If you are looking for the solemnity and deep eloquence that is usually associated with the idea of William Shakespeare, DO NOT attend UA theater’s production of Two Gentlemen from Verona. However, if you are looking to have a great time laughing and enjoying a show, you should definitely check it out. By performing John Guare and Mel Shapiro’s musical translation of the play entitled Two Gents, instead of the traditional version, the theatre department added a lot of flare to Shakespeare that usually gets lost in the complex wordings and thematic elements of his work (yes, even the comedies). The entire crowd was excited and intent on what was happening on stage, and the cast delivered laugh after laugh while doing a great job of adapting Guare and Shapiro’s lyrics to the Galloway stage. 

    This was a bold production in many ways, as an on-stage symphony was used for all the music and the stage design was bigger and more lavish than anything I have witnessed from the UA theatre department before. From the lighting to the costume design, everything about this production was a stretch from the norms of Shakespearian theatre, and the cast and crew pulled it off phenomenally. The set and stage design were the best I have seen yet from the department and were a great way to showcase the talents of the UA crew at the end of the year. 

    I only had few problems with the production, but I was somewhat confused by the concept that the crew was going for. I was led to believe by the advertisements that the play was meant to be set in San Francisco or at least somewhat connected to the American counter-culture movement, but failed to see a true connection within the production. However, this barely had time to bother me, because I was so much enjoying the light-hearted and well-performed humor of the play. The strength was definitely in the musical numbers which comprised most of the production and contained some hilarious moments. During the dialogue the actors seemed somewhat rushed in their delivery, possibly due to the flurry of excitement in the musical portions. Those complaints aside, I thought UA’s production of Two Gents was a great final tribute to everything the department has done this year and a testament to the crews that worked on all of the technical elements of the play.