights.
Betsy Mugavero is charming as lovely Hero. Neil Brookshire nicely balances both the love-struck and dramatic scenes with fidelity.
David Anthony Smith well portrays Don Pedro, while Juan Rivera Lebron is evil incarnate as Don John, the villain of the story. He was so convincing that on opening night, he received boos from the audience during the curtain call.

Laurie Birmingham was her usual delightful self as Antonia, Hero's mother. David McCann was her equal as her husband.
DougFred Miller as the bumbling constable, and M. A. Taylor as his sidekick, Verges, nearly stole the show with their keystone cops personas. The duo was so over the top realistic that they achieved farce at its highest level, having us laugh with, rather than at, a difficult task indeed.

Capsule judgement: GLT's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, under the creative and disciplined direction of Sharon Ott, and choreography by Martin Céspedes, is Shakespearean comedy at its highest level. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! A wonderfully delightful MUCH ADO at Great Lakes Theater

By Roy Berko

Boy hates girl. Girl hates boy. Boy overhears that girl is secretly in love with boy; girl hears vice versa. Other boy and girl love each other, but something gets in the way of their happiness. That's the basic premise of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, which is now on stage at Great Lakes Theatre. Throw in a couple of interesting...

Monday, April 08, 2013

"...as good as it gets."

By The News Herald

By Bob Abelman

Beatrice and Benedick have been bickering for more than 400 years and, remarkably, it never gets old. Although Shakespeare did not invent the "I hate you/I love you" dynamic tension that drives romantic comedies, the hesitant affection these two display in "Much Ado About Nothing," on stage at Great Lakes' Hanna Theatre, is as good as it gets.

Returning from war, Don Pedro (David Anthony Smith), Prince of Aragon, his two friends and noblemen Benedick (J. Todd Adams) and Claudio (Neil Brookshire), and Don Pedro's bastard brother Don John (Juan Rivera Lebron) are guests at the home of Leonato (David McCan), the governor of Messina. While being wined and dined, the young Claudio is attracted to, woos and wins the lovely Hero (Betsy Mugavero), the governor's daughter, while confirmed bachelor Benedick reignites his much fraught relationship with Leonato's niece, the man-hating, marriage-repelling spitfire Beatrice (Cassandra Bissell). While Don Pedro creates a clever deception that will hopefully bring Beatrice and Benedick together, the black-hearted Don John plots to ruin the festivities by maliciously undermining Hero's reputation and destroying her pending marriage to Claudio.

What makes "Much Ado" so intriguing is that the vast majority of its gloriously overstuffed sentences are written in prose rather than the poetic verse that typically dominates Shakespeare's comedies. This gives "Much Ado" a more modern feel, which not only renders it more accessible to today's audiences but makes it particularly amenable to a restaging in more modern times-something Great Lakes Theater does remarkably well and with relish.

When last performed 12 years ago, Great Lakes' troupe transported this play to post-World War II Italy. This time around, the post-World War I era serves as its backdrop.

While many of these restagings of the Bard's work are intended to shed light or offer perspective on the work itself - such as turning the 1590s reverie "A Midsummer's Night Dream" into a 1960s hallucination - this production merely employs time travel for the fun of it. A jazz-era motif gives way to Esther M. Haberlen eye-candy costuming and Martín Céspedes' delightful ragtime choreography, and allows the two, stale Elizabethan songs to become something Rudy Vallée would have crooned. It also, arguably, gives the director license to reduce Shakespeare's five-act text to a more conformative and comfortable two.

The post-World War I context also justifies the Key Stone Cop-like slapstick infused into scenes featuring the addle-minded and asinine Constable Dogberry (a terrific Dougfred Miller) and his wonderfully dim-witted assistant, Verges (M.A. Taylor). It's Dogberry and Verges wo discover Don Pedro's deception and, in their own nonsensical and genuinely hilarious way, save the day.

Sharon Ott's brilliant direction gravitates toward and embellishes these and other comedic moments since, as she acknowledges in the playbill's Director's Note, "Much Ado" doesn't have the famous speeches of "As You Like It" or clever subplots of "Twelfth Night." What it does have in spades is the fascinating dynamic between its central couple. Amidst the extreme lighthearted and darker elements in this play, a production of "Much Ado" is only as good as its Beatrice and Benedick.

