At the Rep, The Beatles Come Together with the Bard

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The Milwaukee Rep plays host to a strange collision between William Shakespeare and The Beatles in its latest main stage show As You Like It. A richly vibrant 1960s atmosphere slides its way around Shakespeare’s light romance amidst musical numbers largely drawn from the greatest hits of one of the most successful recording acts of all time. Caught somewhere between a jukebox musical and a deeply poetic romance, the show fails at being both. The music plays largely as an intimate performance by a Beatles cover band with a few sparkling moments. (The production’s rendition of “Let It Be” feels far more moving than Paul McCartney’s original.) Thanks to the direction and adaptation of Daryl Cloran, the overall experience of the show is pleasantly disorienting in a way that manages a few endearing moments.

It’s all so cute. The pre-show pro wrestling tournament is cute. The wrestling ring that serves as the court of Duke Frederick is cute. The hippie commune that wanders through the Forest of Arden is cute. The romance between Rosalind and Orlando is cute. Savannah L. Jackson makes for a suitably valiant romantic lead as Rosalind to the swooning passions of Justin Gregory Lopez as Orlando. Some of the finer points of the production come across as missed opportunities in the fusion between Shakespeare and the 1960s. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Trish Lindström’s performance as the melancholy Jaques. She’s solidly comic in a lightly traditional take on the character, which would be fine if she wasn’t dressed like a perfect replica of Andy Warhol. Lindström occasionally drifts into the persona of Warhol, but only just enough to induce some level of confusion. A more straight-ahead rendering of Warhol-as-Jaques would have been kind of a dazzling fusion.

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The Milwaukee Rep’s production of As You Like It runs through March 20 at the Quadracci Powerhouse. For ticket reservations and more, visit milwaukeerep.com or call 414-224-9490.