A screwball 1930s
comedy
By Alec Clayton
Published in the Weekly Volcano, May 18, 2017
 |
| Dan Overton as Oberon and Orit Wernor as Puck, photo courtesy Olympia Little Theatre |
Shakespeare in Hollywood by legendary playwright Ken Ludwig,
author of such popular plays as Lend Me a
Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo and Twentieth
Century, brings a bit of magic and a lot of mayhem to Olympia Little
Theatre. The concept is brilliant, even as it asks audiences to forsake logic
and believability a tad more than such a comedy should.
It
is 1934. Hollywood mogul Jack Warner (Rich Young) has hired the famous German
expatriate director Max Reinhardt (Paul Parker) to direct a film version of
Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s
Dream starring leading man Dick
Powell (Paul Wirtz). Magically, the fairies Oberon (Dan Overton) and Puck (Orit
Wernor) from Shakespeare’s play visit the set. They immediately see that actors
in Hollywood are treated like gods. Conveniently for the plot of this whacky
comedy, the actors who had been cast to play Oberon and Puck are suddenly no
longer available, and the fairies are offered the opportunity to play
themselves in the movie. They jump at the opportunity.
Into this madcap mix a
slew of unlikely romances are born when pollen from Shakespeare’s magical
flower gets in people’s eyes and each proceeds to fall madly in love with the
next person they see. Mostly unnecessary to the plot, a handful of celebrities
show up, some in cameos and some in more substantial roles: Hollywood gossip
columnist Louella Parsons (Rhoni Lozier), comedians Joe E. Brown (Conner
Nuckols) and Groucho Marx (Alex Hume), and actor James Cagney (also played by
Hume); not to mention “Tarzan” (played by Nuckols, who triples as another of
the Warner brothers).
Also appearing in
various small roles are Randall Graham and the play’s director, Kendra Malm as
“Tina Tian.”
The acting is uneven
with some of the characters who play multiple roles — there are many of these —
being good in some parts and ridiculous others. Nuckols, for instance, is good
as Sam Warner but totally uninteresting as Joe E. Brown, Bob Lozier is good as
the nasty censor Will Hayes but not so good as Harry Warner and Moose Tarseid,
and Humes’s Groucho is unconvincing while being too much like countless other
Groucho imitations. Fortunately, he’s on stage in that role for only a few
seconds.
The standout performer
is Overton as the fairy king Oberon. He plays Oberon as delightfully arrogant,
and he enjoyably displays constant surprise at what life is like in the 20th
century. Lozier is a good Louella Parsons, and Young is humorously dictatorial
as studio head Jack Warner. Jenni Fleming as starlet Lydia Lansing and Maria
Densley as actress Olivia Darnell are both good.
Will Hayes falling in
love with his own image in a mirror is a comic treasure.
The funniest bit in the
whole show opening night was a wardrobe malfunction, which I’m pretty sure was
an accident. I hope they’ll incorporate it into all remaining shows.
Shakespeare in Hollywood is really, really funny in spots and as
clumsy, over-acted and ridiculous as a bad high school comedy in other moments.
Shakespeare in
Hollywood,
7:25 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 1:55 p.m. Sunday, through Sept. 18, Olympia
Little Theatre, 1925 Miller Ave., NE, Olympia, tickets $18-$20, available at Yenney
Music, 2703 Capital Mall Dr., Olympia, 360.786.9484, http://olympialittletheater.org/
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