A Smart, New ‘As You Like It’

Talk about a time warp.

Shakespeare wrote “As You Like It” during the Elizabethan era, but judging from the smart new production at Glendale’s A Noise Within (with later stops in Irvine and Rolling Hills Estates), the viewer could justifiably date it sometime during the reign of Edward VII.

Director Sabin Epstein recalls that elegant pre-World War I era with any number of equally elegant touches. Costumer Alex Jaeger’s crisp pleated dresses, waistcoats and bowler hats look fit for a stroll along the boardwalk, not to mention the Forest of Arden, and composer Laura Karpman’s lilting, infectious score sometimes suggests period hits like 1910’s “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”

Elsewhere, this is a solid if straightforward version of Shakespeare’s second-kinkiest comedy (“Measure for Measure” comes first). Much has been made of its gender-bending aspects--the heroine dresses in male drag and wins her man--but by the playwright’s superior standards, “As You Like It” suffers from a weak plot and sparse moments of brilliance.

Those faults are occasionally amplified by some awkward or sing-song readings here. But as Rosalind, the cross-dressing lead, diminutive Ann Marie Lee is a delight, a mighty dynamo who, in suspenders and Jackie Coogan cap, could pass for one of the “Our Gang” kids.

More fine work comes from John Boyle, doing double duty as the evil Duke Frederick and his exiled brother Duke Senior, and William Mesnik as Touchstone, a fool who here looks like what would happen if Rene Magritte tried to draw the Joker from the Batman comics.

* “As You Like It,” A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Tonight, Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m.; March 27-28, April 5-6, 17-18, 27, May 3, 15, 8 p.m.; March 31, April 28, May 12, 7 p.m.; April 28, May 12, 2 p.m. $18-$22. (818) 546-1924. Also at Irvine Barclay Theatre, May 10, 8 p.m. (714) 854-4646; and Norris Theatre, Rolling Hills Estates, May 17-18, 8 p.m. (310) 544-0403. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.