“Twelfth Night, or What You Will” Opened December 14 at Classic Stage Company

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 The Fiasco Players  Photo: Joan Marcus

There is not a better way to celebrate the holidays than a visit to the Classic Stage Company where they are hosting the Fiasco Theater’s entertaining and very funny production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night, or What You Will.” If you are wondering what play to introduce your child to the Bard right now, this one is it.

Every now and then there is that rare confluence of conception, acting, directing, and in this instance a lot of extra songs and (with no apologies) silly cavorting that adds up to sheer pleasure for two and one half hours. We have heard for years from contrarian Bardologists how this is arguably either a perfect comedy and also one of Shakespeare’s weaker plays. How about just letting it stand now forever as his best and most appealing to all ages and generations.

Notwithstanding the sublime imported production from the Globe Shakespeare Company with Mark Rylance in 2013 (playing Olivia) this more modestly staged but even more immodestly performed production has beautifully addressed the play’s outrageously convoluted plotting and considered the bountiful mix of tomfoolery and romance in a most delightful way.  

Here is a totally disarmingly staging with only a few props and set pieces, actors who not only sing and dance but play musical instruments. This staging is filled to the brim with the kind of boldly comical conceits that are allowed to take precedence over the issues of sexual identity that can sometimes smother our pleasure. That’s a good thing for those of us who are more apt to welcome the antics of the secondary characters over the plight of the principals.

Just to refresh your memory: The courting of wealthy and titled Lady Olivia by the personable but dull Duke Orsino of Illyria becomes complicated by the arrival of Viola, a young girl who masquerades as a page to the duped Duke after a traumatic separation from her twin Sebastian during a violent storm at sea. Viola unwittingly falls in love with the Duke only to discover that Olivia has fallen head over heels in love with her as Cesario, the page. The arrival of look-alike Sebastian to Ilyria, who, instantly smitten with ardor upon seeing the fair Olivia, adds another layer of burlesque to a comedy already over-layered with “what you will.”

If Shakespeare’s delightful crew of secondary characters is usually encouraged to run amuck in order to confuse us as well as the lovers, they suddenly seem to have inherited an importantly comedic weight. Arguably strained and incredulous, the story nevertheless, seems to benefit from the co-direction by Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld. This is not to imply that the sentiments of the play have been forfeited for the sake of the silliness that now seems to pervade the action. Those who savor the former will also be rewarded.

That suave sentimentalist Duke Orsino is winningly played by the co-director Brody. Traditionally the Duke is remembered best for his brief yearnings for the love of Lady Olivia (played with an appealing vibrancy by Fiasco co-artistic director Jessie Austrian.) Orsino is mostly troubled by his attraction to Viola/Cesario (a wonderfully spunky Emily Young) an issue that adds a dimension to his conflicted personality. It is no small feat that Young makes as good an impression as a woman as she does in the guise of a man. Her sweet but commanding acting style is a cause for celebration. As Sebastian, Javier Ignacio may not get as much stage time as her twin but he gives us a robust account of an easily provoked and more easily infatuated young man.

Most happily, the antics appear organic to the broadly comical artistry displayed by Andy Grotelueschen  as a wild-haired and bearded Sir Toby Belch and Paco Tolson,  as his dim-witted but amusingly dapper sidekick Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Paul L. Coffey projects just the right amount of deplorable arrogance as the maligned "affectionate ass" Malvolio. This, as he succumbs to the unkind plot machinations as devised by the clever servant Maria, lustily played by Tina Chilip, making her Fiasco debut. There’s no fool like a glib fool (“Better a witty fool than a foolish wit”) and Ben Steinfeld’s disarming Feste is a feast.

The costume designer Emily Rebholz outfits the company in humorously contemporary casual. Viola and Sebastian in twin brown fisherman knit sweaters. How cool is that? The directors have taken what is naturally strained and equally incredulous in Shakespeare to heart. But they take Shakespeare’s mixture of parody and poignancy just one or two steps farther into the realm of sidesplitting bliss. . .all to the good and all for our merriment.

“Twelfth Night, or What You Will” Opened December 14 at Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street Ends January 6, 2018

"Cruel Intentions" Opened December 11 at the (le) Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street

Lauren Zakrin in “Cruel Intentions  Photo credit: Jenny Anderson

Sometimes the experience of being with an audience that is largely half your age and that knows not only more than you do about what we are about to see but knows every line and situation as if it was “Casablanca” can be amusing as well as eye-opening. Such was the case with me and my companion at the press preview of “Cruel Intentions,” a stage adaptation by co-creators Jordon Ross and Lindsey Rosin of the cult 1999 film that is now entertaining its fans at (le) Poisson Rouge, a nightclub in Greenwich Village.

The experience, most of it really good and definitely exhilarating, began even as we approached the club on Bleecker Street a good half hour before curtain time to see a long line stretched down the street waiting for the doors open. Many of the seats inside are on a first come-first served basis, others can be reserved. The word was evidently out before the reviews that this production (after its debut in L.A. in 2015 and a remounting in 2016)  was rekindling the same vibes that made it a hit film and an unexpected phenomenon with young audiences almost a generation ago. We shared a table with two fans who knew every word, song and scene like we knew “Casablanca.”

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Although the film was inspired by the classic 1782 French novel “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” (itself the source for a number of both film and stage adaptations), it tapped into the pop culture of teens at the time and catapulted the career of a young Reese Witherspoon. What it also did was to make its story about sex, seduction, deception and cruelty relevant to a young audience by setting it in the present time and in and around an upper East Side prep school.

The plot about two diabolical step siblings who set out to deflower and defame schoolmates hit a chord. Speaking of chord, the film was filled with pop and rock hits of the time...a perfect segue for the stage adaptation which has added more pop tunes of the time as well as including those already on the film’s soundtrack to further engine the characters and narrative. Here are a few: “Lovefool,” “Just a Girl,” Only Happy When It Rains,” and “Bittersweet Symphony.” It you get it, you got it.

   

Not that you could hear most of the lyrics from the cheering of recognition from a packed room (including standees) of each iconic song (don’t ask) and each sexy situation. More importantly, director Lindsey Rosin and choreographer Jennifer Weber put their talented company through their paces in a show that moves with the fury of a hurricane. More a concert staging than a fully conceptualized show, “Cruel Intentions,” nevertheless, is performed with a terrific band on a small stage that gets plenty of action, often spilling out into the audience.  

While shadow hanky-panky and discreet nudity are cleverly displayed, the trendy couture designs also reveal plenty about the characters. Among the many standout performers who revel with expressive abandon in the sex-capades are a seductive Lauren Zakrin as the conniving Kathryn and the hard body Constantine Rousouli, as the licentious, hard-hearted Sebastian. Good voices, great bodies and amusingly insinuating performances are factors that make “Cruel Intentions” an entertaining variation on those liaisons of lore.

“Cruel Intentions” (through February 19)

Tickets: General Admission: $59 for standing room, $79 for table seating and $109 for reserved seating.