Celebrate Good Times With the Gang in ‘All’s Kool That Ends Kool’

If “Shakespeare for Dummies” is too dense, here’s a less taxing way to dabble in the Bard: “All’s Kool That Ends Kool,” the latest in a series of Troubadour Theater Company transmogrifications of Shakespearean comedies, set to the strains of American pop groups.

This one, at the alfresco Ford Amphitheatre for two more weekends and other venues later, is rooted in the frivolity of “All’s Well That Ends Well” and the funky beat of Kool & the Gang. Shakespeare fans who don’t know Kool will at least recognize the group’s unavoidable 1980 hit “Celebration,” which, of course, pops up here after all’s well ends well.

You won’t have to worry about tangled plot twists or Elizabethan language. All you have to do is sit, grin and occasionally guffaw as the nonsense unfolds. If you get carried away, you may find yourself boogieing under the stars.

Director and star Matt Walker’s only apparent mandate is to keep ‘em laughing, and he generally succeeds. His performance as Bertram, wearing what other cast members referred to as “a Shaun Cassidy wig” and then “a Bobby Sherman wig,” is a lark, combining elements of stand-up comic, clown, and least important, actor.

The woman whom Bertram scorns is played by the hilarious Beth Kennedy, rigged up to look strikingly goofy before her big transformation makes her alluring to the shallow Bertram after all.

Morgan Rusler’s initially decrepit king and Lisa Valenzuela’s crafty countess are deft creations, and the few Shakespearean passages that have survived intact are well spoken. A large chorus line gets down in the dance numbers and springs upward in second-act trampoline moves. No costume designer is credited, but the outfits are outlandish and colorful. The drafting of a supposed audience member into the action leads to a new round of laughs.

Although connections between the songs and the action aren’t exactly airtight, the cast and the four-piece band on the side of the stage cover the Kool repertoire well--though at such an unnecessarily high decibel level that earplugs come in handy. Presumably the volume will be turned down in later, indoor venues, where it often seems as if the intensity level of Troubadour comedy is turned up.

The only uncool thing about the production is the lack of acknowledgement of Kool & the Gang itself, in the Troubadour pages within the program. Shakespeare gets no program mention either, but at least an actor playing Shakespeare, who’s sitting in the audience, gets an introduction. The members of Kool & the Gang, however, remain anonymous; we never learn who wrote which songs.

Sure, Kool & the Gang probably earned more money in one night, at the peak of their fame, than Troubadour will earn in a decade. But it’s tacky to omit the band even from the list of people who get “thanks” in the program.

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“All’s Kool That Ends Kool,” Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m. $20. (323) 461-3673. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.