Twelfth Night
Shakespeare is not my first choice of theatre. Certainly not because it's bad writing, but because there are so many bad actors trying too hard to be too good, turning enlightening poetry into atrocious garble. See Yee?!
"Twelfth Night," playing at the Crown City Theatre Company in North Hollywood (now with air conditioning!), presents Shakespeare lovers' favorite farce with quick, pace-setting music arranged by William A. Reilly.
Joanne McGee directs the antics of her characters, several of whom seem to have digested more than a few gallons of energy beverages before the show. (That's a good thing.)
In "Twelfth Night," two twins, Viola (Carrie-ann Pishnak) and Sebastian (Bryan Gaston), are separated during a shipwreck, each thinking the other is dead.
Pretending to be a boy, Viola takes the name, Cesario, and quickly falls in love with Orsino, the Duke of Illyria (Shawn Cahill). The Duke, however, is in love with Lady Olivia, divinely played by Jennifer Hoyt.
When Sebastian and Viola reunite in the final act, the confused cast of characters watches as she becomes a woman again and confesses her love to the Duke. The former object of the Duke's affections, Olivia, is now married to Sebastian, having earlier mistaken him for Cesario.
There were a few outstanding performances, such as:
Daniel J. Roberts as Feste, who splashes us with flamboyant characteristics of a human reptile, adding his tongue to the cast list and substituting his multi-colored hair for a jester's hat.
Gary Lamb, who never breaks from his ever so cleverly created character of Sir Toby Belch, even through the end of the curtain call, while the others "are done."
Jon Mullich's portrayal of Malvolio, which is quite hilarious, combined with Tarta Maria Smitheman's facial reactions (as Maria), solid enough to steal the spotlight without having leading lines.
Gaston also blends well with the cast alongside his twin sister, Pishnak, whose Cesario adds the perfect amount of boy-remaining-a-woman so as not to get caught.
This production is a terrific way to start or end your weekend plans.
I'm EXTREMELY proud of this company for pricing their tickets realistically as other groups continue to up their prices in order to break even while using promotional discount websites. At ten dollars per ticket, for a moment I thought that I was in the year 1998. That's reason enough to support the Crown City Theatre.
The cast also includes: Ethan Stone, James Calvert, and William Potter.
ON A GRADING SCALE - B+