As I noted in mid-1999, Shakespeare is invading off-Broadway theater at an alarming rate. Over the past few years, we've seen the likes of an all-male Romeo & Juliet set at a boys' parochial school (R&J), a disco-fused, nightlife version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Donkey Show) and The Public Theater's recent production of Hamlet starring Liev Schreiber, which made a clear case that this wasn't your grandfather's Hamlet. What these shows prove most of all is that classics can become a great many things, not merely the yawn-inducing sight of a bunch of under-caffeinated, earnest actors delivering soliloquies we've heard a million times before. The latter is what theatergoers usually get in "serious" incarnations that usually draw the viewer away rather than into the narrative. Some of the stuffier productions of Shakespeare, both the comedies and the tragedies, miss the playfulness and gravity of his works. The creators get too wrapped up in the idea that they were able to pull it off in the first place, and therefore only preach to the converted. The Bomb-itty Of Errors, the most remarkable new show of the season, dares to preach to the unconverted and does so with such blissful exuberance that only the most stone-faced and pretentious theatergoers would object to any of it.
Described as an "ad-rap-tation" of Shakespeare's The Comedy Of Errors by its creators, a truly gifted lot including performers Jason Catalano, Gregory J. Qaiyum, Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner, DJ Jeffrey Qaiyum and director Andy Goldberg, this show is so full of vibrancy and wit that I imagine Old Will would even get down with his bad self while watching it. I'm assuming most viewers are relatively familiar with a Shakespeare comedy, and this has all the standard devices (cross-dressing performers, long-lost siblings, mistaken identity). Performed in the guise of old-school hip-hop and rap that recalls early Beastie Boys (whom a few of the performers resemble, both in person and in voice) and Run DMC among others, Bomb-itty is an adrenalizing, refreshing addition to the reinterpretation of the classics. Pure fun all the way but also shockingly substantive and witty, Bomb-itty has its young performers take the stage with absolute gusto. They're pretty darn good rappers, even if you ask a total white boy like myself. The idea of a rap Shakespeare show may sound like the ultimate in groan-worthy downtown theater, but five minutes in you realize this isn't just a mere novelty act. It has an energizing directness and unique charm, and truly succeeds at capturing grins on the faces of its audiences and keeping them there for its utterly winning 90 minutes.
