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In my senior year of high school, I was exposed to a musical based on Shakespeare’s “Two Gentlemen of Verona” by performing the part of Valentine in my last show on the TZHS stage. I did not know of this musical before production began, despite its winning the Tony award for Best Musical back in the 1970s. Since performing in the show, I have absolutely adored it — I even grabbed a friends and attended the Guggenheim Museum’s concert version of the show (featuring updated orchestrations by the composer, Galt MacDermot).

Naturally, I geeked out when I found out that “Two Gentlemen of Verona (The Musical)” was added to this year’s line up for Central Park’s free “Shakespeare in the Park” series. This means that not only will I be able to see a full-fledged, professionally-staged version of the show, I’ll be able to see it for free.

This past Tuesday, I finally made it out to the Delacourte theatre to see the show.

First off, in my ‘review’ of sorts, I want to make it perfectly clear that I had an amazing time. The show is just as fun as it seemed to me every time I read the script before we started the show in high school — and the production values behind it were great. In fact, I think that (with a bit of re-casting) the show could head from Central Park to Broadway again (it won’t happen — but one can hope).

Although I had first objected to the set (they painted it baby blue, yellow, and bright pink), it really didn’t detract at all. In fact, I had thought the cast would be hindered by the set, due to its enormous size, but it wasn’t really an issue.

There were some revisions to the original script (which, for those interested, can be found in a slightly screwed-up form here), but I thought that these changes were topical ( “Bring All The Boys Back Home,” specifically) and (in certain places) helped the pacing. I also like the edits made to the choral part in “What A Nice Idea”, because it removed from the stage everything that wasn’t absolutely necessary.

The way that I felt about the cast was very divided… but, for the most part, the cast really turned out an excellent performance — whether they were good actors or not.

The roles of Launce (David Constabile) and Speed (John Cariani) were played adequately enough for what was written. Sure, at points, I felt like Cariani was a stereotypical bad musical theatre actor — but really you don’t need that much emotional investment for the part of Speed. What kind of creeped me out was his similarity to “Conky”, the person who played that role in the production I was in.

Another creepy similarity came between Kyle Taylor and Don Stephenson, in their interpretations of Thurio. They were almost the same, and if you would have given Kyle a monocle, I’m sure he would have moved about on stage the same way as well. Stephenson, whom I had seen before in “The Producers”, is able to turn out a ‘character’ performance in a somewhat believable fashion. John Cariani should take notes.

Renée Elise Goldsberry is absolutely amazing. Enough said.

I repeat that same sentiment for Oscar Issac. He added a human element to Proteus that I had never really seen performed before. I could only hope that I would play the role as beautifully as he did one day. I can’t wait to see what this man does next.

Something was missing from Norm Lewis’ Valentine. It’s not that he’s a bad actor (because he’s not a bad actor), and it’s not that he’s a bad singer (because he’s not a bad singer) — I just don’t think that his style really meshed with the rest of the production. “Two Gentlemen” is, at heart, a 70’s rock musical — and you almost have to walk an acting tightrope of performing in a manner consistent with Shakespeare and “Hair” at the same time. Norm Lewis would have fallen off the tightrope.

Speaking of falling off the tightrope — how about that Rosario Dawson, huh? I wasn’t really nervous about how she’d be in the “Rent” movie until I saw “Two Gentlemen.” During her first song, “I Am Not Interested In Love,” I thought she might have been sick. By her next song, “Thou Proteus, Thou Hast Metamorphosed Me,” I realized the truth — she’s just plain bad.

This performance was taped to add to the theatre archives in the New York Public Library. For all those who want to see a woman with the acting ability of a slice of cheese tackle a musical theatre role — give this tape a try. In fact, you’ll probably chuckle as she comes in too early on a singing cue in “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” or when the helicopter flies overhead during a scene between her and Oscar Issac. Absolutely wonderful!

Well, at least Rosario had Megan Lawrence on-stage as Lucetta to carry her through the show. I never really cared much for the role of Lucetta during my first contact with this play — especially the song “Land of Betrayal” (it’s undoubtedly the worst one on the CD) — but Megan Lawrence made me applaud wildly during the song. She’s just an amazing talent.

Plus, I’m not even mentioning the dog, Eglamour (the Jedi), the Duke, or the guy in the chorus who looks like Napoleon Dynamite.

Go see this show. It’s free. You have no excuse.