The Bard must be amused as facts, fantasies merge / Celebrating a dance fete

Ken Ludwig’s comedy “Shakespeare in Hollywood” ingeniously and imaginatively merges facts and fantasies throughout. The year is 1934 and Hollywood personalities like the feared and fearless society chronicler Louella Parsons, actors Dick Powell, Joe E. Brown and James Cagney come to life, as do the Hollywood censor Will Hays, movie directors and moguls.

As Max Reinhardt directs “Midsummer’s Night Dream” on a Hollywood set, two main characters of the play — the fairies Oberon and Puck — visit the set and quickly portray their own roles. Ludwig arbitrarily departs from the Bard’s comedy or varies situations, e.g., some of its romances, weaving into them his own clever devices.

The censor Will Hays finds the script utterly objectionable, and to take revenge, Oberon sends Puck to fetch the flower that “makes man or woman madly dote upon the next live creature that it sees.”

The flower is crucial in Act II which is a celebration of the first day’s filming. Hays, picking up the flower, becomes narcissistic. Falling in love with himself, he carries a huge mirror so he can adore his own image. Parsons gets involved in one of the many romantic interludes which turn wildly awry, with the strangest, unlikeliest relationships quickly blooming.

The riotous celebration reaches the most absurd point of “madness”. Or chaos.

Candidly, the play, particularly Act I did not tickle my risibilities as much as I had expected — the audience rarely laughed — but what kept my interest and attention was the marvelous acting.

Whenever I write up a Repertory production, I inevitably become repetitious because I find the acting, the delivery of lines, the dialogue, the handling of the props, the lighting effects — regardless of what the play might be — achieving the highest standards of professionalism.

Without exception, everyone in the cast was excellent. To begin with, there was the masterful veteran, the stalwart Miguel Faustman portraying the censor Will Hays who falls in love with himself in Act II while reciting lines from various Shakespearean plays. The seasoned talent Joy Virata as Louella Parsons went about interviewing personalities briskly and archly then becoming an unwilling (willing?) partner in a scandalous affair. Hans Eckstein as Oberon and Red Concepcion as Puck were outstandingly eloquent and expressive whether they were in character — or not.

Cris Villonco as Lydia Lansing and Caisa Borromeo as Olivia Lansing were both appealing in the romantic episodes. As Max Rheinhardt, Robie Zialcita was the hard-as-nails director who did not brook any interference or contradiction.

Jaime del Mundo, director, revealed unerring instinct and a sure hand — in the finely nuanced characterizations, and took on the role of Albert Warner.

An excitingly tense scene (shown twice) depicted four of the main male characters simultaneously talking over the phone in front of the audience.

The rest of the cast deserve special mention: brilliant Arnel Carrion (Jack Warner), Raymond Concepcion (Harry Warner), Topper Fabregas (the engagingly timid factotum Daryl), Oliver Usison (Sam Warner), Nic Campos (Joe E. Brown), Rem Zamora (James Cagney), Reuben Uy (Dick Powell), and Ayam Barredo (make-up lady).

Baby Barredo was the all-seeing artistic director; Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, her associate artistic director.

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Spearheaded by NCCA’s National Committee on Dance, a festival will bring together leading dance companies and dance experts, both local and foreign, for a grand Dance Xchange April 25-29 in Metro Manila.

There will also be a celebration of International Dance Day, created under the auspices of UNESCO in Paris, to be held all over the world by the International Theater Institute (ITI) on April 29, and the Philippine National Dance Week.

Under NDC head Shirley Halili Cruz, Dance Xchange will be held in Manila on the theme Cultural Connectivity through Dance”, with international dance companies and top local ones participating.

The Festival will hold a dance competition master classes conducted by international dance experts and professionals, workshops for dance and PE teachers, a conference for dance educators and researchers, and outreach performances.

The dance competition April 25-26 will be at the Rizal Park open-air auditorium. The main event of Dance Xchange will be held April 27-29 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Ortigas Center; workshops at Meralco Theater.