STAGE REVIEW : Grove’s ‘The Tempest’ Mingles With Magical

There’s no question that, technically speaking, the Grove Shakespeare has been turning out increasingly more professional-looking and sounding summer Shakespeares, and this season’s inaugural production of “The Tempest” confirms this fact.

Only the acting remains maddeningly uneven, offering strong and boldly spoken performances on the one hand, only to temper the success on the other with much more curious ones.

The sterling core of this “Tempest” is Alan Mandell’s Prospero, wan and wise, a monarch to the palazzo born, who, despite years of exile on a deserted island, has lost none of his stature or his starch.

He lives, on John Iacovelli’s handsome turntable set, in considerable Italianate splendor--the architectural product, one presumes, of the same magick that causes him to conjure up tempests, make soaking men’s clothes crisp and dry, summon up spirits and cast narcoleptic spells on a whim.

This accomplished wizard might have had an ingenuous daughter, a studious daughter, a tomboy or a wild creature filled with impulse and wonder. But is it likely that he would have had one as erratic and gawky as Anne West’s Miranda? Or is this another example of life’s perverseness? West’s intentions are correct but her voice is thin and her performance uneasy and unseasoned. In contrast, Ben Livingston’s Ferdinand is a charmer, a sweet and eager youth still wet behind the ears and not just from nearly drowning in the storm.

Director Jules Aaron demonstrated with “Measure for Measure” and “Taming of the Shrew” last season that he knows his way around a Shakespearean script. Not all is as magical as it could be in this “Tempest,” particularly not the clumsy tempest in the opening scene or the frequently abandoned wedding masque. But with the help of dramaturge John Andrews, Aaron has whittled the script down to well under three hours without shrinking too much of its essence.

The production has many more strengths than it has weaknesses, from Ron Campbell’s toady Caliban with his long black fingernails and green facial carbuncles, to Harry Frazier’s nattering Gonzalo, Matthew Walker’s lithe Ariel and Christopher Neiman’s smart and sassy Trinculo. And what Aaron can’t fix, he is not, it turns out, averse to covering up.

Roger Christoffersen barely gets his lines out as the distressed Alonso, but in the same scenes Alan Feinstein and Richard Hoyt Miller offset a lot of the damage by delivering energetic villains as Antonio and Sebastian, respectively. Scott Allen’s Stephano settles for not more than a comic stereotype, but it’s minimized by Aaron’s inventive slapstick for the Caliban/Trinculo/Stephano byplay, which comes remarkably close to new vaudeville clowning.

These roisterous episodes make up for Aaron’s tendency much of the rest of the time to rely on a brisk, clear reading of the play that doesn’t stray far from the tried and true or overemphasize enchantment. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, particularly when his Prospero can keep us spellbound with sheer language and the physical production looks so inviting.

Bill Georges’ lighting plays its own kinds of magic tricks and Sandria Reese has designed a handsome array of masks and costumes that range from the whimsical to the quietly opulent.

Chuck Estes’ haunting snatches of music are subtly reproduced by Donald Peterson Jr.’s sound design, while Iacovelli’s island setting is the first in memory to come complete with a horizon. A small matter, perhaps, but one that anchors everything neatly into place.

Alan Mandell: Prospero

Anne West: Miranda

Matthew Walker: Ariel

Ron Campbell: Caliban

Benjamin Livingston: Ferdinand

Christopher Neiman: Trinculo

Scott Allen: Stephano

Roger Christoffersen: Alonso

Morgan Rusler: Adrian

Alan Feinstein: Antonio

Richard Hoyt Miller: Sebastian

Harry Frazier: Gonzalo

William Westenberg: Francisco

Lori Kathryn Colton: Iris/Spirit

Alice Cunningham: Ceres/Spirit

Kim Ataide: Juno/Spirit

Steven Opyrchal: Boatswain/Spirit

Peter Zazzali: Boat Master/Spirit

Michael Ambrosio, David Tik-Tin: Spirits

A Grove Shakespeare production of Shakespeare’s play produced in association with the Leo Freedman Foundation. Director Jules Aaron. Assistant director Jessica Kubzansky. Dramaturg John Andrews. Sets John Iacovelli. Lights Bill Georges. Costumes Sandria Reese. Sound Donald Peterson Jr. Composer Chuck Estes. Technical director Michael Reese. Stage manager Jennifer L. Clark. Assistant stage manager Nicole S.E. West.