The Verona Project at Cal Shakes

Dan Clegg as Proteus and Arwen Anderson as Julia in Cal Shakes' world-premiere production of The Verona Project

Photo by Kevin Berne

Playwright Amanda Dehnert has updated William Shakespeare’ s The Two Gentlemen of Verona for Cal Shakes. From the Sixteenth Century play she has teased out a rock musical, The Verona Project, just opened (July 9) at California Shakespeare Theater, Orinda. The original play about cross dressing and false identities takes on new meaning when homosexual love and a secret gay elopement are added to the mix.

The Verona Project isn’t just a romantic play. It’s also a band. Telling their story, the eight actors sing and play a wide variety of instruments, from guitars and drums to clarinet and triangle. The band “The Verona Project” recorded a concept album based on The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and they tell that story live in the play The Verona Project, a hybrid of theater and rock concert.

These eight actors are thoroughly competent musicians, but the stronger ones burst through. From the first, the vocals and stage presence of mezzo-soprano Marisa Duchowny dominate the stage. She has a powerful voice. Her head boom mike is probably superfluous in the tight Bruns Amphitheater. She sings well and also plays guitars and keyboards.

Arwen Anderson as Julia carries the show. The actress is able to project a calm blend of determination and ditziness. When she dresses in her father’s military coat (not a page as in the original) she convinces the men she is actually Sebastian, until she reveals herself. Her voice is a high soprano with some beguiling innate tonality. Her guitar playing and abrupt physicality give unusual dimensions to her character. She sings about Julia’s story (“Julia knows she’s a freak show.”) in a well-controlled rock soprano voice. In this show, she has overgrown her house with plants.

TVP remains true to Shakespeare’s original story while deftly modernizing it with musical interludes and contemporary dialogue. While expanding the farce with the implications of male lovers and unrequited love, the musical reshapes a repressed Elizabethan moral landscape.

The Verona Project continues through July 31at Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way. (formerly 100 Gateway Blvd.), Orinda, California. Tickets ($35 to $66) are available online at calshakes.org or by phone at 510.548.9666.