STAGE WEST
  • Home
  • About David
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Theatre Reviews
  • New Page

Theater reviews

Stage West

"Ken Ludwig's Robin Hood!" at Old Globe

8/2/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Manuel Felciano (left) and Daniel Reese in "Ken Ludwig's Robin Hood!"    Photo by Jim Cox
        The exclamation point at the end of the title of the world-premiere comedy at the Old Globe – Ken Ludwig’s Robin Hood! – is very much intentional. This new depiction of legend’s most famous robber of the rich and giver to the poor is closer to Mel Brooks’ mid-‘70s TV parody “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” than it is to Russell Crowe’s brutal 2010 film “Robin Hood.” But coming as it does from the skillful pen of playwright Ludwig (Lend Me A Tenor, Crazy For You and Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, the latter seen at the Globe two years ago), this Robin Hood tale is a delightful improvement on either of those extreme interpretations. Its comic antics never sink to the level of lowbrow, nor do its moments of noble earnestness ever take themselves too seriously.
         Director Jessica Stone has a rogue’s gallery of Ludwig-spawned characters to frolic and sword-fight on the Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White stage in the round. To complement the requisite dashing Robin (Daniel Reece), there’s a Maid Marian (Meredith Garretson) who wields a bow and arrow like Katniss Everdeen, a bawdy Friar Tuck (Andy Grotelueschen) who’s about as devout as a hambone, a towering Little John (Paul Whitty) who doubles as a musician, and a nefarious Prince John (Michael Boatman) who “quotes” Shakespeare … who wasn’t even born at the time this story is set -- the 12th century. Robin’s chief nemesis is Sir Guy of Gisbourne, played with Harvey Korman-like villainy by Manoel Felciano, with the doltish Sheriff of Nottingham portrayed by Kevin Cahoon, just as hysterical here as he was in the Globe’s Love’s Labor’s Lost last summer.
         Besides boasting its roundly talented ensemble, this production proves inventive in staging derring-do in such compact confines: a 200-foot castle wall is “climbed” – horizontally; a rousing archery tournament is held, with invisible arrows flying; and the swordplay throughout is vigorous and strictly in fun.
         Like so many new comedies for the theater these days, this one is perhaps 10 to 15 minutes too long, but the merriment of this show’s merry men – and women – is contagious, making Ken Ludwig’s Robin Hood!’s exclamation point well deserved. (Review originally published in San Diego CityBeat on 8/2/17.)

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    David L. Coddon is a Southern California theater critic.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    August 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    January 2016
    January 2015
    December 2014
    January 2014
    January 2013
    January 2012
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    Theatre Review

David Coddon

About 
David Coddon Fiction
Theatre Reviews

Support

Contact
FAQ
Terms of Use
© COPYRIGHT 2017. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About David
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Theatre Reviews
  • New Page