{"id":2513821,"date":"2026-07-23T10:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T10:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2513821"},"modified":"2026-07-23T10:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T10:09:22","slug":"the-merry-wives-of-windsor-cove-review-a-shakespearean-surf-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-merry-wives-of-windsor-cove-review-a-shakespearean-surf-comedy\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Merry Wives of Windsor Cove’ review: A Shakespearean surf comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cThe Merry Wives of Windsor Cove,\u201d a musical adaptation of Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cThe Merry Wives of Windsor\u201d at UC Irvine\u2019s New Swan Shakespeare Festival, relocates the comedy to a Southern California beach town in the 1950s. The surf\u2019s up, a chocolate-covered-banana stand is hopping and a washed-up Elvis-like rock star named Johnny Falstaff is trailing chaos.<\/p>\n

Those merry wives aren\u2019t actually all that merry about the state of their marriages. Margaret Page (Sonya Cooke) has lost all patience with her grinning, gadabout husband, George (Evan Lugo), who floats through life as though it were as lighthearted an affair as \u201cBeach Blanket Bingo.\u201d Margaret\u2019s best friend, Alice Ford (Sarah Hentges), has more serious problems with her jealous husband, Frank (Abel Garcia), who suspects infidelity whenever she leaves the house. <\/p>\n

When Falstaff (Wyn Moreno), motivated by avarice and a mania for cuckolding, comes a-wooing, sending identical letters to Margaret and Alice, the wives grow merrier as they set a trap for their shameless suitor, whose uncontrolled appetites make him an easy mark. <\/p>\n

Margaret and Alice are the forerunners of Lucy and Ethel, and Shakespeare\u2019s comedy, written expressly to entertain, gives us a sense of what an Elizabethan-era situation comedy might look like. The Falstaff of Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cThe Merry Wives of Windsor\u201d is not the complex figure of the \u201cHenry IV\u201d plays. (The late scholar Harold Bloom<\/a>, a Falstaff fanboy, called this version of the character \u201cpseudo-Falstaff, \u201c and considered \u201cMerry Wives\u201d to be, along with \u201cThe Two Gentlemen of Verona,\u201d Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cslightest\u201d comedies.)<\/p>\n

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Sonya Cooke (Margaret Page) and Sarah Hentges (Alice Ford) in \u201cThe Merry Wives of Windsor Cove.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Jesus Lopez Vargas)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Revivals of \u201cMerry Wives\u201d are not all that frequent. I\u2019ve seen Verdi\u2019s \u201cFalstaff,\u201d<\/a> which heavily relies on Shakespeare\u2019s plot for the opera, more times than I\u2019ve seen the play. But Margaret and Alice\u2019s quick-witted machinations provide the basis for a merry outing at the theater. <\/p>\n

When the possessive and paranoid Frank Ford runs into Margaret as she\u2019s scurrying to meet his wife, Alice, he pointedly remarks, \u201cI think, if your husbands were dead, you two would marry.\u201d To which she replies in savvy screwball fashion worthy of Carole Lombard: \u201cBe sure of that \u2014 two other husbands.\u201d<\/p>\n

I have a soft spot for \u201cThe Merry Wives of Windsor.\u201d The refreshing sight of the women teaming up against Falstaff never fails to amuse. And I appreciate the frank and forgiving light the play sheds on long-term marriage. <\/p>\n

But swaths of the comedy are antiquated. And the language has a dashed off quality in places, suggesting there\u2019s some truth to the legend that Shakespeare wrote the play at the request of Queen Elizabeth, who was said to be so charmed by Falstaff that she wanted a sequel depicting Sir John in love.<\/p>\n

Falstaff isn\u2019t exactly in love in Shakespeare\u2019s comedy. And he definitely isn\u2019t motivated by pure romance in this adaptation, written by New Swan founding artistic and producing director Eli Simon and Anna Fitzgerald, with music by Zachary Dietz. As in all things, Falstaff is led by his belly, a gargantuan metaphor for his gluttonous nature.<\/p>\n

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\"Megan <\/picture>\n
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Megan January (Nym), Wyn Moreno (Johnny Falstaff) and Sam Schneider (Pistol) in \u201cThe Merry Wives of Windsor Cove.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Jesus Lopez Vargas)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