As Beatrice, Bissell delivers a formidable, sharp-tongued and quick-witted feminist while never losing - even when dressed in a man's tuxedo - the alluring feminine qualities that eventually reels in a reluctant Benedick. Both the character and the actor are forces to be reckoned with.

She is matched by J. Todd Adams as Benedick. While the two together lack sufficient tension to be believable-dueling with Shakespeare's dialogue as if it were too precious a thing to be vehemently spit out - he, on his own, owns the stage and is at his best when dueling with himself over his conflicted feelings about Beatrice. In fact, Adams establishes a more affectionate rapport with the audience than he does with Bissell's Beatrice.

These two are surrounded by a talented ensemble of performers, each turning in interesting and complementary performances that give this production a pleasant fluidity and, upon occasion, wings. By Bob Abelman

Beatrice and Benedick have been bickering for more than 400 years and, remarkably, it never gets old. Although Shakespeare did not invent the "I hate you/I love you" dynamic tension that drives romantic comedies, the hesitant affection these two display in "Much Ado About Nothing," on stage at Great Lakes' Hanna Theatre, is as good as it gets.

Returning from war, Don Pedro (David Anthony Smith), Prince of Aragon,...

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

"Great Lakes Theater offers a fresh, jazzy 'Much Ado About Nothing'"

By The Plain Dealer

By Andrea Simakis

For years, theater and literary critics alike have supped on glitches in logic and characterization in "Much Ado About Nothing."

They have carped about its opaque villain, Don John -- sure, he's the bastard brother of Don Pedro, the Prince of Aragon, but is that enough reason to ruin the lives of lovebirds Hero and Claudio?

And they have bemoaned Hero's meek defense of her honor when Claudio calls her a "rotten orange" on their wedding day -- and that's the nicest thing the guy has to say about her -- then dumps her in front of God and everybody.

("Why in the world did not Hero . . . prove an 'alibi,' in answer to the charge?" Lewis Carroll griped in a letter to actress Ellen Terry after seeing her in the play at the Lyceum Theatre in 1883.)

But William Shakespeare's comedy has two unassailable assets -- sparring lovers Beatrice and Benedick. They are the Elizabethan version of Hepburn and Tracy and just as fun to watch, especially when played with the right mixture of wit and spite, the perfectly balanced Prohibition-era cocktail served up by Cassandra Bissell and J. Todd Adams in the Great Lakes Theater production of "Much Ado" at a preview performance Friday. (More on that Prohibition reference in a moment.)

But oh, how those two detest each other -- the only thing they hate more is marriage, an institution they consider perverse.

"I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me," Beatrice announces. She likens Benedick to "pestilence," warning her cousin Hero (a dewy, affecting Betsy Mugavero) that if her beau Claudio "have caught the Benedick," the cure will cost him a thousand pounds. Of course, Benedick doesn't take such verbal lashes laying down.

"I would my horse had the speed of your tongue . . ." Benedick says to the woman he calls "my dear Lady Disdain. Are you yet living?" he asks.

"Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signor Benedick?" Beatrice shoots back sweetly.

Their first scene together has to crackle and fizz with the sexual tension of all great love-hate pairings, their bickering elevated to a noxious art. Is Beatrice poised to rip Benedick's eyes out? Or would she rather he tear her clothes off? Bissell and Adams expertly dance -- or rather, Charleston -- along that thin line between lust and loathing.

The other joy of this sleek, good-looking production directed by Sharon Ott is that it is set in a post-World War I landscape, complete with flappers, Jazz Age masquerade parties and Beatrice -- in a nod to her desire to taste the freedom of men -- dressed for that party in a "Victor/Victoria" top hat and tails.

The mood is set before the show begins, as the crowd is ushered into the theater to the strains of "Rhapsody in Blue" and other standards from a soundtrack that would delight Woody Allen.

Ott and her team have created a fully realized universe, a seductive, consistent vision that is pulled through every costume and prop.

Don John (a taciturn, uniformed Juan Rivera Lebron) is a wounded warrior; he is missing an arm, and one side of his face is marked with an angry, melty scar. The fools of the piece -- bumbling night watchmen and their leader, the constable Dogberry (Dougfred Miller, in a bristling, Baron von Munchausen handlebar 'stache) -- take their slapstick cues from the Keystone Cops.

