|
  
Pictured above: Mistress Page (Anne Hering),
Falstaff (Dan McCleary) and Slender (Michael Gill)
The Merry Wives
of Windsor
By William Shakespeare
April 4 – April 29, 2007
Margeson TheaterCome see Shakespeare’s fattest of knights, Sir John Falstaff, as laughter reigns supreme and feminine wisdom triumphs over a jealous husband, confused lovers, and a web of merriment in this light-hearted comedy.
The Merry Wives of Windsor is the story of Falstaff, a local
knight who is as good a liar as he is a lover…or so he thinks! When Falstaff
arrives in the town of Windsor, he is in desperate need of money. Instead of
trying to find employment, he decides to secretly pursue two wealthy women
and swindle them. He chooses the Mistresses Ford and Page, and writes them
identical love letters. What he doesn’t count on is the close friendship
between the women…their own exceeding cleverness…and his own conniving
servants! Disguises and double entendres abound as plots and sub plots
develop, complete with manipulative messengers, secret scandals, and plenty
of paramours. The Merry Wives of Windsor is directed by Jim Helsinger.
Call the Box Office
407-447-1700 x 1 - Mon-Fri 10am-5pm
(Tickets are not currently available online)
Pictured above: Rugby (Vandit Bhatt), Simple
(Chris McIntyre) The Host (Brad dePlanche)
and the cast of The Merry Wives of Windsor
Merry
Wives Video Clip
Show Information
Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:00PM;
Fridays, Saturdays at 8:00PM;
Sundays at 2:00PM
Tickets: 4/5 and 4/6 Preview Nights - $12;
Thursdays, Sundays - $30, $25, $20;
Fridays, Saturdays - $35, $30, 25; 4/18 2PM
Senior Matinee – all seats $12;
Students save $5 off select sections;
Groups 10+ save up to 20% |
 |
| |
Falstaff (Dan McCleary) and Ford (Philip Nolen)
|
Presenting Sponsors
A. Brian Phillips, P.A. Carlton Fields
  
CAST
Sir John Falstaff – Dan McCleary*
Mistress Margaret Page – Anne Hering*
Master George Page – Patrick Flick*
Anne Page – Beth Brown
Mistress Alice Ford – Suzanne O’Donnell*
Master Frank Ford – Philip Nolen*
Doctor Caius – Timothy Williams*
Mistress Quickly – Allison DeCaro*
John Rugby – Vandit Bhatt
Sir Hugh Evans – Mark Lainer*
Host of the Garter Inn – Brad DePlanche*
Robin – Mary Candler
Bardolph – Matthew Harris
Pistol – Blake Logan
Nym – Trista Duval
Master Fenton – Liam Schahill
Master Robert Shallow – Bob Lipka
Master Abraham Slender – Michael Gill
Peter Simple – Christopher McIntyre
* - denotes member of Actor's
Equity Assocation |
Mistress Quickly (Allison DeCaro) and
Falstaff (Dan McCleary) |
REVIEWS
Merry Wives' Makes Merry Audiences
The Orlando Sentinel
Review by Elizabeth Maupin. Posted 4/11/07
 Mistress Ford (Suzanne O'Donnell) and Falstaff
(Dan McCleary) -
Behold Falstaff. Watch as he tries to hoist his girth up a
single step, one ankle crossed ever so daintily behind the other. Observe as
he regards his oversize physique approvingly in a full-length mirror. Pay
attention as he claims that a woman has admired him: When theatergoers laugh
in disbelief, he reproaches them with mournful eyes.
Dan McCleary’s Sir John Falstaff is larger than life, but in a way that
includes life’s subtleties along with its excesses. And the vehicle created
to carry him, Shakespeare’s comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor, follows
Falstaff’s lead. McCleary’s Falstaff isn’t the only one who looks like a
handsomely wrapped birthday present – or maybe an overstuffed sofa – in this
opulent Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival production, where the luxurious
brocades of the costumes are bedecked by manifold ribbons and bows. But
director Jim Helsinger hasn’t spent his energy on inflating a flimsy
apparatus to five times its normal size. He and his actors have found what’s
human in Shakespeare’s characters, and they’ve played that humanity up big.
It helps that Helsinger has on hand a pretty nifty cast, with
McCleary and Philip Nolen in two of the leads, Anne Hering and Suzanne
O’Donnell as the title characters and some of Orlando’s best actors in
supporting roles. Nor does it hurt that Merry Wives is one of Shakespeare’s
most likable comedies – happy-go-lucky, easy to follow and based among the
recognizable middle-class folk of the playwright’s day. Shakespeare wrote
Merry Wives, the story goes, because Queen Elizabeth demanded a play about
Falstaff in love. The result was a comedy about the corpulent knight trying
to swindle two well-off men by seducing their wives – but falling for the
traps they set when the women turn the tables. Of course, each of the women
has trouble at home. Mistress Page (Hering) and her husband are trying to
marry their eligible daughter off to a rich man, but they can’t agree who’s
best suited. Mistress Ford (O’Donnell) must cope with a jealous husband
(Nolen), who goes to great lengths to thwart hanky-panky that, in reality,
is all for show.
Helsinger is big on comic business, but here he doesn’t
overdo the shtick, and his actors get to display their chops by making
smallish roles memorable. Michael Gill makes a dopey, doleful would-be
bridegroom and Mark Lainer a sweet-tempered Welsh knight with a very odd
speech pattern; Timothy Williams plays a grand French doctor with an accent
that makes Peter Sellers’ look subtle. A few of the cast members blend into
the genial background, and one or two come off as strident rather than
funny. But the principals are terrific – Hering as the resoundingly merry
Mistress Page, O’Donnell (here with McCleary) as the amusingly melodramatic
Mistress Ford and especially the two men who play their comic foils.