The pastiche score, indebted to the pop charts of the 1950s, isn\u2019t allowed to dominate. As modern musicals go, this is a low-key affair. The comedy is still the thing in this frolicsome outdoor production, which takes place in the charming ambiance of the festival\u2019s portable, mini-Elizabethan venue.<\/p>\n

The cast is principally composed of UC Irvine students, past and present, with a few guest artists in the mix. Under Simon\u2019s direction, the presentation is smooth and professional, though the ensemble reflects different levels of experience.<\/p>\n

My general note is particular to the genre: Comedy works best when exaggeration arises the way it does in nature, as a fact of personality rather than as a calculated theatrical effect.<\/p>\n

Certain members of the cast push the humor a little too vociferously. How much funnier Shakespeare\u2019s motley crew can be when we\u2019re allowed to discover the variety of eccentricity and ludicrousness on display for ourselves.<\/p>\n

Falstaff\u2019s girth is worked into the comic mayhem, but the character should be more than a sight gag. Moreno tries to preserve a measure of dignity while wearing a jumpsuit from Elvis\u2019 Las Vegas era. But the sight gag nature of the characterization is overworked.<\/p>\n

Garcia\u2019s Ford seems not just jealous but borderline apoplectic. (Garcia is more nuanced when Ford is operating in disguise to suss out Falstaff\u2019s true intentions.) As Doctor Cayo, one of the risible suitors for Anne Page (Marilyn Alonzo), Heriberto Cruz Jr. delivers a flailing, full-body performance that practically holds the audience hostage for laughs.<\/p>\n

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\"'The <\/picture>\n
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Evan Lugo (George Page), top left, Sonya Cooke (Margaret Page), top right, Zane Caputo (Abraham Slender), from bottom left, Zach Trent (Skateboard Fenton) and Heriberto Cruz Jr. (Doctor Cayo) in \u201cThe Merry Wives of Windsor Cove.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Elijah Waller)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Robert Shallow (Greg Ungar) does what he can to promote Abraham Slender (Zane Caputo, appropriately zoned out), his socially inept nephew, as a prospective husband for Anne. But neither gentleman is what anyone would call efficacious. In truth, both performers seem more at home as members of the Banana Splits Band, the quirky onstage combo that ushers in the show\u2019s retro beat.<\/p>\n

In a nicely balanced performance, Alejandra Villanueva\u2019s Mistress Quickly, the play\u2019s go-between and overseer of mischief, embodies the free and easy spirit of Simon\u2019s production. Lugo\u2019s George has a simple affability that\u2019s infectious. And Alonzo\u2019s Anne and Zach Trent\u2019s Skateboard Fenton, the young lovers swerving around parental obstacles, are a delightful throwback to those gaga California kids from the age of \u201cGidget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooke\u2019s Margaret and Hentges\u2019 Alice remain, as they should, defiantly in charge. The adaptation delves more into their marital melancholy, but I felt I understood them better in Shakespeare\u2019s original, which recognizes the power of suggestion and interpretive restraint.<\/p>\n

Yet \u201cThe Merry Wives of Windsor Cove\u201d succeeds in extending a warm communal embrace to its audience, which is the ultimate aim of this mischievous and kind-hearted comedy. <\/p>\n

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‘The Merry Wives of Windsor Cove’<\/p>\n

Where:<\/b> New Swan Theater, UC Irivine, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine.<\/p>\n

When:<\/b> 8 p.m. (In rotating repertory with \u2018Romeo and Juliet,\u2019 check theater website for dates.) Ends Aug. 30<\/p>\n

Ticket prices:<\/b> $28 \u2013 $115<\/p>\n

Contact:<\/b> (949) 854\u20134646 (Ext. 1) or newswanshakespeare.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Running time:<\/b> 2 hrs 30 min., including one intermission<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Merry Wives of Windsor Cove,\u201d a musical adaptation of Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cThe Merry Wives of Windsor\u201d at UC Irvine\u2019s New Swan Shakespeare Festival, relocates the comedy to a Southern California beach town in the 1950s. The surf\u2019s up, a chocolate-covered-banana stand is hopping and a washed-up Elvis-like rock star named Johnny Falstaff is trailing chaos. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2513824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2513821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-Merry-Wives-of-Windsor-Cove-review-A-Shakespearean-surf.com2F092F4f2Fd58af47c451ca24fe22b0f3f.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2513825,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513821\/revisions\/2513825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2513824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}