An Art Deco gold metallic screen that appears to have been riddled with bullets from a giant machine gun serves as a backdrop, a whiff of the carnage of the battlefield that permeated the raucous, Roaring '20s.

Esther M. Haberlen's formal wear (intricate beading, dropped-waist bodices) and weekend casual (nautical themes, satin pajamas) are splendid and tap a "Great Gatsby" fineness.

The world that emerged from "the war to end all wars" was one desperate for light, life and true romance.

"Serve God, love me, and mend," Benedick tells Beatrice, once he realizes that his Lady Disdain has become his raison d'etre.

While it's common for companies to stage Shakespeare's plays in any era but his own, often with foggy reasons for doing so, Ott and company have cannily placed "Much Ado" in a world on the mend. What a swell idea. By Andrea Simakis

For years, theater and literary critics alike have supped on glitches in logic and characterization in "Much Ado About Nothing."

They have carped about its opaque villain, Don John -- sure, he's the bastard brother of Don Pedro, the Prince of Aragon, but is that enough reason to ruin the lives of lovebirds Hero and Claudio?

And they have bemoaned Hero's meek defense of her honor when Claudio calls her...

Thursday, April 04, 2013

"...this night at the Hanna Theatre is unforgettable...Go see this show!"

By The New 102FM

By Kory

Let me start by saying, I am not usually a fan of Shakespeare. Yes, that is primarily from a lack of understanding of the language…ok…that's really all it is. I have avoided reviewing the man's work for almost a year now. Saturday night, I decided to try again. I am so glad I did!

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING tells a multi-layered story about love and deception. This play, like much of Shakespeare's work, exists in the place where those two qualities intersect. In fact, the first lesson I learned from MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING? Never plot evil at a masquerade ball. You never know if the person you are plotting to double cross is in fact, the person you are talking to! Don John makes that mistake and with evil trickery in progress, we watch romances live and die around his plot. But, the good guy always wins, right?

For me, watching a show in Shakespearean language is like overhearing a conversation in a tongue you only partially understand. You pick up words here and there, but occasionally find yourself struggling to catch up. Thankfully for me I had a notepad. Here's what I jotted down. Benedick (J. Todd Adams) loves Beatrice (Cassandra Bissell), but she doesn't feel the same way…yet. Claudio (Neil Brookshire) loves Hero (Betsy Mugavero), until Don John (Juan Rivera Lebron) interferes with evil trickery with Borachio (Darren Matthias). Confused yet? Don't worry, when you see the show, all will make sense.

The talented cast and crew, lead by director Sharon Ott, takes this medieval soap opera, pulls it into the 1920's and makes it easy to understand for the casual theatre-goer. J. Todd Adams is remarkable as Benedick and really seems to be the glue that holds the show together. Cassandra Bissell is witty and classy as Beatrice. Eric Damon Smith is hilarious as Balthasar, and as the priest. The real surprises come from the 'keystone cops' style slapstick performances of Dogberry (Dougfred Miller) and Verges (M.A. Taylor).

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING is delightfully staged in a cool modern art elegance with 1920's elements sprinkled throughout. The cast is superb, the storytelling effective and the overall experience of this night at the Hanna Theatre is unforgettable. You heard it here folks, I'm giving MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING…by William Shakespeare…a good review. Go see this show! By Kory

Let me start by saying, I am not usually a fan of Shakespeare. Yes, that is primarily from a lack of understanding of the language…ok…that's really all it is. I have avoided reviewing the man's work for almost a year now. Saturday night, I decided to try again. I am so glad I did!

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING tells a multi-layered story about love and deception. This play, like much...

Sunday, March 31, 2013

"...this is a great performance...This show has everything going for it."

By Examiner.com

By Mark Horning

Being a relative newcomer to Shakespeare, I have a simple method for judging the quality of the performance. If in spite of the nearly foreign sounding Early Modern English and iambic pentameter that Shakespeare wrote in I am able to fully understand the play then this is a good performance. If it is a comedy and I find myself laughing at 500 year old jokes, then this is a great performance.

