Review: Much Ado About Nothing, De Nada New York

The highly anticipated production of Twelfth Night at the soon-to-be-reopened Delacorte Theater is what New Yorkers think of when we talk about Shakespeare in the Park. But in many ways, the Public’s Mobile Unit is closer to Joseph Papp’s original vision. Over the next month, a new 100-minute bilingual musical adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing will tour the five boroughs, performing completely for free. It’s one of those things that makes New York summers magical.

The project reunites director Rebecca Martínez and composer Julián Mesri, the team behind the popular Spanglish production of The Comedy of Errors, which has toured with the Mobile Unit for the past two summers. Much Ado is the superior Shakespearean comedy, but it proves to be the lesser of the two Martínez-Mersi adaptations—even though the story itself is indestructible.

We still see Don Pedro (Hiram Delgado) returned triumphant with his buddies Benedick (Nathan M. Ramsey) and Claudio (Daniel Bravo Hernández), who instantly falls for Hero (Mayelah Barrera), daughter of Leonato (Robert Marcelo Jiménez). She likes him back. But Don Pedro’s brother, Don Juan (Martín Ortiz), is a bastard in every sense. He plots to spoil their romance by stoking Claudio’s jealousy using his retainer, Borachio (Carlo Albán).

Meanwhile, everyone else spreads gossip for a much happier scheme: to get Benedick and Leonato’s niece, Beatrice (Keren Lugo)—ostensible enemies—to finally admit that they want to bone. Honestly, is there any hotter pairing than a staunch woman and a man in uniform?

Resourceful costume designer Christopher Vergara outfits the men in knee-high boots and blue uniforms with gold stars on the sleeves. The look is reminiscent of the flag of the European Union, a visionary project of integration only slightly less ambitious than the one Martínez and Mesri have carved out for themselves.

This version of Much Ado is half Shakespearean English and half New York City Spanish—the vernacular of Corona, Sunset Park, and a dozen other neighborhoods in our city. Rare is the theatergoer who feels perfectly fluent in both, meaning that for most viewers there will be gaps of understanding. When Martínez and Mesri lean in one direction too far, they lose a bit of the audience and have to work that much harder to bring them back. Linguistically, it’s like two rowers in a canoe furiously paddling in two different directions.

Add to that the further complication of Mesri’s musical numbers, which are melodic but mostly unmemorable, all but vanishing in the back half of the play as our adapters attempt to resolve a tangle of false accusations and hurt feelings in Shakespearean Spanglish. Such an overload of tasks inevitably leads a viewer’s mind to wander.

But charismatic performances mostly pull us back. Ortiz embodies the odious Don Juan with great relish, performing his introductory number like he’s your new favorite Disney villain. Cornelius McMoyler hams it up with pratfalls and man-shrieks in the plum comic role of Constable Dogberry, his thick mustache serving Tom Selleck realness. And while Delgado delivers a solid primo mayor interpretation of Don Pedro, he seems to be having the most fun in the secondary role of Dogberry’s deputy Verges, who dances behind the boss like he’s auditioning for Bad Bunny (a better gig than police work).

Of course, the heart of any production of Much Ado is the Beatrice-Benedick relationship. Happily, Lugo and Ramsey give us a strong one as they dive behind the flowering cacti and Talavera tiles of Riw Rakkulchon’s set like it’s Mission Impossible. Of the cast, Ramsey seems the most comfortable with Shakespearean verse, pulling us into his conspiracy during his “till all graces be in one woman” speech.

Conversely, Lugo makes the rapid transition from English to Spanish feel like a necessary gear shift, the vast breadth of her emotions unable to be contained by just one language. Her perfect blend of disdain and wistfulness as she watches Hero frolic off with Claudio tells us everything we need to know about Beatrice.

While this production is far from the best Much Ado I’ve ever seen, it’s still a fine introduction to a beloved Shakespeare comedy aimed straight at the hearts of New Yorkers. Even when it misses the mark, one has to admire Martínez and Mesri for taking the shot.