RE:As You Like It
Excellent direction by Maria Aitken The 39 Steps though with many licenses such as syncretizing, with great bravura, the world of Shakespeare and Hollywood settings, all in an atmosphere of some American ?myth-making? and ?myth-defying-films;? however, with the sensitivity required to subordinate plot and action, situation to dialogue, sentimentality and characters. The ?comic dialogues? were very sprightly with a restrained use of ?low buffoonery? though emphasizing the humor and humanity of the situations. Great collaboration fully in the spirits of this direction was the musical score due to the composer, lyricist and librettist Michael John LaChiusa. Francesca Faridany as Rosalind dominated the scenes, totally attaining the complexity of her emotions, the subtlety of her thought, and the strength of her character. Andrew Long as Jaques, though an ancillary character, was portrayed as the vivid figure of a quasi Malcontent, with a melancholia described sometimes real and sometimes exaggerated like when yearning to go back into the world and chastise the corrupt society.In general, it was a magnificent performance, despite the fact that the Shakespearean ambiance was excised

Reviewed by MLEAR on Wednesday, Nov 18th, 2009