Good Times Roll: Folger Theater's 'As You Like It'

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

DEREK GOLDMAN'S production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" has a little bit of everything — Mexican wrestlers, 9-foot-tall furry coneheads (you'll have to see it to understand) and the butler from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" singing Joe Jackson's "Fools in Love."

Seriously.

The play follows the love story of Rosalind (Amanda Quaid — yes, she's Randy's daughter), a banished duke's daughter who was raised in the court of the spiteful brother who usurped him, and Orlando (Noel Velez), the disinherited son of a dead nobleman. The two meet and fall in love after Rosalind watches Orlando win a wrestling match. However, things hit a snag when the duke banishes Rosalind. She disguises herself as a young man and travels into the Forest of Arden to find her father, accompanied by her jester Touchstone and cousin Celia.

Upon arriving in the forest, Rosalind (who goes by the name of Ganymede while in drag) finds love letters from Orlando strewn all over. When the two lovers finally cross paths in the forest, the disguised Rosalind promises to cure Orlando of his heartache by having him woo Ganymede as if he were Rosalind. Wink, wink.

A lively cast of characters fleshes out the ensemble, including the curmudgeonly Jaques (played by Joseph Marcell of "The Fresh Prince"), the love-struck shepherd Silvius and a pair of harmonizing forest dwellers who Orlando encounters in the woods.

"Arden is a 'stage' in all connotations of that word, a transformative space where people are able to become their best selves," Goldman said.

In the end, despite all of the complications, this is Shakespeare. So in spite of all the mixed signals, cross-dressing antics and overlapping love stories, everything amusingly resolves itself by the final curtain.

» Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol St., SE; runs through Nov. 25, 202-544-7077.

Written by Express contributor Dan Miller
Photo by Stan Barouh