There’s no stage as such in Two Gentlemen of Verona. The curtain lifts on a full scale symphony right out in the open and the beginning scenes feature actors in street clothes who are reading and singing aloud from script books. This makes it clear right off that Director Amanda Dehnert and John Guare and Mel Shapiro, who adapted Shakespeare’s script to song, were not afraid to deconstruct and redefine the play. They must be given credit for that at least. It’s an intriguing concept: take a classic Shakespearean comedy and set it to rock music. Why not? It’s been achieved successfully with The Tempest becoming the sci-fi musical Return to the Forbidden Planet. There’s no reason in theory it couldn’t work with Two Gentlemen of Verona as well.
The question becomes whether it works in practice. And sadly, it often doesn’t. The production begins with people in modern street clothes against a plain black stage (where again the musical accompaniment is obvious) which might have been all well and good if that were the consistent tone, but it isn’t. For no apparent reason, actors sometimes dress like modern hipsters but then change into classic Shakespearean Renaissance style outfits or other period dress inspired by the 30’s and 40’s. If you’re going to go with a certain “style” or “era” other than traditional, that’s fine, but you have to stick with it otherwise it seems…well, messy.
This jumping around also goes for props and stage work. Sometimes the actors just appear on a black stage, stripped down and purist style, but other times massive, almost corny elements are thrown in, like cupid sending out his arrow or a guy holding a big clock to symbolize the passage of time. Either approach could have worked well with consistency, but mixing and matching styles is distracting.
There are plot changes as well. Some work well, including Julia’s discovery that she’s pregnant or the Duke of Milan’s war campaigns. (Ken Page has a good time with the role). Others do not. In a single song, Sylvia throws over her former lover, Eglamour, for Valentine (an earnest performance by Terence Archie), a plot twist that does nothing for the story besides painting Sylvia as fickle. (Eleasha Gamble who plays Sylvia has a stunning voice).
Since so little of Shakespeare’s beautiful language has been kept in this adaption to free up space for the musical numbers, it’s pretty darn hard to get invested in anyone. An exception is Javier Munoz’s extraordinary performance as Proteus; he manages to take one of the more contemptible characters in one of old Will’s comedies and invest him with dimension and charisma. Munoz doesn’t make Proteus likeable but does make him interesting and identifiable. Other cast members don’t fare as well. Arielle Jacobs as Julia can hit the high notes and knows how to dance, but the accent she kept using for Julia (was it supposed to be Italian or Spanish?!?) was an irritating distraction.
Two Gentlemen of Verona certainly has its moments (the number “Bring All the Boys Back Home” was a hilarious sendup of the military machine), but the production is something of a noble failure. And a noble failure is still a failure.
Photos, from top:
Terence Archie as Valentine
Eleasha Gamble as Silvia and Terence Archie as Valentine
Javier Munoz as Proteus, Robin De Jesus as Speed and Danny Rutigliano as Launce
Two Gentlemen of Verona (a rock opera)
Directed by Amanda Dehnert
Adapted by Joh Guare and Mel Shapiro
Based on the play by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Sidney Harman Hall
610 F Street, NW
