Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Excerpted from the review by by Peter Filichia
Star-Ledger Staff

What's not to 'Like'?
There are few flaws in the Shakespeare Theatre's latest production

Victoria Mack is lovely when she reveals her feminine side. Here's an actress who intrigues us just with the regal way she sits in a chair.

As Rosalind's suitor, Orlando, Kevin Isola is charmingly naive, a cute whelp full of puppy love. He's so smitten that when he talks about her, he virtually skips across the stage. On the other end of the spectrum is his older brother Oliver, who's effectively played as a tightly wound neurotic by Clark Carmichael. (He's quickly becoming New Jersey theater's most valuable player, what with his third appearance in as many months at three different playhouses.)

The two warring dukes are well played, too. Edward James Hyland makes it clear that Frederick isn't proud of himself when he makes a bad decision. As the brother he exiled, Richard Bourg shows that one can undergo difficulties and still maintain a youthful spirit.

Then there's Jacques, the banished duke's attendant, enacted by Scott Wentworth, who's giving one of the season's most solid performances. The world-weariness he exudes in his famous "Seven Ages of Man" speech could depress a hyena. For most of the night, he stuffs his hands in his pockets, giving the impression that he'd do anything to avoid a handshake. What's especially smart, though, is that he gives a sense that he longs to join in when others are having fun.

There's certainly a good deal of fun, though, in the delicious way that Monte uses her imagination to stage a wrestling match. Fight director Rick Sordelet makes the tussle look more realistic than many such contests on TV. To be sure, this sequence is melancholy-free.

TheatreScene.net

Sunday, December 4, 2005
Excerpted from the review by by Simon Saltzman

Leave it to Shakespeare to bring us hope at the holiday season.

There is an adjustment of seasons in keeping with the time of year. The Midlands Forest of Arden is now filled with hanging strands of crocheted frosty looking snowflakes that move with a touch like fragile trees. In the forest, the exiles have found refuge while continuing to embrace life with both expectation and sophistication.

However, the dirty political doings are only an excuse for a masquerading Rosalind (Victoria Mack) to win the easily duped Orlando, the devoted Celia to beguile the wicked Oliver; the "roynish" Touchstone to seduce the provocative Audrey; and the disdainful Phebe to settle for the lovesick Silvius. Far be it from me to say whether or not they will all be united in wedded bliss before it is time for us to go home.

There is ample use of music in the forest for both singing and dancing and it is well done. The traditional songs, mostly consigned to the personable MacAdam Smith, who plays the troubadour Amiens, balance the mood of melancholia that the cynical Jaques (Scott Wentworth) seems so intent on rhapsodizing. As with his "seven ages of man" lecture, Wentworth can be commended for delivering the most impressive, persuasive and most poetic performance, virtually owning the stage when he is on it.

The lovers and other strangers have both the humor and the philosophy of the play to uphold. Kevin Isola may be slight in stature but he affords the feisty Orlando a boyishly sturdy energy. The show essentially belongs to the masquerading Rosalind and a vivacious Victoria Mack doesn't disappoint as the by-love-possessed daughter of the banished Duke.

Good impressions are made by Clark Carmichael as Orlando's very bad older brother Oliver and Richard Bourg as the noble and banished Duke Senior. Larry Swansen is touching as Adam, Orlando's faithful old servant and Tarah Flanagan has fun with her role as the shepherdess Phebe who cannot help deriding the love-sick Silvius (Patrick Toon). A rousing wrestling match between Orlando and the court wrestler Charles (Nathan Kaufman) is especially well staged by fight director Rick Sordelet and deserving of the round of applause it received.

Friday, December 9, 2005

Review by William Westhoven
Special to the Daily Record

Warm up to 'As You Like It' in theater's wintry staging

The snow that fell overnight last weekend turned the area into a wintry wonderland. The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey beat Mother Nature to the punch by a few hours with the opening-night premiere of "As You Like It" Saturday at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre in Madison.

Artistic director Bonnie J. Monte, envisioning the Bard's light romantic comedy as a holiday gift to her loyal audience, emphasized the warm spirits inhabiting the frosty Forest of Arden on a set that surrounded the characters in icy white and blue.

A sitting log was decorated with oversized snowflake doilies, while the forest trees were represented by long strips of white macramé dangling from the rafters. At one point, one of the characters builds a real fire right onstage.

Of course, it also snowed, and a small scrap of mistletoe initiated a cute little twist during the epilogue.

Truthfully, these seasonal indicators did little to paint "As You Like It" as a true holiday show, but the undeniable feel-good mood of this show was enough to put anyone in a holiday-quality happy place. And a terrific cast pulls you in and wraps this irresistible tale around you like a thick fleece blanket.

