This ‘Play’s’ Got That Swing

By giving “Twelfth Night” the subtitle “What You Will,” Shakespeare more or less invited anyone to play around with his comedy. But surely no one has done it with more fizz and ebullience than director Sheldon Epps and company in “Play On!”

First developed at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, “Play On!” is now at the Pasadena Playhouse, where Epps is artistic director. It’s a splurge for the playhouse, affordable only because Arizona Theatre Company is co-producing. But it’s such a rousing splash of rhythm and melody, romance and bright colors that the goodwill it creates is likely to linger for a long time.

Call it a centennial birthday bash for Duke Ellington. Set in a fantasy of 1940s Harlem (which was treated more realistically in the playhouse’s recent “The Old Settler”), the show is Ellington’s more than Shakespeare’s. A generous sampling of songs made famous by the Duke--most of them written by him with collaborators--effortlessly slides into the contours of Shakespeare’s plot.

That plot is somewhat altered, just as Shakespeare adapted it from earlier sources. Hardly any of the Bard’s words are intact in Cheryl L. West’s libretto, though the show’s title is lifted from the first line of “Twelfth Night.”

A woman in man’s garb still woos another woman on behalf of her dreamy male employer, who doesn’t know his messenger is a woman. But Shakespeare’s Viola is now Vy, arrived in Harlem on purpose instead of shipwrecked. She has a professional reason for cross-dressing--she has been told it’s the only way she stands a chance as a songwriter. In other words, she wants it all--a career as well as love. Her employer, and the object of her secret affections, just happens to be a star composer named Duke.

The woman who’s being wooed by Duke is also a show-biz professional, a diva named Lady Liv--a far cry from Shakespeare’s cloistered Olivia, whose chief business was mourning her dead brother.

The role of Olivia’s steward, Malvolio, here the manager of the club where Lady Liv performs, has been transformed the most. Known now as the Rev, he’s initially mocked for his stuffiness by Lady Liv’s other factotums, much as Malvolio is. But then the Rev sings, and it makes him much more sympathetic. By play’s end, his craziest dreams come true.

The stage is awash in stellar performances, none more so than Natalie Venetia Belcon as Vy. Her voice is ideal for a woman playing a man. Her rich, husky lower register faultlessly matches the smooth vocalizing of tenor Raun Ruffin as Duke in their duet “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good.” Yet her speaking voice is light and frisky, as is her general demeanor when, for example, she lopes her way through “I Didn’t Know About You.” She wins our sympathies completely.

Nikki Crawford’s Lady Liv looks very much the elegant queen bee and acts properly spoiled and distant until she’s finally allowed to let her hair down in “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ but the Blues,” when she unleashes a big, belting voice and handles it with uncommon intensity.

Richard Allen brilliantly moves the Rev from buttoned-up stiffness to attempted cutting-loose and back to a warmer dignity, employing a velvety ballad voice to wonderful effect. A scene in which the other clowns (Yvette Cason, Kevin Ramsey, Clinton Derricks-Carroll) try to show the Rev that “It Don’t Mean a Thing If You Ain’t Got That Swing” is a masterpiece of merriment, choreographed by Mercedes Ellington (the Duke’s granddaughter) with irresistible snap. “Rocks in My Bed,” a later duet between Ramsey and Derricks-Carroll, is another showstopper that fairly bursts with comic energy, despite its woe-is-me lyrics.

Rahn Coleman’s six-piece band, in the playhouse’s small pit, hits us with hot notes throughout Luther Henderson’s savvy arrangements of the Ellington oeuvre. James Leonard Joy’s set combines Romare Bearden-inspired graphics with plenty of mirrors to create an apt illusion of urban hustle-bustle, despite a relatively small chorus line.

Only an unsmiling Malvolio could resist this kind of theatrical party. And when he sees what they’ve done to his alter ego, even he might join the fun.

* “Play On!,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Aug. 22. $20-$50. (800) 233-3123. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Natalie Venetia Belcon: Vy/Vy-Man

Nikki Crawford: Lady Liv

Raun Ruffin: Duke

Richard Allen: Rev

Yvette Cason: Miss Mary

Kevin Ramsey: Jester

Clinton Derricks-Carroll: Sweets

Shirley Claudia Charles: C.C.

Melissa Haizlip, Dexter Jones, Ron Christopher Jones, Sara Beth Lane, Tyrha M. Lindsey, Alysa Lobo, Dewain Michell, Mario Mosley, Sam “Red” Savage: Denizens of Harlem

Conceived and directed by Sheldon Epps. Book by Cheryl L. West. Songs by Duke Ellington. Arrangements, musical supervision and orchestrations by Luther Henderson. Musical director Rahn Coleman. Choreographer Mercedes Ellington. Sets by James Leonard Joy. Lighting by Michael Gilliam. Costumes by Marianna Elliott. Sound by Philip G. Allen. Hair, wigs and makeup by Judi Lewin. Casting by Julia Flores. Production stage manager Lurie Horns Pfeffer.