Costumed like an oversized elf, Nolen plays Ford in a
permanent snit, until he dons the clothes and accent of a grandiose Spaniard
and lisps his way into Falstaff’s confidence. And McCleary, whose fat suit
and cane make him believably hefty, finds so many shadings in Sir John –
greed and lechery, but also age and want and wisdom – that he can move you
beyond giggles to tears. “Oh, poor Falstaff,” whispered the woman sitting
behind me at the opening-night performance. “I feel so sorry for him.” When
she wasn’t laughing herself silly.
'Merry Wives' is Shakespeare done right
FLORIDA TODAY
By Pam Harbaugh
 Pictured: Page (Patrick Flick) and Ford (Philip Nolen)
Here's an idea. Tell someone you're taking them to
Orlando to see a bona fide slapstick, fall-on-your-face funny play. Laugh
like crazy, enjoy yourself immensely and then tell them they've just seen
Shakespeare. It's the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre's "The Merry Wives of
Windsor," which is such frothy fun you'll wish it didn't end. Director Jim
Helsinger and his talented cast embellish the production with rich humor,
detailed characters and an easy understanding of the comedy.
Of course, in the more poetic moments, as when two lovers
swoon, Shakespeare's words do become paramount. But here, the story and
characters drive the production. It concerns the corpulent knight Sir John
Falstaff, who drinks and loves too much. While Falstaff made his appearance
in the two "Henry IV" dramas, it is said Queen Elizabeth was so taken by the
silver-tongued character that she requested Shakespeare to include him in
another play. After returning from meeting his demise as an offstage
character in "Henry V," Shakespeare brought Falstaff to life again in this
rustic comedy.
In "Merry Wives," Falstaff is quite broke and tries to dupe
Mrs. Page and Mrs. Ford out of their husbands' money. He decides to feign
love for the two women. His plans fall awry, though, when they discover his
plans. They lead him on to trick and ridicule him. The simple set of two
doors, a curtain and a balcony over all proves a perfect backdrop for the
comic intricacies involving a host of deliciously drawn characters. Dan
McCleary imbues Falstaff with more than two yards' worth of girth. Leading a
ragtag group of disloyal rogues, he schemes for drink and merriment but
always brings a tenderness to his shenanigans.
As Mistresses Page and Ford, Suzanne O'Donnell and Anne Hering are like
stuffed pigeons, cooing and twittering over their schemes for Falstaff.
Philip Nolen is his over-the-top best in the comic role of
Master Ford, the man who fears he is being cuckolded. There's no one better
than Nolen when it comes to double takes, comic timing and expressive
posturing. Nolen never lets Shakespearean dialogue trump his comic sense.
Indeed, the words follow rather than lead. He almost dares the audience not
to laugh when, in an effort to ferret out the truth about his wife, Ford
takes on the alter ego of Spanish Master Brook. As Dr. Caius, Timothy
Williams does the same in his syrupy French accent. Dirty hair falling in
ringlets down to his shoulders, pompous pants tied above the ankles to show
off his lavender stockings are the perfect foils for this nostril flaring,
preening fool who actually says: "If dere be one or two, I shall make-a the
turd."
As Caius' servant, Vandit Bhatt serves one of the funniest
recurring gags when he follows the doctor in a tightly choreographed "walk
this way" fashion. Michael Gill is wonderfully befuddled as Master Slender,
who appears to have an unclear sexual orientation in his forced pursuit of
Ann Page. But watch out, even in the midst of all these fine actors,
newcomer Allison DeCaro nearly steals the show as Mistress Quickly. DeCaro
turns her juicy character into a ripe fruit of a woman. The stage brightens
considerably when she enters. DeCaro is a bundle of stage energy with a
lively face and presence. Like the best of them, she has an ability to turn
the most ambiguous dialogue into crystal clear prose.
And, oh, the look of it all. Because the spring show is not
outdoors this year (the amphitheater is being renovated), we get to see the
entire breadth of the beautiful lighting and props and glorious costumes
that shows designer Denise Warner at her best.
This is truly a treat. Don't miss it.
Gets a Laugh From Every Joke!
INK 19
By Carl Gauze
Hugh Evans (Mark Lainier), The Host (Brad De Planche) and Dr. Caius (Tim
Williams)
Some men are just natural overachievers. Short on cash,
roguish Sir John Falstaff (McCleary) decides to simultaneously seduce two
wealthy yet happily married women. His big mistake was using a form love
letter, and when the women compared notes they decide he's a buffoon (true)
and deserves whatever he gets (true again). As the torture beggins, Mistress
Margaret Page (Herring) and her doting husband George (Patrick Flick) work
to marry their very marketable daughter Anne (Beth Brown) while Mistress
Alice Ford (O'Donnell) puts up with her naturally jealous husband Frank
(Philip Nolan). As they wreak havoc on his person and pride, they involve
husbands, servants, and anyone else who wander on stage. Poor Falstaff, he
just wanted to clean out their wallets and bring them permanent Elizabethan
disgrace.
With the complete "A" list of OSF actors, Merry Wives gets a
laugh from every joke that could possibly connect with a modern audience.
Both Hering and O'Donnell were delightful as they poured torture upon
torture on the men. Tim Williams as Dr .Caius gives one of the finest French
fop performances he's ever done, and Phillip Nolen battles Brad De Planche
for the most overwrought self gnawing award in the show. Best of all,
McCleary's rotund Falstaff never seems particularly upset, as if he's
already in on the jokes played upon his oddly grey head... |
