Oh, how faces light up when people enter the John Houseman Theater and see a generous spread of chow. The vittles are for the audience of Lone Star Love, and the cast graciously serves its patrons. Cornbread, potato salad, carrots, little hot dogs, cookies, and lemonade make up the offering. It's a smart move: The musical's producers need all the good will they can get before their disappointing country western spoof of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor begins.

Why anyone would want to do a parody musical of this particular play is hard to fathom. Shakespeare, legend has it, wrote the original work to please Queen Elizabeth I, who so enjoyed the character of Falstaff in Henry IV, Pa[...]