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If there's anywhere on Earth that otherworldly folks can fit in almost unnoticed, it just might be Hollywood. That's why when fairy nobility Oberon and his servant Puck happen across the tinsel-town set for the 1930s film A Midsummer Night's Dream, they quickly find themselves a part of the action. But the two sprites' meddling in mortal moviemaking ends up being just a fraction of the chaos in Ken Ludwig's farce Shakespeare in Hollywood, opening Jan. 22 at TheatreWorks in Mountain View
Even if the "real" Oberon and Puck didn't really visit the set, the 1935 Warner Brothers film adaptation of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream really did have some magic to it, with esteemed director Max Reinhardt at the helm and a star-studded cast that featured Jimmy Cagney, Mickey Rooney and Olivia deHavilland.
But Ludwig imagines that it might not have been all perfection behind the scenes, comically besieging Reinhardt with, among other things, a studio head pressured by his big star (also his lady love) to make a serious picture that will demonstrate her "chops," and an especially picky censor, emboldened by the newly strengthened production code.
Ludwig just might be an expert at making comedy of showbiz foibles. He's best known for the phenomenally successful backstage farce Lend Me a Tenor and also has quite a flair for the nostalgic, having written the book for the Tony-winning Gershwin musical showcase Crazy For You.
TheatreWorks presents Shakespeare in Hollywood Jan. 22Feb. 13 (previews Jan. 1921) at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View. Tickets are $20$50. For more information, call 650.903.6000 or see www.theatreworks.org.
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