Two Hip Gents

Shakespeare Theatre - Washington, DC

January 22, 2012

Brad - A
Chelsea - B

To be as hip as this production promised to be, Chelsea and I went to Graffiato for dinner before the show.  Apparently, Mike Isabella owns this restaurant.  For non-gourmands, Mike Isabella came in second on Top Chef All-Stars, yeah, THE Top Chef All-Stars.

Once Chelsea explained to me the difference between Iron Chef and Top Chef, we ordered small plates for large plate prices.  I got rabbit lasagna and Chelsea got meatballs.  Everything definitely tasted hip, though I still think Meatballs' meatballs are better than hip meatballs.

Anyway, dinner was great, but it was only prologue.

Rough plot of Two Gentlemen of Verona: Proteus and Valentine are good buds.  Valentine travels abroad to Milan to live and learn, while Proteus remains in Verona to be near his heart's desire, Julia.  Upon arrival, Valentine meet's the Duke of Milan's daughter, Sylvia, and falls in love. But then Proteus's father sends him, his man-servant, and a dog named Crab to Milan.  Upon his arrival, Proteus forgets Julia and falls in love with Sylvia.  To steal Sylvia from Valentine, Proteus tells Sylvia's father about Valentine and Sylvia's plan to elope, and the Duke responds by banishing (or deporting) Valentine.  Proteus then tries to seduce Sylvia. He fails. Julia arrives in Milan, dressed as a man, to figure out why Proteus stopped writing. She/He awkwardly befriends Sylvia, and in the final scene, Sylvia, Valentine, Proteus, and Julia all forgive each other and couple off as appropriate.  Oh yeah, and Valentine, the deported migrant, is given amnesty and permitted to return to Milan.

The production was interesting.  The stage was very modern and covered with commercial emblems, McDonald's, Apple, etc., and U2 music was featured a few times.  The show ended with an accapella version of "A Beautiful Day."

By far the best part of the show was Crab the dog.  Crab looked like Sandy from Annie, except his left ear (and only his left ear) stood up.  He nailed his lines.  His accent was authentic.  He was great.  The human actors were also great, but the play's direction lacked focus (or perhaps it was too deep for me).  Regardless, all is well when a photo-phobic guy like me gets to go on a date with a hip girl like this:

Don't you go changing.

Brad the dog