In the Mood
Reviewed by David Kashimba
Photo by Eric Chazankin

 Much Ado About Nothing has always been one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies. But when you turn it into a musical set in an Italian villa captured by American soldiers during WWII, the play becomes even more popular for a modern audience at Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse. Conceived by Patrick Watkins and adapted by John Fitzgerald, In the Mood stays true to Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing while occasionally breaking out into song and dance with favorite Big Band era tunes including: In the Mood, For All We Know, Someone to Watch Over Me, More Than You Know, The Nearness of You, Our Love is Here to Stay, Come Rain or Come Shine and I’ll Be Seeing You.

Directed by John Craven, In the Mood preserves the interesting relationship between Shakespeare’s characters Beatrice (Danielle Cain) and Benedick (Tim Kniffin). The two characters have absolutely no affinity for each other whatsoever. Their entire relationship is built on the power of suggestion by friends who arrange to have Beatrice overhear them talking about how much Army Capt. Benedick loves her and have Benedick overhear them speaking of how Beatrice loves Benedick. Cain and Kniffin do a playful job of milking much laughter from their audience, yet they also maintain many other elements of character that at times border on tragedy. When Benedick first asks Beatrice what he can do to prove his love for her, she answers: “Kill Claudio!” Though we understand that she resents the fact that Claudio (Tyler Costin) chose to believe rumors about his love Hero’s (Marjorie Rose Taylor) infidelity instead of trusting her, the audience can’t help but wonder if they were suddenly transported into a tragic scene from Macbeth.

Another great character is 1st Sgt. Dogberry (Chris Murphy) who always gets his words twisted around creating some great low comedy moments, but if we really listen to Dogberry’s mistakes, they all carry a lot of ironic meaning just like most 1st Sgts.

All and all this is a very entertaining show full of fun and frolic. For tickets or more information call (707) 523-4185 or visit www.6thstreetplayhouse.com.

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