So maybe this fall, you’re planning on that weekend trip to the Blue Ridge, to enjoy the foliage and all its wonders.
Yeah, some folks just love watching trees dumping tons of desiccated, dead leaves all over the place.
Big whoop.
If you want to see something truly spectacular, might I suggest you include a stop in Staunton, Virginia, where, after a tedious day of leaf counting (really?) you can step into the Blackfriars Playhouse and laugh your tail off with a repertory acting company at the height of its comedic powers.
The American Shakespeare Center’s current production of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of those amazing, madcap, one-laugh-per-nanosecond productions that are only possible with a professional company that is so relaxed and spontaneous in their work that the hard work of stage comedy can seem as natural as breathing.
Or, in the case of Sir John Falstaff, as easy as inhaling a pint of the good stuff.
Director Dawn Monique Williams has brought some of the best work out of this company — and that’s saying a lot, considering their already superb turns in Macbeth and The Importance of Being Earnest, both of which are already locked into the fall repertory. She has created a freewheeling environment onstage that leaves the actors constantly trying to top each other in mayhem. Period costumes (tastefully designed by Nia Safarr Banks) are mashed together with a series of anachronistic props, the presence of which only adds to the fun. The results are almost indescribably hilarious (well, almost, because I still have some column inches to cover here, so I’d better get busy).
Merry Wives is a classic example of Shakespeare, in true Hollywood style, shamelessly making that extra buck with a quickie sequel, featuring one of his most perfectly ridiculous characters. In this case, we follow the misfortunes of Sir John as he tries repeatedly to con some money (and maybe a little nookie) out of a couple well-to-do women in the London suburbs.
That his attempts at courtship are as ill-conceived as they are poorly executed doesn’t faze him in the least; and Kenn Hopkins Jr. as Falstaff is the perfect straight man for all the pranks that the women of Windsor are about to play on him. He is as deadly earnest as a drunk man can be, especially when the money for his bar tab is at stake. In terms of mental acuity, however, he is no match for objects of his intentions, Mistress Page (Leah Gabriel) and Mistress Ford (Sara Linares), who realize pretty quickly that they have both received the exact same “love” letter from him (performed as a kind of klutzy serenade by Hopkins and companions). Humiliation is piled upon humiliation, and by the end of the evening even their husbands are in on the joke, and a climactic rumble in a nearby park features nearly the entire town of Windsor conspiring against Falstaff — all in good fun, of course.
Given that marital fidelity is one of the main themes here, the preshow gets off to a fine start with Aidan O’Reilly and K. P. Powell giving a good, soulful rendering of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me.” That they play the husbands of the two wives Falstaff is trying to woo only adds to the fervor. On the flip side, Hopkins takes a turn with Rik Rok and Shaggy’s reggae comic crossover hit “It Wasn’t Me,” on the subject of — what else? — flagrant infidelity. And the company rounds out the intermission music with a rousing chorus of Cindi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” which sums up the whole point of the show, when you come to think of it.
In the never-underestimate-the-bit-parts department, Britt Michael Gordon has entirely too much fun alternating among the roles of three suitors, all of whom vie for the hand of Anne Page (played with relish by Summer England). The climax of Gordon’s performance comes when, after a series of exits and entrances covering the switching of roles, he attempts to perform all three nearly simultaneously — must be seen to be believed, he pulls it off to great effect. Meanwhile, Angela Iannone, one of the treasures of the season, keeps you in stitches with her turns as the baritone Justice Shallow and the squeaky-mousie Mistress Quickly, who is as wickedly clever as she seems, well, otherwise.
So, what’s your excuse? Face it, dead leaves are gonna be everywhere you look; but this production is only around for the next couple of months and you’d be fools to pass it up.
Running Time: Two hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission.
The Merry Wives of Windsor plays through November 23, 2024, (in repertory with The Importance of Being Ernest through October 20, 2024, Macbeth through November 23, and Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors from October 17 to November 24) presented by American Shakespeare Center at the Blackfriars Playhouse, 10 South Market Street, Staunton, VA. For tickets ($28+), call the box office at (540) 851-3400, or purchase them online. ASC also offers a Local Rush deal of 50% off tickets on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Learn more here.
Cast and artistic team credits for The Merry Wives of Windsor are online here (scroll down).
COVID Safety: ASC no longer requires proof of vaccination or universal asking. ASC is monitoring local, state, and federal guidelines and will update this policy as necessary.
SEE ALSO:
A ‘Macbeth’ for our moment at American Shakespeare Center (review by Andrew Walker White, July 23, 2024)
Wickedly funny ‘Importance of Being Earnest’ at American Shakespeare Center (review by Andrew Walker White, August 1, 2024)
