Press

By: Ralph Greco

Once again I trekked over to The West End Theatre on 86th street for another stellar and unique production from The Frog and Peach Theatre Company; this time it was Measure For Measure, a sexy tale of lawful attempts of repression of you-know-what. Lynnea Benson is directing once again, and the show opens with quite the bawdy pantomime of an act best described as 'oral mayhem' setting the stage (if you will pardon the pun) between the seeming Nazi-like fist of "Angelo" (played by F&P stalwart Eric Doss) and mechanizations exploited by Erick Gonzalez playing "Duke Vincentio" and also... but shhh, that's me telling too much already). Gonzalez is alum of this company and one of those commanding presences that you can never get enough of really.

So too is true of the dazzling Amy Frances Quint. She plays, I'd say more like 'burns', through a startling "Isabella" here. Marcus Watson is another notable actor, with his delicious command and physicality creating a slinky "Pompey" for these two hours (that's another aspect of F&P I adore, they pace a Shakespeare play with perfect ebbs and flows, never letting things get mired down in the language or, as could be with the old Bard, very intricate plots).

The music for the evening was composed by rock and roll royalty, friend-of-the-company and their live accompanist, Ian McDonald of King Crimson/Foreigner fame (try telling me of any other Shakespeare company that can boast this collaboration?)

Once again Frog and Peach offers up an evening of finely realized Shakespeare with a company I truly believe could not be better. I might have offered up only a few names from the cast above, but I assure you, this company is filled to the brim with actors who drip Shakespeare from their pores.

Measure For Measure plays until May 19th at the West End Theatre. For more information, please visit www.frogandpeachtheatre.org.