Needless to say, anytime that Great Lakes Theater tackles any of the Bard of Avon's works rest assured it is going to be a great performance indeed. Thus it is most true in their latest offering, "Much Ado About Nothing" playing through April 14 at the Hanna Theatre. This show has everything going for it. To start with it is one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies, and for another the actors do not allow Shakespeare to get in the way of the performance. That is to say that they perform the play rather than recite it. Everyone on stage plays to the audience. The stage is simply done with minimalistic use of props. The costuming and era are set in the roaring 20's which takes some of the stuffiness out of the work and the lighting gives full illumination to the work and is well used throughout especially during the somber moments.

The entire strength of the play hinges on whether the characters of Benedick and Beatrice can convince the audience of their love/hate relationship. J. Todd Adams and Cassandra Bissell rise to the challenge and excel in their roles. David McCann as Leonato and Laurie Birmingham as his wife Antonia (father and mother of Hero, played by Betsy Mugavero and Uncle and Aunt of Beatrice, again played by Cassandra Bissell) bring a full range of talent and emotion to the roles from unabashed gaiety to heart wrenching pathos. Hero (played by Betsy Mugavero) and Claudio (played by Neil Brookshire) are the love struck couple who fall hopelessly in love, are tricked out of love and (thank goodness) fall in love again at the end. The saboteur is Don John (played to sinister perfection by Juan Rivera Lebron), the bastard brother of Don Pedro (played by David Anthony Smith).

The tale revolves around a visit by Don Pedro (accompanied by Don John, Benedick, Claudio and Balthasar (Don Pedro's attendant, played by Eric Damon Smith)) to Leonato and Antonia's home where they are invited to stay for a month or more to relax from the rigors of a recent war. Claudio falls in love with Hero (daughter of Leonato and Antonia) and a verbal war flairs between Beatrice and Benedick.

Don Pedro then enlists the help of Leonato and Claudio as well as Hero's companions Ursula (played by Karen Thorla) and Margaret (played by Maggie Kettering) to develop a scheme to get Benedick and Beatrice to fall in love. Claudio and Hero become engaged and Don John (who had failed in a recent rebellion against Don Pedro) plots to bring tragedy and disgrace to the families. He hires Conrade (played by Drew Kopas) and Borachio (played by Darren Matthias) as henchmen to stage a false love tryst between Borachio and a female accomplice (acting as Claudio and Hero) that he leads Claudio and Don Pedro to discover the night before the wedding. The next day Claudio denounces his love for Hero is challenged to a duel by Benedick and all looks grim. Cool heads prevail as Friar Francis gets the family to sequester Hero for the time being saying that she has died of a broken heart.

Luckily for all, the first and second watch (Austin Blunk and Steven J. West) under the employ of Dogberry, Master Constable (played to the hilt by Dougfred Miller) and Verges, a headborough, (played also exceptionally well by M.A. Taylor) overhear a drunken Borachio spill the beans about the false love tryst who as a group arrest and bring Conrade and Borachio to justice. The Sexton (played by Laurie Birmingham) sends the group to the home of Leonato to clear the air as Don John flees the country. Claudio (who has been wrongly told that Hero has died) is punished by being made to spend the night at the "tomb" of Hero and is "forced" to marry Hero's "cousin" (who is in fact Hero) and at the veiled ceremony the next day all is revealed and the happy couple reunited. Benedick and Beatrice are forced to realize their true love for each other and all is well once more as a dance breaks out to celebrate.

Shakespearian plays are, to say the least, an acquired taste. We in Cleveland are extremely fortunate to have such a great company of actors and actresses who really put the effort necessary to pull off an extraordinary performance. If you have not seen Shakespeare in any form, I implore you to see this production. You will become an instant fan and will not be able to wait for the next stellar performance. Come see why this man's plays have lasted for over 500 years.

Special note must be made of the behind the scenes crew and the exceptional job they did that truly added to the performance this includes: Sharon Ott,, director; Hugh Landwehr, Scenic Designer; Esther M Haberlen, Costume Designer; Rick Martin, Lighting Designer; Stephen LeGrand, Sound Designer; Martin Céspedes, Choreographer and Corrie E. Purdum and Tim Kinzel, Stage Managers as well as member of the Ensemble Cast: Austin Blunk, Kyle Carthens, Laurel Hoffman and Steven J. West. By Mark Horning

Being a relative newcomer to Shakespeare, I have a simple method for judging the quality of the performance. If in spite of the nearly foreign sounding Early Modern English and iambic pentameter that Shakespeare wrote in I am able to fully understand the play then this is a good performance. If it is a comedy and I find myself laughing at 500 year old jokes, then this is...

