Joss Whedon’s popular 2012 movie version of “Much Ado About Nothing” set the war of wit between Shakespeare’s reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedick in the current day. Now Seattle Shakespeare artistic director George Mount stages his self-admitted favorite Shakespeare in the glamorous surroundings of the mid-century Riviera.
Think noontime martinis, Dean Martin, haute couture and handsome men in uniform — the whole accompanied by original 1950s jazz-light compositions by Michael Brockman, co-artistic director of Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra (SRJO). SRJO members pre-recorded the pieces in a first time collaboration between Seattle Shakespeare and the musical group dedicated to the conservation of jazz of all eras.
“Much Ado About Nothing” tells the tale of two very different pairs of lovers. Beatrice (Jennifer Lee Taylor) and Benedick (Matt Shimkus) engage in a constant battle of wits, giving rise to some of the funniest, barbed exchanges in Shakespeare; their declaration to never wed throws down a gauntlet to their friends to engage in matchmaking. Virginal Hero (Brenda Joyner) and Claudio (Jay Myers) are so tongue-tied by shyness and love that they are scarcely able to speak in one another’s presence.
Two concurrent conspiracies drive the plot: one well-intentioned and devised by Benedick and Claudio’s friend and military commander, Don Pedro (Jim Gall), to force the warring Beatrice and Benedick to fall in love; the other concocted by Don Pedro’s envious, Iago-like bastard brother, Don John (Nick Rempel), to destroy Hero and Claudio’s happiness by slandering Hero’s purity. Luckily, the malapropism-prone Constable Dogberry (David Quicksall) discovers Don John’s co-conspirators and saves the day before comedy turns to tragedy.
Mount’s apt overlay of mid-century Hollywood types onto Shakespeare’s characters adds to the fun. The joshing, masculine camaraderie of naval officers Don Pedro, Benedick and Claudio is reminiscent of the portrayal of the bonds of men at sea and at war in films such as “Mr. Roberts.” Beatrice is Rosalind Russell to Hero’s Joan Fontaine. Dogberry and the members of the Watch are portrayed as wartime Civil Defense. Villains Borachio (Noah Greene) and Conrade (Christopher Morson) channel, respectively, Brando in “On the Waterfront” and Elisha Cook Jr., while kindly Irish priest Friar Francis (Keith Dahlgren) tends to his flock.
Taylor and Shimkus excel as the bickering couple. Shimkus has the audience in stitches during a long sequence where he makes ample use of the onstage water feature while “eavesdropping” on the conspirators discussing Beatrice’s love for him. Taylor displays humanity even as she mocks; her Beatrice is a feminist but no shrew. Together, the pair display chemistry amidst the fireworks.
The overall excellent cast still requires some shout-outs. Gall’s Don Pedro channels the casual manliness of a latter-day leading man. Joyner displays fiber beneath her sweet, demure exterior in her second excursion as Hero (she also appeared in Seattle Shakespeare’s 2010 production). Known for his fluid and natural delivery of Shakespearean dialect, Peter Jacobs once again excels as Hero’s loving but easily misled father, Leonato. Quicksall’s Dogberry delivers his malapropisms with the authority of the truly clueless.
Craig Wollam manages a transformation of the tiny Center House Theater stage into the Riviera, complete with well-used water feature and marina. Costumes by Doris Black are glamorous and plentiful with, Hollywood-like, a gorgeous new frock for the women every scene.
The aforementioned SRJO musical accompaniment adds a period feel, most notably in what may be the first time Balthasar (Justin Huertas) croons “Sigh No More Ladies” (“Hey, Nonny, Nonny”) with a jazz tempo.
“Much Ado About Nothing” plays through Nov. 17 at the Seattle Center House Theater. For more information, visit www.seattleshakespeare.org.
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