Review: AS YOU LIKE IT at Great Lakes Theater

With a repeat of its mission "to bring the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theatre to the widest possible audience," Great Lakes Theatre opened the second half of its 61st season with a pleasing version of William Shakespeare's enchanting comedy, AS YOU LIKE IT.

Ironically, the play was the first production of the theater at Lakewood Civic Auditorium, their original home. It was at LCA that the most famous of GLT's alums, Tom Hanks, starred in his first professional performance, which garnered him a Cleveland Critic Circle's Best Actor recognition in the Bard's TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.

AS YOU LIKE IT, was also the first show produced in the Ohio Theatre, the new home of GLT after it left Lakewood and moved to downtown Cleveland in 1982 to become the first resident company of what is now called Playhouse Square, the largest contiguous cluster of theatres west of New York.

According to the program's notes, "Classic theater holds the capacity to illuminates truth and enduring values, celebrate and challenge human nature and actions, reel in eloquent language, preserve the traditions of diverse cultures and generate communal spirit. At one point there were many professional theatre companies in the country, but, presently GLT is one of only a handful of American theaters that have stayed the course as a classic theater."

The play highlights the usurping and injustice on the property of others, but ends, as all Shakespeare comedies do, with reconciliation and forgiveness. It also uses the Bard's oft-writing devices of concealed identities and cross-dressing.

AS YOU LIKE IT follows its heroine, Rosalind, as she flees persecution in her uncle's court, accompanied by her cousin Celia, to find safety and, eventually, love, in the Forest of Arden.

In the forest, they encounter a variety of memorable characters, notably the melancholy Jacques, who speaks many of Shakespeare's most famous speeches (such as "All the world's a stage", "too much of a good thing" and "A fool! A fool! I met a fool in the forest")."

Though not the most critically praised of Shakespeare's plays, the script, which is an audience favorite, the script has been adapted for radio, film, and musical theatre.

The GLT staging, with effective scenic and lighting designs by Rick Martin, pleasing costume designs by Kim Krumm Sorenson and incidental music and sound designs by Matthew Webb, is directed by Charles Fee, the theater's Producing Artistic Director.

AS YOU LIKE IT seems like a perfect vehicle for Fee, noted for his love of farcical double-takes, exaggerated characterizations and oft-uncontrolled humorous staging devices. For some reason, Fee decided to control his usual dynamics and present a more pastoral approach to the script. Yes, there is humor, but of a more controlled nature than is the Fee trademark.

Jodi Dominick is lovely as Rosalind. Studly Nick Steen is his usual appealing self as Orlando. Mandi Jenson charms as Celia. M. A. Taylor makes for an appealing Adam, the faithful servant who follows Orlando into exile.

CAPSULE JUDGMENT: AS YOU LIKE IT, is an audience- pleasing production, which should make for a fine introduction to the works of Shakespeare for any student groups who will come to the Hanna Theatre as part of the GLT'S mission to introduce not only adults, but students to classical theater.

AS YOU LIKE IT runs through April 8, 2023.

Next up: AIN'T MISBEHAVIN', the jazzy musical celebration of Fats Waller. April 28-May 2. For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to GreatLakesTheater.org

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