TOM TITUS -- Theater Review

I must admit up front that “Much Ado About Nothing” has never been

counted among my favorite Shakespearean plays. But then, I had never seen

it done the way South Coast Repertory is serving it up, in the mode of a

1930s screwball comedy.

An imaginative concept can overcome a plethora of structural flaws,

and director Mark Rucker -- who turned “The Taming of the Shrew” into an

Italian street brawl set in 20th century New Jersey a few seasons ago --

has outdone himself in his staging of “Much Ado.” The setting may still

be Messina, Italy, but the flavor is the prewar Hollywood of Busby

Berkeley, where the Jazz Age reigns supreme.

As icing on this most comical cake, we get snippets of W.C. Fields,

Groucho Marx and Clark Gable’s closing line in “Gone With the Wind.”

There’s even a musical combo, which, for more seasoned audiences, will

recall the instrumental buffoonery of the late bandleader Spike Jones.

All these embellishments stretch the production to nearly three hours,

but they also render the artificiality of the plot much easier to digest.

And stellar performances by Douglas Sils and Nike Doukas in the leading

roles of dueling tongues Benedick and Beatrice amplify the enjoyment

considerably.

Sills, who earned a Tony nomination for the title role in “The Scarlet

Pimpernel” on Broadway, retains a bit of that character’s fey flippancy

as he matches words and wits with Doukas’ splendidly sharp-witted

Beatrice. One of the show’s most pleasurable experiences is watching the

reaction of each as they are set up, separately, for romance by their

scheming comrades.

Romance with a near-tragic tinge is conducted by Andrew Heffernan as

Benedick’s soldier buddy and Beatrice’s comely cousin, endearingly

interpreted by Julia Coffey. Heffernan virtually turns callowness into

into an art form as he is duped into believing his bride is not a

“maiden,” as it was delicately put in those days. And Coffey’s horrified

reaction at the wedding confrontation is chillingly effective.

Two superb performances emerge in the supporting ranks -- those of

Tony Pasqualini, as Coffey’s stunned and outraged father, and Michael

Louden, as the mercenary whose chicanery ignites the conflagration. Don

Took and Martha McFarland are splendid as the elder statespeople of the

respective camps.

Director Rucker must have perused the funnies avidly in his youth,

because he has endowed Robert Dorfman’s constable Dogberry with the

comically sinister traits of “Lil’ Abner’s” Evil Eye Fleegle. Hal Landon

Jr. excels physically as his equally dull-witted deputy, while Art

Koustik enjoys a brief, but pungent, turn as the sexton, with John-David

Keller as a pompous partner in crime.

As the villainous Don John, whose scheme to embarrass his nobler

brother (Preston Maybank) triggers the near-disaster, Joshua Fardon is a

study in sneering self-aggrandizement. Marika Becz is fine as Hero’s

duplicitous maid, Margaret.

Once the situation is rectified, the stage belongs to the disciples of

choreographer Art Manke, who turns the entire cast into a musical comedy

troupe. The high-stepping curtain call completes the homage to those

1930s musicals that so influence the SCR production.

“Much Ado About Nothing” may be Shakespeare’s most accurate title, but

the vintage musical comedy theme supporting the version at South Coast

Repertory will sweep you off your feet in a wave of nostalgia.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Thursdays and Saturdays.

FYI

WHAT: “Much Ado About Nothing”

WHERE: South Coast Repertory, 550 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

WHEN: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and

2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays until April 1

COST: $28-$49

CALL: (714) 708-5555