A ‘Dream’ That Shouldn’t Be Missed

If you thought you never wanted to see another production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” then you haven’t seen Marion McClinton’s “Dream” at the La Jolla Playhouse.

Fly, drive, take a train, run, walk, crawl to this Dixieland update, which premiered Sunday in the Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum, or you’ll regret missing the party.

Yes, McClinton’s “Dream”--because it is his and his collaborators’ no less than Shakespeare’s.

Theirs is the captivating triumph of “the poet’s eye” that Theseus describes, when “imagination bodies forth / The form of things unknown.” It is also gorgeous, exciting, glamorous, funny, delightful and tuneful, melding New Orleans jazz with ragtime and doo-wop.

The opening image heralds the shining spirit of the show: A huge crescent moon rises in the night sky to reveal a silky, top-hatted, golden figure perched on it--Puck, of course--playing his jazz trumpet to the brilliant stars.

After this heavenly fanfare announces the play, a jaunty Dixieland band marches across the stage, “the rude mechanicals” making their first appearance, and we are quickly transported to a stylish embassy ball--actually the pre-nuptial celebration of Theseus, the Duke, and his prisoner-of-war, Hippolyta.

Marines in formal blue uniforms dance with debs in black-and-white gowns. The posh affair, set against the backdrop of a red-and-white striped flag, is neatly sketched on the apron of the stage, where the bemedaled Theseus presides and his Amazonian bride-to-be, in military gear from beret to bandoleers, plants herself defiantly.

The standard plot unfurls. Egeus asks the Duke to straighten out his daughter Hermia. She’s in love with Lysander and wants to marry him, but Egeus wants her to marry Demetrius, who, like Lysander, is in love with her. To further complicate the matter, Hermia’s best friend, Helena, is in love with Demetrius. Lysander and Hermia run off together, pursued by Demetrius, who is pursued by Helena.

But nothing else is standard in this revelatory production. McClinton’s concept transposes Shakespeare’s farce into a new key that fits so well you can’t help wondering why it hasn’t been done before exactly this way.

Quince’s five-piece band--Bottom on snare drum, Snug on bass drum, Snout on cymbals, Starveling on tuba. Flute on tambourine--gathers in the Vieux Carre to plan an entertaining masque for the Duke’s wedding party.

The lovers run off not to the woods--suggested by a dollop of fluttering green confetti--but to a fantastical cemetery of sleek but decrepit monuments, where Titania entertains her Changeling Boy in a giant mausoleum and her underworld fairies--gotten up as bordello flappers--do their exotic jitterbug.

When Oberon descends from the sky on an upright piano that hangs in midair, he is accompanied by the celestial strains of ragtime. When Lysander arrives with Hermia, looking like she has fled from the senior prom in saddle shoes and a varsity jacket draped over her gown, they are greeted by the earthy sound of Fats Domino singing: “I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill.” If that were not enough Cobweb sings doo-wop--in fact, Shakespearean dialogue--with Titania answering in call-and-response--and you can hear Satchmo at the finale.

McClinton’s concept clarifies what has always seemed a tangle of convoluted subplots. He is a brilliant actors’ director, if the performances are any measure. For the the first time in my memory, the fairies become real individuals instead of the traditional faceless sprites sprinkled with twinkle dust. So do the young lovers and the mechanicals.

The standouts of the show are not the celebrity stars, Loretta Devine of “Dreamgirls” fame (doubling as Hippolyta and Titania) and Malcolm-Jamal Warner--he was Theo on “The Cosby Show”--playing Lysander, neither of whom have Shakespearean chops. They’re not bad, but nothing to write home about.

The real stars are Lisa Louise Langford (Helena with chops and personality), Carla Harding (truly fine and funny as Hermia), Wendell Pierce (a deft, full-bodied Bottom, classically full of himself), Mark Christopher Lawrence (a pompous Quince) and Akili Prince (a smooth-as-Sportin’ Life Puck).

Between the polished staging and the suave design, this “Dream” hits cloud nine.

* “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum, 2910 La Jolla Village Dr., La Jolla. Tues.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. matinees, 2 p.m. Ends Aug. 13. $23-$34. (619) 550-1010. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.