‘Much Ado’ is Timeless Tale: Country Costumes, Bluegrass Tunes Flavor Bard’s Classic at First Pres
By Cindy Larson, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Feb. 28–What do Barney Fife and William Shake- speare have in common?
Dogberry, if you talk to First Presbyterian Theater Managing Artistic Director Thom Hofrichter.
Fife, of course, is the lovable, goofy deputy from the old “Andy Griffith Show.” Dogberry is the Fife-ish constable in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” which First Pres is staging beginning this weekend.
The play includes lyrics for three songs, and when Hofrichter was thinking about music to go with the lyrics, he kept thinking about Barney Fife, who reminded him so much of Dogberry. That led him to think about Goober and Gomer Pyle, two other characters from “Andy Griffith Show.” That reminded him of the Darlings, the fictional singing family on the show, played in real life by a group called the Dillards.
And that’s how Hofrichter decided to set the songs in the play to bluegrass music.
“That’s kind of how an idea starts,” he said.
Continuing in that theme, the characters will be dressed in “contemporary costumes with a country flair,” Hofrichter said.
Last year, when First Pres staged “A Merchant in Venice,” he was able to borrow some Elizabethan costumes, but that involved driving to Wisconsin to get them, paying a hefty cleaning bill at the end of the show’s run and then driving them back to Wisconsin. So Hofrichter decided to forgo period costumes for “Much Ado,” which was probably written in the late 1500s. Besides, he said, “A play like that translates to pretty much any point in human history.”
When Hofrichter talks about “a play like that,” he’s referring to “Much Ado’s” universal theme of love: “all the energy we put into falling in love, being in love, the travails we have when love goes awry,” he said.
The title, Hofrichter says, is somewhat ironic, because in the play Shakespeare actually shows how important love is. “I like to think about it as a valentine to love,” Hofrichter said. “It’s a comedy about love.”
The story is about Leonato, a nobleman who shares his house with his daughter, Hero, and his niece, Beatrice. Leonato welcomes home some friends from a war: Don Pedro; his bitter illegitimate brother, Don John; Claudio, a well-respected nobleman; and Benedick, a jokester.
Claudio falls in love with Hero, while Benedick and Beatrice hide their love for each other through teasing and playful banter. But Don John sets up Claudio to believe Hero has been unfaithful. Claudio leaves Hero at the altar, where she faints, and her family members pretend she dies so they can hide her away while they try to get to the truth. Dogberry gets involved to investigate.
Hofrichter said Dogberry, like Barney Fife, has an over-inflated sense of talent and self-importance. “He’s one of the great Shakespearean clowns.”
While the plot does have some serious elements, it’s generally considered one of Shakespeare’s best comedies. It’s not a musical, but does include lyrics for three songs.
Hofrichter said sometimes the music in Shakespeare’s plays can be cut out without losing much. But in “Much Ado,”"the songs and music seem to me to kind of be a very integral part of the whole theme of love.”
Shakespeare provided the lyrics but not the music, so Hofrichter turned to local musician Randy Romero for help.
“He made calls and put together a kind of bluegrass group,” Hofrichter said. “They recorded this wonderful bluegrass soundtrack.”
Because the behavior of men and women in love transcends history and time, Shakespeare’s story is as relevant today as it was 400 years ago, Hofrichter believes. After all, couples today still struggle with the same relationship woes and misunderstandings that beset lovers hundreds of years ago.
As for how this particular story is resolved — well, you won’t find the answer here. We don’t want to spoil the ending. But remember, it’s a comedy. Let’s just say the story ends with multiple marriages — and no deaths.
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