MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING


A newly liberated Sicily provides a fresh new WWII-era time and place for American GI Benedick and Italian ragazza Beatrice to fall in love at not-quite-first sight in A Noise Within’s sparkling 2023 revival of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Like many a Shakespeare comedy before it, Much Ado centers on not just one but two quite different pairs of lovers.

This time around its the aforementioned Benedick (Joshua Bitton) and Beatrice (Erika Soto) who share the stage with Benedick’s comrade in arms Claudio (Stanley Andrew Jackson) and Beatrice’s younger sis Hero (Alexandra Hellquist).

In classic romantic comedy tradition, the latter pair meet cute, fall madly in love, and make plans to be wed.

In equally popular romcom mode, it’s a case of hate at first sight for B & B, which is why Claudio and Hero hatch a scheme with Prince Pedro of Aragon (Frederick Stuart), re-envisioned by director Guillermo Cienfuegos as a British-American movie star, to trick the feuding Beatrice and Benedick into falling for each other by making each believe that the other is already head over heels.

Meanwhile elsewhere on the Italian island, the prince’s illegitimate brother John (Rafael Goldstein), racked with jealousy over his half-brother’s power and his friendship with Claudio, makes his own plans to prevent Claudio and Hero’s wedding from ever taking place.

When last staged by A Noise Within back in 2010, an early-1900s setting gave the production a distinctly Merchant-Ivory look, but gorgeous as that setting was, it served primarily as a visual twist to an Elizabethan classic.

Director Cienfuegos does far more than that this time round by situating Much Ado at a time when the American occupation of the Sicilian isle provided a hopeful glimmer of what a post-Mussolini, post-Hitler world would look like.

This new time and place adds nuances of culture clash to the already heady Shakespearean mix as a pair of vivacious Italian lovelies find themselves wooed by a couple of uniformed all-American he-men in the most colorful of settings.

Benedick makes his first appearance driving a WWII-era jeep, he hides hilariously under a metal tool cart used for repairing said jeep, the comic relief provided Dogsberry (Wesley Mann) is even funnier delivered with an over-the-top “Mamma Mia, that’s-a some spicy meatball” Italian accent, and the song “Sigh No More Ladies” is performed Nashville-style by an engaging, guitar-strumming Nick Petroccione as serviceman Balthazar.

A Noise Within favorite Soto is feisty perfection as Beatrice, and the American edge that the equally terrific Bitton gives Benedick only adds to the Hepburn-Tracy friction we know from the get-go will turn into love.

Jackson and Hellquist make for the most charming of B-plot lovers in roles that give the the talented, attractive duo ample opportunity to display dramatic chops amidst the comedy.

Stuart oozes matinee idol charisma as Don Pedro and Goldstein seethes to hissable effect as the envious, invidious Don John before shrinking a few inches and adding a few dozen years to his age as Dogberry’s wizened comrade in comic relief Verges.

Michael Uribes and Randy Thompson make for a pair of deliciously amusing plotters, Jeanne Syquia and an in-drag Petroccione provide first-rate feminine support as Margaret and Ursula, and Mann doubles effectively as Antonio and Thompson as Friar Francis.

Tony Pasqualini does his accustomed fine work as Leonato, with ensemble members Alejandro Hernandez and Arely Vianet adding local and military color throughout the show.

Angela Balogh Calin’s picturesque scenic design, Christine Cover Ferro’s 1940s military uniforms and frocks, Tony Valdes’s early-’40s wigs and makeup, and Stephen Taylor’s just-right period props transport us to a Sicily bathed in a golden glow by lighting designer Ken Booth.

Sound designer Chris Moscatiello underscores the action with a pitch-perfect mix of tuneful Italian canzoni and Glenn Miller-style big-band hits that allow choreographer Joyce Guy to showcase the two couples in energetic jitterbug mode.

Justin Blanchard, Will Block, Mitch Connelly, Bert Emmett, Mitchell Lam Hau, Kodi Jackman, Edgar Landa, Nicole Ohara, and Carene Rose are understudies.

Rachel Berney Needleman is assistant director. Chloe Willey is stage manager and Raven Chatt is assistant stage manager. Miranda Johnson-Haddad is dramaturg and Susan Wilder is text coach. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

It wouldn’t be an A Noise Within season without a William Shakespeare classic, and with at least a couple dozen of them under the company’s belt, it’s no wonder Much Ado About Nothing scores yet another Shakespearean bullseye.

A Noise Within, 3352 East Foothill Blvd, Pasadena.
www.ANoiseWithin.org

–Steven Stanley
February 12, 2023
Photos: Craig Schwartz

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