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

"...[a] laugh-filled romp, presented with lively energy...snap and crackle."

By Cleveland Scene

By Christine Howey

Life is full of contradictions. Teachers tell their students not to lie, then, at some point, they hand them Shakespeare's plays, which are so filled with lies and counterfeits of various sorts that the mind boggles.

So it is with the beloved comedy Much Ado About Nothing, now at the Great Lakes Theater. You'd be hard pressed to find a single character who isn't lying in this laugh-filled romp, presented with lively energy and dialogue delivered with plenty of snap and crackle.

Indeed, the comic momentum established by the players under Sharon Ott's pneumatic direction almost hides a hollow spot at the core of this effort that would severely dent a less captivating production.

Returning warrior lords Benedick and Claudio, in service to Don Pedro, the Prince of Aragon, seek some female companionship in Messina. Claudio (an earnestly naive Neil Brookshire) is attracted to the demure Hero (Betsy Mugavero), daughter of Messina's Governor Leonato (David McCann), but confirmed bachelor Benedick has a much more fraught relationship with Leonato's niece, the spitfire Beatrice.

All this is pure fun for Don Pedro, who loves playing Cupid, so he devises a scheme to bring oil and water, er, Benedick and Beatrice together. This is where the deceptions start, as various characters are tasked to lie about Benedick's love for Beatrice and vice versa, within earshot of each, so their heads might be turned towards romance.

Darker skullduggery is also in play as Don John (Juan Rivera Lebron), Don Pedro's bastard brother, plots to ruin his brother's frolics by falsely besmirching the reputation of Hero and ending her storybook love affair with Don Pedro's favored lord Claudio.

The gullible Claudio and honor-obsessed Don Pedro are taken in, until they see the light and yet another deception is launched to bring forth a happy resolution.

As Beatrice, Cassandra Bissell is thoroughly believable, and immensely funny, as this sharp-edged, independent woman ("I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.").

She is matched snark-for-snark by J. Todd Adams as Benedick ("I wish my horse had the speed of your tongue."), a man so supremely confident-well, he can stop the birds chirping with a sharp glance-that he feels himself impervious to the vulnerabilities of love.

Excellent as they are individually, one never quite gets the sense of Bissell's Beatrice and Adams' Benedick aching with love for each other beneath their surface jousting. This kind of chemistry is devilishly hard to capture on stage, and perhaps it will grow as the show's run progresses.

In addition to those mentioned above, there are other fine performances in support of our two battling lovebirds. David Anthony Smith makes Don Pedro an appealing and enthusiastic matchmaker, and Laurie Brimingham has a couple stellar moments as both Antonia, the feisty wife of Leonato, and as a sexton.

Of course, Shakespeare always makes room for the clowns in his comedies and here they are represented by the Keystone Kops, which is appropriate since the play is set in the 1920s. Constable Dogberry and his assistant Verges arrive on a tricycle equipped with flip-chart visual aids for their scene.

As Dogberry, Dougfred Miller nicely channels George C. Scott (circa Dr. Strangelove), blustering amusingly as he grapples with multiple malapropisms. And M.A. Taylor as Verges once again shuffles and slouches his way through another part as an I.Q.-deficient lowlife.

This is a fast-paced show that's quite pleasing to the eye, thanks to Hugh Landwehr's handsome set accented with copper mesh foliage and Esther M. Haberlen's lush period costumes.

Thanks to Ott's clever and precise direction, there's not a whit of deception in saying that this is a most entertaining way to spend upwards of 2½ hours. By Christine Howey

Life is full of contradictions. Teachers tell their students not to lie, then, at some point, they hand them Shakespeare's plays, which are so filled with lies and counterfeits of various sorts that the mind boggles.

So it is with the beloved comedy Much Ado About Nothing, now at the Great Lakes Theater. You'd be hard pressed to find a single character who isn't lying in this laugh-filled romp,...

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

"There is much to delight in the masterful production...Miss the show; miss a lot."

By Cleveland Jewish News

By Fran Heller

There is much to delight in the masterful production of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" at Great Lakes Theater. The comedy may be more than four centuries old, but in director Sharon Ott's freshly minted vision it feels entirely new.

The magic begins with the blare of an ocean liner, the sound of marching soldiers and the beat of the Charleston, transporting the audience to the Tuscan countryside in the postwar years and the Roaring Twenties.

