Illyria: What You Will

 

To the regret of every lover of musical theatre in New York, this season will only see one new Peter Mills musical at Prospect Theatre Company. Last season gave us both The Rockae, a rock adaptation of The Bacchae, and Honor, his Asian take of As You Like It. In the Spring, we'll get Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge, a new bluegrass take on J.M. Synge's Playboy of the Western World . Before any of these contemporary musical versions of classic plays, Mills wrote Illyria in 2002, an adaptation at Twelfth Night, which enjoyed a run at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey two years later that begot a professional recording.

You always come back to the basics, as they say, and for its tenth anniversary celebration, Prospect is reviving a somewhat restructured Illyria. Lyrical and lovely, the show doesn't stick religiously to the original play, but focuses more on the themes of love and loss, hubris and humiliation that permeate Shakespeare's dark comedy. This decision freed Mills (composer, lyricist and librettist) to create something unique and fresh out of a classic, giving it new life and energy.

And for all the show's many merits, however, that energy seems to be somewhat lacking in the current revival. The music is as lush as ever, the script sharp and funny, and the lyrics brilliant (if "Save One" and "Cakes and Ale" are just a little repetitive, the ingenious rhymes in every number more than compensate), but the pacing seems slow, and the rearranged songs seem to focus more on emotion than plot. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when most of the action happens in the book, it doesn't make the songs as dramatically rich as they could be.

Co-adaptor Cara Reichel's direction is likewise gentle and mellow, letting emotions grow and develop over the course of the whole musical rather than one scene or moment. This works to great effect in songs like "Whoever You Are," in which the clueless Orsino professes his love to an unwitting recipient (saying anything more would spoil a terrific joke), and we see an emotional payoff that has been building for the entire show. For other scenes, however, the energy flags from moment to moment, making for a somewhat uneven evening.

As the disguised Viola, Prospect's resident diva Jessica Grové sings as beautifully as ever, and proves that she can play an innocent ingénue just as well as she plays a sassy society girl or a devious KGB agent. Brandon Andrus plays Orsino as a blustery matinee idol, both funny and charming, and his solo “Whoever You Are” is a great highlight of the show. Laura Shoop is a lovely Olivia, and Tina Stafford plays Maria with plenty of wit. Dan Sharkey and Ryan Dietz are fine as Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, respectively, but are given too little to do with their characters to make them truly memorable. As Sebastian, Mitch Dean mostly gets to act by reacting to the insanity around him—fortunately, his facial expressions alone are priceless.

As the “professional fool” Feste, Jim Poulos steals every scene he is in, effortlessly combining wit and charm to infuse the play with plenty of energy. Jimmy Ray Bennett steals every scene he is in as Malvolio, making the character unapologetically and deliciously smarmy and smug. His “mad” scene is comic brilliance, filled with the wild energy that the rest of the show could have used. When Poulos and Bennet share a scene, it becomes a set-chewing contest, in the best of all possible ways. 

Erica Beck Hemminger’s set—steps forming an arch against a backdrop of white gauze and blue sky—is appropriately elegant and dreamy, and Naomi Wolff’s costumes are a good fit for a “Once Upon a Time” romantic fantasy. As Olivia is one of the few characters who changes costume throughout the show, her growth from mourning black to sensual color is quite lovely. Christine O’Grady’s choreography is most impressive in its symbolism, especially when she turns Feste into a maypole around which all of the other characters rotate. Daniel Feyer makes the seven-piece band sound like a full orchestra—an impressive feat, considering that some recent Broadway productions haven’t been able to do the same.

After the high-energy productions of The Pursuit of Persephone, Iron Curtain, The Rockae and Honor, this mellower musical seems a bit of a respite. Illyria is a land where “madness rules,” as Mills’ lyrics state in the opening (and closing) song, but at least in this production, there seems a distinct lack of wildness or insanity. Even so, with its gorgeous score and smart book, Illyria is better than many other musicals currently on Broadway, and families would be hard pressed to find a better show for an evening out.

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