A Midsummer Night's Dream 2012
New York Theater Buying Guide - Review
A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream 4/28/ 2012
by William Shakespeare
Presented by the
Frog and Peach Theatre Company
At the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew
263 West 86th St.
(bet. Broadway and West End Avenue)
Through May 20th
Review by Ronald Gross
New York Theater Buying Guide
Bottom Line: One of the best theater bargains in New York City! A production overflowing with delicious performances, by a brave company that is a jewel of Off-Broadway. You can’t find a more exhilarating evening than to join this troupe for a romp in the woods!
The “Dream” is Shakespeare’s love-letter to the theater – his hilarious tribute to the joy and tsuris of putting on a play that brings the audience to its feet, despite any obstacles. That’s what Peter Quince and his “rude mechanicals” do for the royal couple in this play – and it’s what the gutsy Frog and Peach Theatre Company does at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew. Their success is astonishing.
Lynnea Benson, co-founder of the Company now in its 15th season, and director of this production, orchestrates her talented actors with clarity and hilarity – I’ve never seen a production in which the romantic imbroglios of the plot are easier to follow. But she also plumbs the depths of a work that is frightening in its evocation of primal fears and anxieties – of domination and loss of control over oneself and others.
The cast is so brimming talent that each member deserves recognition, but stand-outs are Eric Doss as Bottom, whose theatrical ambitions as well as his scary dream “has no Bottom”Alan Altschuler as Oberon, king of the fairies, who towers over the action through the machinations of his magical servant Puck, played with lascivious vigor by Lenny Ciotti; Erick Gonzalez and Treasure Davidson as the royal couple Theseus and Hippolyta, as they “model” the way to relish your play-going; and the quartet of lovers, each one a vivid profile in youthful passion: Kyla D’Souza, Amy Frances Quint, Jonathan Wexler Reed, and Stephen Siano.
Photo: Benoit Vincent Pictured Titania (Vivien Landau) , Oberon (Alan Altschuler)
"..a triumph... good-humored fun--take the family!"
Lovers Full of Joy and Mirth ~ Read it Here