The blend of the continents Europe and America is vividly depicted in Hugh Landwehr's gauzy abstract of a world map hovering over the stage.

When the play begins, soldiers have just returned from some unnamed war, eager for the music, dancing and merriment this exuberant production delivers in spades.

"The course of true love never did run smooth" (from "A Midsummer Night's Dream") aptly describes "Much Ado," in which pairs of would-be lovers Claudio (Neil Brookshire) and Hero (Betsy Mugavero) and Beatrice (Cassandra Bissell) and Benedick (J. Todd Adams) are put through a number of hoops before they tie the knot.

The gulling of Beatrice and Benedick in which each is tricked into believing the other loves them is a comedic highlight. In like manner, the duping of Claudio and Don Pedro (David Anthony Smith) by the evil Don John (Juan Rivera Lebron), in which the chaste Hero is falsely accused of being a strumpet, skirts the tragic.

A key theme in Shakespeare is faulty perception. The "nothing" in the title is a pun on 'noting,' and how almost everyone fails to see what is true and what is false.

A father turns a blind eye to his daughter's innocence and is quick to believe in her guilt, as do Claudio and Don Pedro. Beatrice and Benedick remain stubbornly blind to their true feelings, until a ruse forces them to see what they mean to one another.

Ironically, a dimwitted constable and his illiterate sidekicks are the only ones who perceive the truth.

Bissell and Adams steal the show with a fusillade of wit as sparring lovers. The scene in which a stammering Beatrice and Benedick declare love for each other had me in stitches. Later, a mutually sincere recognition of their need for one another moved me deeply.

Brookshire captures the intemperate Claudio, whose only justification for his deplorable behavior can be attributed to rash youthfulness and naivete.

Mugavero is a sweetheart as the dreamy-eyed Hero, whose downfall, and public humiliation by her raging father Leonato (a mercurial David McCann) is almost too much to bear. Director Ott takes dramatic license in converting Antonio, Leonato's brother, into Antonia, Leonato's wife (a sharp-tongued Laurie Birmingham), striking a funny, if incongruous, note.

Drawing a page from the Keystone Cops, Dougfred Miller is hilarious as the illiterate constable Dogberry, sputtering malapropisms. Also hilarious: M.A. Taylor as his elderly sidekick Verges, though their shtick goes on too long. The scene in which Dogberry and Verges teach the ignorant watchmen with cartoon illustrations is but one example of the director's copious imagination and marvelous sense of humor.

Smith overdoes the comedy as matchmaker Don Pedro, but there is a hint of melancholy in his mien when he vainly pursues Beatrice's hand in marriage at the beginning and remains the only one without a wife at the end.

Esther M. Haberlen's mouth-watering costumes, Rick Martin's lush lighting and Martin Céspedes' spirited choreography complete the allure.

This is the final weekend to catch "Much Ado." Miss the show; miss a lot. By Fran Heller

There is much to delight in the masterful production of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" at Great Lakes Theater. The comedy may be more than four centuries old, but in director Sharon Ott's freshly minted vision it feels entirely new.

The magic begins with the blare of an ocean liner, the sound of marching soldiers and the beat of the Charleston, transporting the audience to the Tuscan countryside in...

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

"Congratulations!...we loved it..."

By Christen (patron email)

Congratulations! I brought my budding actress fourteen year old daughter to Opening Night of Much Ado About Nothing and we loved it. This was her first live performance of a play by Shakespeare and I couldn't be more thrilled that she asked to see more! Finally, something we can enjoy together:) We'll be back for more.

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

"One of your best productions ever!!!"

By Ken (patron email)

One of your best productions ever!!! In addition to the superb acting and set, I loved the fact that the players didn't try to effect English accents. My sound discrimination is poor, and I often have trouble catching all the lines, especially with American-style English accents. In this play I understood everything, which greatly enhanced my enjoyment. Kudos to all.

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

"It so exceeded my expectations of good, I've been raving about it all weekend."

By Sarah (patron email)

I was thoroughly pleased with the show this weekend. It so exceeded my expectations of "good," I've been raving about it all weekend. Thank you for the excellent cast, the creative time period setting, the gorgeous costumes, and the well-performed slapstick comedy. It was really lovely. Hats off to you!