Style Weekly: "As You Like It" is "vibrant, witty"

From Style Weekly:

Contract of Breeches

The Richmond Shakespeareans sign up for a lot of costume changes in a play already full of mistaken identities.

by Mary Burruss

I confess: Richmond Shakespeare’s concept of five people playing all the parts in a Shakespeare play is often distracting, and at times I find the prop/costume changes awkward. But the five-actor version of “As You Like It,” playing at Second Presbyterian Church, has made me a convert to this type of production.

Director Andrew Hamm has done a masterful job of choreographing a vibrant, witty homage to this prototype of romantic comedy. The transitions were seamless, and the onstage costume changes mostly worked well.

The many characters who romped through the forest of Arden, celebrating the rites of spring with music and dance, could threaten to get mixed up — especially considering the multiple identities already at work within the story — but there was an ease and confidence to the production that precluded any disorientation.

Hamm warmed up the audience with a piano-accompanied set of contemporary love songs. It set the tone for a breezy show, delivering a cast of characters that exuded playfulness. Frank Creasy (as Charles, the Duke’s wrestler) pushed the limits of kayfabe during the better-than-WWE wrestling scene with Patrick Bromley’s Orlando.

Sunny LaRose was adorable as the love-struck Rosalind (disguised as the youth Ganymede in the forest). LaRose’s onstage relationship with Julia Rigby’s Celia portrayed a connection whose bond was “stronger than that of sisters.” And despite the wonderful silliness of Creasy’s dancing and Bromley and Adam Minks in women’s roles, the gender-bending performances of the two natural girls were the strongest overall.

The beautiful costumes designed by Rebecca Cairns blended soft, earthy tones of creams, gold and floral prints that intertwined through all the costumes like ivy on a tree trunk. The effect was a cohesive, well-tailored look that added a dash of sophistication and sumptuousness to the show. Cairns not only designed a whimsical collection of costumes, but also managed to define characters with minimal pieces that functioned well for those quick transformations.

Times-Dispatch: "This is as I like it."

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

A rollicking version of 'As You Like It'
Saturday, Mar 29, 2008 - 12:08 AM
By SUSAN HAUBENSTOCK
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

It was when Adam Mincks went to put on the tulle skirt that things went over the top.

Shakespeare's "As You Like It" depends on gender switching (the heroine, Rosalind, disguises herself as a man), and Richmond Shakespeare often depends on a tiny cast to portray multiple characters without regard to their sex.

But this five-actor "As You Like It" includes enough gender-bending to spin your head around.

It's the tale of Orlando, who falls in love with Rosalind just before she's banished from her uncle's court. She and her cousin Celia flee in disguise to the forest of Arden, where Rosalind's father is in exile.

There they meet various rustics, the clown Touchstone and the sentimental Jacques, as well as Orlando, who escapes to the forest when he learns that his brother is planning to kill him.

Everyone falls in love in the forest, and all ends well (but that's another play).

In this version, the comedy is amplified by quick changes of role that result in, for instance, bearded Patrick Bromley playing a country maiden and Julia Rigby as a lovelorn shepherd.

In Rebecca Cairns' endlessly versatile and lovely costumes, they add a cap here and a wreath there to mark the characters, with the actors' skills making the transformations magical.

As is the company's frequent practice -- at least for its indoor season -- costume pieces are hung in plain sight, so that when Mincks, hilarious here in numerous roles, goes for that skirt, we know that something even more delicious is coming.

Director Andrew Hamm (who is onstage as accompanist) has infused the production with physicality and music, his trademarks.

There's so much roughhousing that a fight choreographer (actor Frank Creasy) and a fight choreography consultant (David White) were needed to plan the action.

And Hamm has provided pleasant melodies so his cast can sing as appropriate. With nonstop energy and an approach to language that is colloquial and deceptively relaxed, Hamm has created a rollicking version of this classic.

Every actor is superb, especially considering the demands of their many roles. Rigby has less flashy parts such as Celia and Silvius, but she is charming. Bromley is romantic as the lovelorn Orlando and ridiculous as the silly goatherd Audrey.

Sunny LaRose is a marvelous Rosalind, brave and emotional and admirable, even when disguised as Ganymede. Creasy is a marvel as he morphs from aged servant Adam to wrestler Charles to emotional Jacques. Creasy is an actor who is always fully committed.

Mincks has a breakthrough performance here as he achieves perfection in a fistful of roles -- Oliver, the cruel brother who has a change of heart; the foppish courtier LeBeau; the dignified Duke Senior; the clown Touchstone; and the tulle-skirted Phoebe.

Mincks changes accents and attitudes with seeming ease; he even appears to change height. This is as I like it.

Images from "As You Like It"

Here are a few of Eric Dobbs' beautiful promotional images for As You Like It, opening Friday, March 28th. As usual, the costumes by Rebecca Cairns and Annie Hoskins are just gorgeous! The cast isn't bad-looking either.

Celia (Julia Rigby) coaxes a smile out of Rosalind (Sunny LaRose).

Jaques (Frank Creasy) muses that "All the world's a stage" with the help of Amiens.

Orlando (Patrick Bromley) listens as "Ganymede" slanders the name of Rosalind.

Touchstone (Adam Mincks) freaks out Daffy Duck-style. The lovely Audrey and the simple William look on, fairly oblivious.

"It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue..."

Coming Attractions: "As You Like It"

Overlapping with performances of Measure for Measure, we're now in full-time rehearsal mode for the beloved comedy As You Like It, opening March 28.

Directed by Andrew Hamm, with costumes designed by Rebecca Cairns, the show stars Patrick Bromley, Frank Creasy, Sunny LaRose, Adam Mincks, and Julia Rigby. Frank is a mainstay of our stage, having appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest, the latter which also showcased Patrick's comedic skills. It's been a decade since Sunny has played with Richmond Shakespeare, and Julia and Adam are both making their debuts with us.

This production celebrates Richmond Shakespeare's (then the Encore Theatre Company's) first-ever Shakespearean production over a decade ago, and is being presented in our trademark five-actor format, complete with cross-dressing and chaos. I've been describing it as "a love letter to the five-actor format." Patrick plays both the romantic Orlando and the love-struck Audrey. Frank begins as the usurping Duke Frederick and finishes the play as the melancholy Jaques, who muses, "All the world's a stage..." Sunny is our story's hero, the brilliant Rosalind, who disguises herself as a boy; she also gives a hilarious turn as the bumpkin William. Adam is our big character actor, playing the flamboyant LeBeau, the wicked older brother Oliver, the clown Touchstone, and the, ahem, "irresistible" Phebe. Julia brings spunk and smarts to Celia and unrequited devotion to poor spurned Silvius.

Somehow, four couples must be married by the end of this show. How that's going to work with only five actors? You'll have to come out and see.

It's a play about love and hate, devotion and despair, brothers and cousins, fathers and daughters, country life versus city life. Mostly, though, it's about a girl dressed as a boy pretending to be a girl. Comedy!

We began the rehearsal process by working with ComedySportz's Christine Walters on improv, then Jill Bari Steinberg on multiple-character skills, and these two ladies have really made their mark on this show. I'm now in the process of composing the music for the show, and I'm pretty excited about finally taking advantage of the fact that our theatre has a Bosendorfer baby grand piano in it...

The show previews on March 27th and opens on the 28th. Don't miss it!