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The Two Gentlemen of VeronaBy William Shakespeare
Sponsored by
(*) = Post show discussion REVIEWS"A Rollicking Good Time!"THE ORLANDO WEEKLY
Whether or not those deeper questions posed by the playwright are sufficiently answered is hard to say. What is unmistakable, though, is the rollicking good time the cast and audience have as the talented and energetic company plays out the Bard's tale of foolish love and misplaced affections against a colorful, music-filled background, replete with high-school cheerleaders, college preppies and leather-jacketed outlaws. Chief among the self-centered, lusty characters is immature Proteus (ably impersonated by Christopher Patrick Mullen). Soon after arriving at the cosmopolitan University of Milan from small-town Verona, Proteus becomes smitten with the alluring Sylvia (Sarah Hankins), daughter of the Duke. His problems in attaining the object of his desire, however, are myriad. First, Sylvia despises Proteus and has set her sights on Valentine (Timothy Williams), who happens to be Proteus' best friend. More important, Proteus has sworn his undying love to Julia (Mindy Anders), his high-school sweetheart. Aware of the perfidy he is contemplating against his dear ones, Proteus vainly tries to reconcile his contradictory desires and heed the demands of his better self. Mullens, who explored the tragic side of inner conflict in the festival's fine production of Hamlet, employs his rubberized body and protean facial expressions in a humorous vein, at one point morphing into Gollum. Letting his actors follow their comedic impulses without sacrificing the intent of the text is chief among Helsinger's strengths. The cast knows when to ad-lib contemporary references and maintains a suitable balance between Shakespeare's sometimes arcane word play and the humors of a modern audience. Indeed, it is this creative freedom that allows actors Eric Hissom and Brad DePlanche to so ably portray Shakespeare's clown characters (Launce and Speed, respectively), whose 400-year-old funny business might otherwise fall flat. Rounding out this enjoyable production is the spirited choreography of Patrick Flick. What is teen-age romance without a couple of good dance numbers? And don't miss the droll performance of J. Tiberious Boxerdog as the dog. It's an understated but aptly dogged interpretation. One of the Funniest Comedies at Lake Eola in Years!Ink19 Magazine
Proteus's dad Antonio (Paul Wegman) gets some good advice on something other than his duds at the 19th hole and sends his boy off to Milan U as well. Its sappy farewell time at the prom, but when Proteus alights in MU and spots Sylvia, two chords from "Jessie's Girl " lets us know where Julia ranks - out of town and out of mind. Now we hit the standard Bard story line - Valentine is banished to a second rate punk band, Sylvia despises both Proteus AND handsome suitor Thurio (Richard Width), Julia shows up dressed as a boy hoping to swap rings if not spit, and eventually Proteus calms down and does the right thing. Is it the One Ring from Julia? Precious says so, so it must be a very powerful ring. Time to cue the big Thriller dance number and drop the curtain. Shakespeare's comedies are full of jokes that lack modern cultural resonance, but that has not stopped O/UCF from fixing the problem. With everything slid into the Me Decade, there's no problem making the audience laugh continually. Of course, it helps if you have a strong supporting cast, with the likes of Speed (Brad DePlanche) as the silly Mailman, delivering messages and yucks for Valentine and anyone else who will slip him a few Ducats. Eric Hissom appears as Launce, Proteus's red neck golf caddy and general Carl Spakler. Amazingly, Hissom is upstaged by his own dog, the lackadaisical and gassy J. Tiberius Boxerdog. Yeah, never follow and animal act, but it IS in the script and hard to avoid. Finally, let us not for Eglamor (Mike Chappell), rescuing Sylvia without tripping over his A-team gold chains. Moral of the story - you can’t tell today's teens anything. Not like there folks listen for a darn, either. Superb acting, comedic timing, and brilliant use of pop music to move the plot forward make this one of the funniest comedies at lake Eola in years. Sight gags abound, from a rain of stuffed animals to Back Street Boys to the classic "Wax on, wax off". OK, the boy band thing is an anachronism, but it’s the reunion of humorous situations to relevant clues that make this show smoke. While some of the song start and stop a bit abruptly, the tale of a philandering lover and his return to the Right Girl is timeless comedy, and if you're hesitant to tackle laughing at Iambic pentameter, have no fear. Now, where are my vinyl pants? 2 Wild & Crazy Guys!Excerpts from The Orlando Sentinel
...It looks as if scenic designer Bob Phillips had a good time with Two Gents: He has created a Florida-colored set, all teal and violet and dusty pink, that morphs easily from high school to the university, where the main building is called Dyer Hall (for Orlando's mayor) and the statue of the founder is named for UCF's president John Hitt. Eric T. Haugen's lighting makes the place as rosy and warm as it can be, and Jack Smith's costumes are wildly fanciful -- screaming orange golf togs for Proteus' father, New Wave duds for the laid-back Valentine and multiple polo shirts (collars up, naturally) for the stuck-up Thurio, another of Silvia's suitors. ...(Mindy) Anders is wonderful as the plucky, excitable, comically miserable Julia; Williams' Valentine is as light-spirited and likable as his name, and Mullen, who also played the title role in the festival's Hamlet, makes Proteus a riot -- as neurotic and tortured as Hamlet, but one who turns his fevered energy toward executing a jubilant sort of New Wavy dance whenever he gets his way. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Last Updated: 05/06/2007 Copyright Orlando Shakespeare Theater |
It's an upbeat, techno-punk version of The Two Gentlemen of Verona that opens Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival's one-show spring season. Artistic Director Jim Helsinger has set this Shakespeare comedy about the fickleness of love and friendship in the epicenter of the Me Generation, 1980s America, in order to better explore the themes of selfishness and moral ambiguity.
Gimme A "V"! Gimme an "E"! Gimme an "R"! Gimme the rest of those letters! It's 1980 something, and the rah-rahs have taken over good old Verona HS. A flock of Ritalin inspired cheerleaders claims the stage, blasting us into the frenzied state of pep that can only mean one thing - raging teenage hormones. Where hormones lead, horny youth must follow, and that's where we find rubbery Proteus (Mullen), deeply in lust with leg warmer clad Julia (Anders). She takes her advice from uber-Val Lucetta (Amanda Schlachter), while he hangs with suave, college bound Valentine (Williams). Valentine's heading to the University of Milan for some education and serious beer pounding. There he falls for the sparkling Sylvia (Hankins.), daughter of the dean of Milan U (Robert Schneider.) 
...The bright-eyed pop of the Go-Go's is just part of the dance-music grab bag that serves as a soundtrack to Two Gents, which Helsinger has set in a mythical 1980s of candy-colored high school proms and benign punk uprisings. Perky cheerleaders fall for high-school basketball stars, who in turn fall for college-campus hotties -- and if none of it causes you to have a single profound thought, you still may find yourself chortling nearly all the way through... Helsinger finds in it a license for laughter, and he turns the play's every dark thought and underhanded motive into comedy. Rarely has betrayal seemed so much fun.