BWW Reviews: Nashville Shakes' TWELFTH NIGHT Casts Off Winter's Chill

Winningly acted, superbly directed and sumptuously conceived, Nashville Shakespeare Festival's Twelfth Night, its midwinter offering at Belmont University's Troutt Theater, is the perfect antidote to the sub-freezing temperatures and bone-chilling winds that have rocked Music City to its weather core this week. Thankfully, Denice Hicks' vision for Twelfth Night warmly ingratiates itself with the fluidity of its presentation, enacted by a delightful cast of NSF veterans and newcomers who cloak their audience in genuinely high-spirited good feelings sure to thaw the most frozen of hearts.

Originally written by Shakespeare as a divertissement for the end of Christmastide (or the Feast of Epiphany), Twelfth Night is one of the bard's most beloved comedies - replete with mistaken identities, oafish buffoons, melodramatic histrionics and all of the other necessities of comedic profundity - and as you are drawn deeper into the story of long-separated twins Viola and Sebastian and their paramours Orsino and Olivia, you see the overwhelming evidence that suggests its themes and characterizations have inspired writers ever since the first actor ambled onstage burping and belching as Shakespeare's legendary Sir Toby.

To support my theory and to offer an example of its theatrical impact, might I suggest you consider the finale of NSF's production: A rollicking, tuneful musical number that features Feste's song filled with "hey nonney-nonneys" and internal rhymes and other literary flourishes set to Rolin Mains' exquisite original score for the show (performed by Mains and violinist Brian Peck). The number is choreographed with elan by Austin Ryan Hunt and all of Hicks' altogether gorgeous and perfectly cast actors perform it with barely contained glee and clearly unbridled enthusiasm. If you are a student of musical theater - or even just an "every once in a while" fan - you'll see that the finales of the iconic musical comedies Anything Goes, Where's Charley?, Oklahoma! and the more recent vintage of The Drowsy Chaperone owe much to Twelfth Night.

While Hicks directs her cast through the story set in the Kingdom of Illyria (which history and geography books tell us was in the Balkans), she sends them on their merry way with a sense of delight and confidence that ensures the audience will not only catch on to their many tricks (and delight in them), but that we will also embrace the characters as assuredly as each actor approaches his or her role. It works splendidly and Hicks' eye for visually intriguing theater pays off in spades for the audience, which is treated to all manner of stage delights as set designer Paul Gattrell, lighting designer Anne Willingham and costume designer June Kingsbury can muster.

The production design is so vital to the storytelling (the show's opening sequence is particularly sublime as it introduces each of the characters with a sense of whimsy underscored by the very best of melodrama and farce combined for maximum effect) that it frames the actors' performances, helping the audience to focus where and when is applicable as the plot progresses, and helping to create a sense of wonder and delight that should be evident in every theatrical adventure.

Hicks' practiced and skillful eye for casting is at its zenith with Twelfth Night, as she brings together a group of players who artfully interact with one another with a sense of discovery and self-assurance. Made up of some of Nashville's most beloved actors (Bobby Wyckoff, Garris Wimmer, Derek Whittaker and Megan Murphy Chambers are ideal examples) as well as some newcomers (Madeline Fendrick, Santiago Sosa and Matt Lytle) and local actors who have more than come into their own (Tamiko S. Robinson, Justin Hand and Antonio P. Nappo), the cast of Twelfth Night may be close to perfect and is a definite feather in the cap of the notoriously self-effacing, self-deprecating, yet essentially legendary Denice Hicks.

Wyckoff, Wimmer, Whittaker and Chambers deliver measured, yet ridiculously hilarious performances. Wyckoff is one of this city's theatrical treasures, able to create masterful comedy with the arch of an eyebrow or the well-calibrated roll of the eyes. Wimmer commands the stage with an ease that stage neophytes can only aspire to, while Whittaker plays a drunk with reckless, yet somehow controlled, abandon. Chambers, still dealing with a broken appendage, works wonders onstage while making her way with the aid of crutches that somehow never become, well, crutches. Together they deliver a master class of stage comedy that is at once urbane and lowbrow.

Perhaps the most surprising comedic performance comes from Justin Hand as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, the foppish and fey pretender to Olivia's affections. He is howlingly, laugh-out-loud funny and can make even a small bit of stage comedy zanier with a misplaced planter on his head that elicits Chambers' wide-eyed reaction, thus making it more delightful.

The tall, dark and handsome Santiago Sosa gives an inspired performance as Orsino, skillfully blending his matinee idol looks with a strong dramatic sense of self...playing against Fendrick with a sense of bemused confusion while pursuing Robinson with zealous ambition. The ethereal beauty also known as Tamiko S. Robinson, without doubt one of Nashville's most gifted actresses, adds more to her already impressive arsenal of theatrical goods with a performance that more than once reminded me of screen goddess Carole Lombard.

Madeline Fendrick makes a stunning debut as Viola/Cesario, beautifully underplaying the broader aspects of her roles which make her comedic payoff all the more impressive and she displays a musicality that's always welcome on a Nashville stage. Matt Lytle, cast as her twin brother Sebastian, is charming and attractive, exuding a confidence that makes his character believable and accessible.

Completing the onstage ensemble are the aforementioned Antonio P. Nappo, whose booming voice was made to declaim Shakespeare from the stage; Daniel Mark Collins, cutting yet another dashing figure; the fresh-faced Austin Ryan Hunt; the lovely Samantha Calatozzo; and the priestly Kenneth Brown.

Nashville Shakespeare Festival will continue its month-long production of Twelfth Night at Belmont's Troutt Theatre until January 25, before transferring the production to Lipscomb University's Collins Auditorium on January 30 and 31.

• Twelfth Night. By William Shakespeare. Directed by Denice Hicks. Presented by Nashville Shakespeare Festival at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre, Nashville, January 8-25, and at Lipscomb University's Collins Auditorium January 30 and 31. Go to www.nashvilleshakes.org for details. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes (with a 15-minute intermission).

Pictured at top (left to right) Tamiko S. Robinson, Madeline Fendrick and Santiago Sosa. -- photo by Jeff Frazier

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