Let's review the facts of the fiction, which bubbles over with memorable characters and rich veins of language.

The focus is on Rosalind (Victoria Mack), daughter of a kindly Duke (Richard Bourg) who has been deposed by his evil brother, Frederick (Edward James Hyland). When Rosalind is also banished, she heads to the Forest of Arden , where her father and his followers live in a somewhat idyllic exile.

Celia (Rebecca Bellingham), Frederick 's daughter, accompanies Rosalind on her journey, during which Rosalind goes undercover as a man to discourage the mashers they'll surely encounter along the way. A fool, Touchstone (Mineart), completes the expedition.

When they get to the forest, they run into Orlando (Kevin Isola), to whom Rosalind pledged her heart in an earlier scene. Orlando also was banished because his father was loyal to the banished Duke.

These and other foibles in the forest are observed with bemusement by Jacques, who embraces melancholy like Mozart wrote music. His sad commentary adds depth and counterpoint to a story that is otherwise lighter than a soufflé. Jacques is played with weary style by Scott Wentworth, who delivers the famous "seven ages of man" (and the immortal "all the world's a stage" speech) like it's six too many.

But Rosalind is still posing as a man, setting off a series of romantic confusions worthy of a "Love, American Style"episode. Caught up in the heartstrings are Touchstone and a shepherdess, Audrey (Colleen Piquette), who tends to some silly stuffed sheep, and flighty Phebe (Tarah Flanagan), who falls for the disguised Rosalind, frustrating her suitor, Silvius (Patrick Toon).

Later, when Orlando 's brother, Oliver (Clark Carmichael), shows up, sparks fly with Celia and a fourth couple adds kindling to the fire.

The players are, top to bottom, agreeably charming. Particularly so is Mack, who caught many by surprise on this stage in 2003 with her stunning Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion" and cements her leading-lady status here with another strong and seductive performance.

Mineart, another audience favorite since his powerful work as Lenny in last year's "Of Mice and Men," shows off some range as Touchstone. Wentworth demanded vocal cheers at the curtain call as well.

The supporting cast also impressed, particularly Flanagan, who made a very funny Phebe, and Nathan Kaufman, who first plays a confident wrestler, then returns as the addle-brained William.

Kaufman's wrestling scene with Isola, it should be noted, is delightfully staged and worth the price of admission by itself. Once again, attaboys to fight director extraordinaire Rick Sordelet, although Monte's razor-sharp wit is also clearly evident here. Vince McMahon only wishes his WWF shows were this entertaining. Of course, his writers ain't exactly Shakespeare.

It may not make you think Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or any other holiday, but if you love Shakespeare, this is Shakespeare as you like it.

The Princeton Packet

Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Review by Stuart Duncan

For Time Off

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey re-envisions one of the Bard's happiest plays.

As You Like It is generally perceived as Shakespeare's happiest play. The current production at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey on the campus of Drew University in Madison certainly recognizes that theme. Director Bonnie Monte has filled her vision with colorful forest inhabitants who indeed "find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything." In keeping with the season, she even sprinkles snow amidst the joy of four weddings.

   But there is a dark side to the play, not often visited, and it is here that director Monte finds a pause within the happiness. It is the melancholy Jacques who tempers this staging, standing apart (literally) from the others and with seeming casualness questions the most sacred of thoughts and finally refuses, if graciously, to join the festivities, heading off alone for a new life. The role, as played by Scott Wentworth, completely satisfies the director's concept of the play as " a heavy dark chocolate cake infused with layers of marshmallow fluff."

   And what delicious fluff: the lovers (Victoria Mack as Rosalind and Kevin Isola as Orlando) do indeed "please." Mark Mineart romps through the role of Touchstone, the court clown finding little difficulty in practicing his art in the forest. The rustics — David Douglas Smith, Patrick Toon, Colleen Piquette, Nathan Kaufman and Tarah Flanagan — fill the secondary love plot lines happily. Richard Bourg lends dignity to the role of Duke Senior, banished but unbowed.

   And the happy attitude continues even to the company's fight director. When Orlando wrestles the court bully, Charles, New Jersey's resident fight director, Rick Sordelet, has devised a real gem for us. But the moment you will remember, long after the curtain calls, is Jacques all by himself, musing: "All the world's a stage," not as a speech long revered by high school English teachers, but rather as a nobleman banished to a forest, looking more like a thoughtful academic than a courtier. He is midway into the speech before you realize it.

   And, as he finishes, not in triumph, but rather sadness, you realize just how dark this cake is that we are being offered — and how rich.